My Mom took me to the ballet when I was very little. I remember being so excited to go, and I guess that was the start of my love of watching stories unfold on stage.

My storytelling journey in theatre started with choreography. I moved into composing for musical theatre after years of choreographing musicals and falling in love with storytelling. During that time, my focus in music had shifted from classical piano to singer-songwriter, and when I started writing songs for others to perform, something clicked. I fell in love with it straight away.

My work has been described as hauntingly uplifting and filled with transformative emotion. I’d say it’s contemporary musical theatre in style, perhaps inspired by my classical piano background at times.

Working in the room with the performers!

CAITLIN: I grew up in a very musical family, so I’ve gotten the opportunity to experience live music and theater from a young age. While my parents, both professional classical musicians, brought me along to countless concerts and operas, theater came a bit later. West Side Story was my first early memory of theater (specifically the documentary of the making of the cast album) and later I saw my sisters in a production of Chorus Line and just fell in love with both the show and the medium.

CAITLIN: Waitress was particularly inspiring from me, since I’ve really come to musical theater from an independent singer/songwriter track- a world I’d been exploring since the age of 7. I’ve always been so inspired by Sara Bareilles’ work, and when I saw how it translated to stage, I thought- “well, yeah- that’s what I want to do!”

CAITLIN: A blend of chamber music, pop, jazz, and musical theater, relying on both catchy hooks and unique instrumentation to convey emotional resonant themes (often queer stories, psychological and family dynamic-driven pieces.)

CAITLIN: The emotional depth that music adds to a piece of text or story, and the moment that’s heard back for the first time as a listener and not a writer- seeing each tree in the forest- is my favorite moment and by far the most rewarding.

I grew up as a dancer, so my relationship with theater started with embodying music and story. My first big solo was “The Pink Panther” when I was maybe 6 or 7. That iconic melody has such strong character in it, and I remember feeling the power of putting my spin on this slinky, cool music. I was a theater kid and choir nerd in school, but it was always “extracurricular” - I was never encouraged to consider the arts as a career and never did until I was finishing my Neuroscience degree and decided to apply to music graduate programs instead of medical school. Sometimes it feels like my first theater experience was at San Francisco Conservatory, playing Cinderella in Into the Woods. That was the first time I was doing theater and seeing myself as an artist, wanting an artist’s life. It’s fun to look back and see how my early love of theater helped me find my way to this profession.

I always kept journals and wrote stories from a young age. I loved Tamora Pierce’s books, especially the Lioness series, which is about this young woman forging her own path in a male-dominated world and also growing up and finding love. I think that was the first time I was conscious of how stories about women can resonate very differently because a woman is writing them. Even while I was studying Neuroscience, I worked in the writing center, and I loved reading Carl Sagan and Oliver Sachs. They both have this way of communicating their sense of wonder about the world and investigating the unknown. Science and art both require so much imagination. After I started acting professionally, I found writing could be a way to create work for myself and others, and to write toward the kinds of works I want to see more of. I was lucky to participate in the Maestra Mentorship program last year with a brilliant mentor, Nico Juber, who encouraged me to start writing songs and just embrace the idea doing things myself, rather than waiting for someone else to make things happen for me.

I'm a folk rock singer-songwriter, mostly at the piano. My biggest influences are Billy Joel and Sara Bareilles, although there are many others. I feel like I taught myself how to write songs by playing songs I love, learning how it feels to connect with the piano and just let my voice go places. Melody is very important to me, and I always pay attention when things get stuck in my head. One of my biggest sources of artistic inspiration is Nina Simone. She has such a strong point of view and transforms every song she interprets, to the point that her version becomes the version for me. She also sang from every genre, so what unifies her style is her. Listening to her records made me think of myself as a song collector like she was, and collecting songs I love led to thinking about what I would write songs about.

Imagining new possibilities for women and giving us new things to sing about. So few musicals pass the Bechdel test or reveal the complexities of women’s lives. Earlier this year, I played a new song on a show about running into my ex’s mom and realizing the depth of our relationship, missing her more than the life I thought I’d share with her son. After the show, so many people told me they’d never heard a song about that topic and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I felt so proud to write something that felt new but immediately recognizable. Women have so much catching up to do in terms of getting our shared experiences into the canon - and then what new stories can we get to? As a writer, I want to go into uncharted territory and be brave about what I choose to write about. Many things are easier to sing about than talk about.

My sister and I went to see Wicked at the Pantages in 2007. I was nine and knew nothing of the show (nor The Wizard of Oz film). But with Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty as the leads, I walked out completely changed, for good. A month later, I sang "Popular" in an audition at my elementary school, coincidentally for a production of The Wizard of Oz. I got the Tin Man, and it's still an experience I am so grateful for.

