my writing projects
A brief overview of my previous works & works-in-progress
A screencap from our zoom table read, featuring all the wonderful women we had playing roles (from top L: Gillian Hassert, Lynne Shankel, Tess Primack, Nicole Tsahouras, Anastasia Dextrene, Katie Emerson, Sarah Smith, Ilana Topletz, me, Mindi Dickstein, Gabrielle Mirabella, Amy Burgess, Jessie Field, Deborah Brevoort), myself & our writing team, and our advisors, including Broadway lyricist Mindi Dickstein.
MADAME PRESIDENT
Madame President is the brain-child of award-winning actress Gabrielle Burch, award-winning playwright Jessie Field & myself. We met at NYU during the graduate musical theatre writing program, and this piece became our thesis presentation.
The plot centres around Amy, a millenial woman who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. And like a lot of us after that election, Amy found herself unable to look toward the future with any hope. So, by accident one night, she looked to the past - and walked straight back in time to meet the women who had run for president before, starting with Victoria Woodhull in 1872!
Join Amy on a wild journey through time, joined by these incredible women, as she tries to find the will to go on - and the path back to the future. Or is it the present?
The following recording is “Walking in the Woods”, when we first meet Hillary Clinton in our piece, and is based on the real news reports from after the 2016 election loss, when she would be found walking the woods around her house in upstate New York, trying to clear her head. With lyrics by Jessie Field and book by Gabrielle Mirabella, I’m proud to present myself as Hillary Clinton in this flight of fantasy.
Adventurers!
Alex Higgin-Houser & I have spent countless hours playing… ahem… researching Dungeons & Dragons in order to bring the game to life on stage. It’s a coming-of-age story where we meet a boisterous groups of youngsters who meet weekly to play d&d, and what happens with they encounter a new player.
Still in its early stages, Adventurers! has already had an outing at Underscore Theatre’s new musicals festival in Chicago, January 2020. One of the most exciting challenges in writing this piece is to accurately capture the spirit of playing the game - ie. how the dice controls the players’ fates. So, it is only natural then, that our piece is a “choose your own adventure”, except without the choice, and with a lot of chance instead. Splits of fate determine which storylines the actors follow, making for a surprising, if slightly terrifying, experience for actors and viewers alike!
The team for our one-act presentation of The Fox in New York in 2019.
The Fox
The Fox is a one-act musical adaptation of DH Lawrence’s 1922 novella about sexuality and power. Set in Berkshire, England in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I, two women in their early 30’s struggle to keep up a small farm while a fox ravages their chickens. A young man comes home from the war to find the two women in charge of the house after his grandfather’s passing, adding pressure to the women’s tenuous dynamic.
Jamie Buxton (words) and myself (music) also had the wonderful opportunity to present this piece as part The Ceiling Project in London, UK, in November 2019, and are hoping to expand it to a full length piece in the near future.
Jack (Karlis Zaid), obviously scheming, as usual.
The video to the right is of Jack (Karlis Zaid) and Rosie (Kayla Hamill) singing their love duet, 'Shy', which is written in the style of a Rodgers & Hammerstein "If I Loved You" duet. Except dirty. Very dirty.
jack of two trades
Jack of Two Trades is the child of the Jeanne Pratt Artist in Residence program at Monash University, bookwriter/lyricist Andrew Strano, composer Lucy O'Brien, director Nate Gilkes and music director Dominic Woodhead, to name just a few of the people who brought it to life.
The musical, set in 1996 Melbourne, is an adaptation of the original Goldoni text The Servant of Two Masters. The hilarious text follows Jack, who is, in turn, mainly following his stomach. He has several botched attempts to collect two paychecks from two different employers, eat twice as much, and then have twice as much holiday in Bali, without anybody being the wiser.
Aside from that idiot's adventures though, the play is a love story. Chelsea & Xavier are very much, very grotesquely in love and are engaged to be married. This is their happy ending, after the bloke Chelsea was engaged to - through a match arranged by her late father - has now died, thank god for that. However, at their engagement party, Franco Rasponi (the dead fiance) has the gall to show up after all - and not dead. What an asshole.
A sharp intake of breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath is a show that's been in the works for a few years now, and has h
The story centres around a father, Declan, who used to be a bit of a rock star, his daughters, Tessa & Billie, their mother, Cate, and an old acquaintance coming back into town. Declan runs his beloved pub, beating heart of the music scene in the inner North of Melbourne, his pride and joy. There, each night, he lives and relives the glory days, entertaining locals and friends as he recounts all his best stories - but these days, all the stories are starting to meld together, and he's finding it harder to live in the present.
When a charismatic man with a penchant for storytelling and drama starts to lose touch with reality, how quickly do those around him notice?
At the MC Showroom in May, 2017, with (from left) Jess Papst, Shannen Alyce, Scott Mackenzie & Mark Dickinson
Some cast & creatives from UMMTA’s presentation of Sharp Intake, 2018.
Sharp Intake has had two small showings so far: one at the MC Showroom in May, 2017, and one at Homegrown's Grassroots Initiative in December, 2017. There are many people to thank for their help with these two showings including the actors originating the roles - Jess Papst, Shannen Alyce, Scott Mackenzie & Mark Dickinson, plus Nathan Carter and Zach Curran who joined for Grassroots, the organisers of Grassroots (Ben & Nick), the musicians from the MC Showroom (Gen Campbell and Dave George) and the unstoppable Katie Weston.
In 2018, it was selected by University of Melbourne Musical Theatre Association to be presented at Melbourne Fringe Festival - and the team involved were an absolute delight.
Image by Robert Smith
Devoted: a new musical
Devoted: A New Musical exploded onto the Melbourne scene during Midsumma Festival, 2014. The brainchild of creatives Justin Nott, Robert Smith, Matilda Dixon-Smith and myself, it started its life as a "what if Grease wasn't so cotton candy? What if it was set now?" kind of daydream, and became an edgy, rocky, faux-tragic look at highschoolers dealing with very real issues under the influence of various pressures and substances.
Starting life as Grease, A Tragedy, it played sellout shows across Melbourne that summer, including at The Tote, The Workers Club and the Northcote Social Club. The idea was to bring music theatre to the live music venues of Melbourne's north. You can listen to a live recording of the show here: https://lucizzobrizz.bandcamp.com/releases
Millionaire
In 2014, I workshopped a show about a self-made millionaire, and the merry-go-round of contestants he hosted on his tv show.
Created originally with Angus Cameron, and produced by Somewhat Proper Productions, the original cast featured Louisa Fitzhardinge, Casey Gould and Andrew Strano. The three actors played a dizzying array of characters, sliding in and out of the hot seat, and leaving our dear protagonist asking, 'what's the point? do these people deserve the money i'm giving?' and thinking about what could be next for his career.