Book Writer

Justin Schwartz is a writer and director of plays, musicals, and concerts. Writing credits include Handsome Weeping Boy (NYPL/Lincoln Center), Clean-Shaven (Secret Theatre), Love to Infinity and iKhaya (NYU), an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (Kennedy Center) and an improvisational dance solo, Scarbo (Accademia dell’Arte). Directing credits include As Thousands Cheer and Wild Young Hearts (54 Below), Tumbleweed (Dixon Place), Blood Orange (Theatre 80 St. Marks), Call-And-Response (Secret Theatre), Double Rainbow (Wild Project/Nuyorican Poets Cafe), Malaise (Cherry Lane Studio), and Connected (Sound Bites at Signature Center). Film/TV credits include director of the sci-fi musical VECTIR (APAC-NY/YouTube) and line producer for Jordan Roth’s The Birds and the BS (YouTube). Originally from South Florida, Justin is now based in Brooklyn. BA: Muhlenberg College. MFA: NYU Tisch School of the Arts. SDC Associate and Dramatists Guild Member.

Composer

Shoshi is a composer, pianist, and former Wall Street stock analyst.

Her music has been performed at venues including Lincoln Center, BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Dramatists Guild Foundation, Musical Theatre Factory, US Mint, University of South Florida, Maison New Orleans, St Cecilia Music Society, Loyola University New Orleans, Times Square, and others.

She studied piano from age 4, along with harp, viola, and steel drums. Her first composition, written at age 6, placed in the Florida Reflections Competition. By age 10, she had given hundreds of recitals and placed in several concerto competitions.

Shoshana attended Interlochen Arts Camp for piano (won Interlochen division-wide piano award), dance, and theatre. Shoshi majored in languages and cultures at Loyola University New Orleans, attended Columbia University's Postbaccalaureate Premedical program, and worked on Wall Street.

Since turning to her professional creative roots , Shoshana has been commissioned to write classical, musical theatre, commercial, and liturgical music.

Lyricist

Kara Cutruzzula is a New York-based playwright, lyricist, librettist, and journalist. In her theater work, she explores themes of ambition and creating connection in a changing world. Selected musicals: The Eyes of Vienna (NYPL/Lincoln Center), Letters From May (Sound Bites Festival). Selected plays: Old Hollywood, George and Sally on the Moon (Barrington Collective), Did You See? (TADA!), Excuse Me, Mr. Brantley? (Wild Project), I Want to Believe (in Love) (Apartment Theater), and Strangers in the Night (Secret Theatre). She is a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop, the BMI Musical Theatre Librettists Workshop, and the Dramatists Guild. As a journalist and essayist, she has contributed to The New York Times, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Vulture, and other publications. She writes Brass Ring Daily, a newsletter designed to encourage people and their creative projects, and is the author of the motivational journal Do It For Yourself.

Director