Week 3: Gumbo

BRETT MACIAS (Music) BFA: Webster University, MFA: N.Y.U. He has composed music for Webster University, Encores! (NYC), the St. Louis Gateway Men’s Chorus, Stephens College, the Cockeyed Optimists, Prospect Theater Company, St. Louis Repertory Theater of Saint Louis and Masterwork’s Off Broadway Production of THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Brett wrote the music for the musicals: FISHING THE MOON, THE LAVATORY, BENEATH THE SURFACE and BEAUTIFUL DREAMER. BEAUTIFUL DREAMER was a finalist in the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival and was presented at the 2014 New Horizons music festival at Truman State University. He, with Caroline Murphy, was featured in American Theater Magazine as a writing team to watch. A concert of his music was performed at Lincoln Center in 2012 and at Vitello’s in Los Angeles in 2014. In Development: MARI, HECTOR, AND THE M.T.A. (words by Christina Quintana). GUMBO (words by Christina Quintana) was selected by the Grand Jury for the 2014 New York Musical Festival Next Link Project and was developed at the Musical Theater Factory.brettmacias.com

CHRISTINA QUINTANA (Book, Lyrics) is a writer with Cuban and Louisiana roots. Her work has been developed or produced in Atlanta, New Orleans, and New York City by INTAR, the Alliance Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Southern Rep. Other plays & musicals include: ENTER YOUR SLEEP (Elm Theatre New Orleans; FringeNYC), SCISSORING (Finalist 2014 Kendeda National Playwriting Competition; 2014 Kilroys Honorable Mention), BLANK CANVAS (“Best Short” Downtown Urban Theatre Festival), and LIFT (music by Brett Macias), commissioned by Prospect Theater Company for their 2014 Musical Theater Lab, STREET SEEN. Quintana is the founder & artistic director of The Live Lunch Series, unique lunchtime theatre catered for workplaces. She is the recipient of fellowships from Lambda Literary and Columbia University School of the Arts, a member of the Obie-winning playwrights’ collective EST Youngblood and recent semifinalist for the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship. MFA Playwriting, Columbia University. cquintana.com

TERRY BERLINER (Dramaturg) specializes in developing and directing new plays and musicals. Her Broadway credits include The Lion King, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, The Sound of Music, and The Red Shoes. She has directed Off Broadway, in regional theatres, and universities across the country. In 2015 she directed Michelle Elliott’s new play Promising at The Beckett, New York City, and Kirsten Guenther and Tony Asaro’s new musical, The Cable Car Nymphomaniac, at both Z Below and The Eureka Theatre, in San Francisco. Her new musical Alone in the U.S., written with Bobby Cronin, was presented at Penn State in 2016, made it’s U.K. debut at the University of Cumbria in 2015, and in 2014 won the Outstanding Program of the Year Award at Marymount Manhattan College. Ms. Berliner is also currently working on the new musical Swing Sisters with Lynnette Barkley and Tony DeSare. She served as artistic director for the pilot program of the North Shore Summer Theater Workshop, Long Island, and for 7 years served as associate artistic director, then artistic director, for LeAp Onstage (a playwriting program for NYC public school students). She has written for American Theatre magazine, Theatre Bay Area, Theatre History Studies, and been selected to participate in a 2013 CAP21 Writers Residency and the 2014 Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat. For 6 years she served as associate editor for The Journal for Stage Directors and Choreographers. Ms. Berliner is a member of the CAP21 Resource Board of Directors, and for 5 years served as a member of Off Broadway’s Lucille Lortel nominating committee. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. She is thrilled to be back in the Gumbo pot with Brett and Christina.