My mother began writing (or "receiving") faith-based songs in Mandarin around the time I was born. Her music is absolutely stunning and remains a major part of our relationship today. When I was eight, she had an interest in having me sing her songs for my school talent shows, but she needed them translated into English. I began helping her with the translations, which turned into an unexpected apprenticeship in lyric-writing.

I didn't begin writing my own songs until I was around 17 years old. I recall being on a train to school and starting a lyric, then being so taken by the process that I didn't go to school that day. That song, titled "Sadly Ever After, After All," was the first time I ever tangibly expressed my queer identity. It revealed how therapeutic and healing songwriting could be, and soon became a frequent (but very private) practice for me.

My writing is dramatic, punchy, and lyrically focused. It often draws from my personal experiences with faith, ambition, and love.

I love the personal puzzle of it all. It's an art form that seems limitless at first, but when you start the process, it feels like the song exists in your soul and you're on a quest to "find" it. Suddenly, there are right words and wrong words, right melodies and wrong melodies. Through trial, error, care, and intuition, you create something that feels completely meant to be. And yet you are the only one who could've ever written it. It takes a great deal of faith, patience, and trust in yourself, and I find strengthening that trust to be useful not only as a writer, but as a person.

MARIA: I first discovered theatre after a voice lesson when my teacher, Lisa Franklin, asked if I wanted to audition for a musical called Really Rosie. I was incredibly shy, but I auditioned anyway and completely fell in love with it.

EMMALEE: I grew up listening to cast albums in the car with my mom, and then she brought me to see the national tour of Cats when I was four or five. I was absolutely obsessed with Grizabella. It's one of my earliest memories - watching her ascend, singing "Memory." I've been chasing that feeling ever since.

MARIA: I always wrote songs as a kid to process my emotions, but my journey as a musical theatre writer truly began at Pace University. While studying Musical Theatre there, I took a writing class with Eric Price and Will Reynolds and fell in love with the craft. That class is actually where my writing partner, EmmaLee, and I first started collaborating on The Waiting. In terms of inspiration, I have always been deeply moved by artists like Sara Bareilles, Anaïs Mitchell, and Joni Mitchell.

EMMALEE: I moved to New York City when I was seventeen to pursue a BFA in Musical Theatre from Pace University, but I had a vocal injury between high school and college. When I showed up for the first day of class, I couldn't phonate through half my register. I spent my first years of college both rehabilitating my voice and trying to figure out other ways to express myself creatively. When I took a musical theatre writing class with Eric Price and Will Reynolds as an elective, I met Maria and started writing. I've never looked back.

MARIA: I write stories that are heartfelt and rooted in rich world-building, and my music is inspired by the folk genre.

EMMALEE: I'm drawn to pieces that are larger than life, and a lot of Maria and I's work pertains to world-building pieces and magical realism. I gravitate toward lyrics that feel like poems, and let the audience bring their own interpretation to the text while still advancing the arc of the character.

MARIA: Getting to hear it played out loud by a full band! There is truly no better feeling.

EMMALEE: I love bringing people together. While I love the writing process, the best part of making musicals is the part where we get to go into a rehearsal room and meet people and see their interpretation of the material. Theatre is the greatest group project of all time.

MEIRA: Probably through the genius of Ashman and Menken, and Annie, the scores of which I listened to non-stop as a child and which mesmerized me and led me to discover other artists.

YAEL: My first theatrical experience was playing Annie at my local community theater when I was 10. You can still find the video on YouTube! I fell in love and have been pursuing my theater dreams ever since.

MEIRA: I've been writng since I can remember. Beauty and the Beast, and later Sunday Clothes from Hello Dolly, and Watch What Happens from Newsies, made me want to write musical theater lyrics more than anything.

YAEL: I started working at a recording studio after graduating college and discovered my love for songwriting and music production. After that, it felt natural to combine my love for musical theater and writing. Drew Gasparini's album "I Could Use a Drink" majorly inspired me to explore what contemporary musical theater could be.

MEIRA: Up-tempo, always at least a little tongue-in-cheek. I naturally gravitate towards comedic, (even when my collaborators rightfully insist that what's needed in a certain moment in a show is a ballad.)

YAEL: I would describe my style as dramatic, relatable, and most importantly, catchy!

MEIRA: Reaching listeners who hopefully see their experiences mirrored in those of the characters.

YAEL: Nothing beats the feeling of hearing someone sing my song. It's so special to see how my work can resonate with someone else, sometimes in ways I never imagined. If my song can connect with someone, make them laugh/cry/sing along, I know I've done my job!

When I was in primary school, the 6th grade class mounted a musical every year, and the whole class was made to audition for parts. While I didn't get the lead role, the music teacher was so impressed with my singing that she wrote in a solo for me - being nurtured when I was that young set me on my theater path.

I was always a songwriter (writing mainly pop/rnb songs), but taking musical theater writing classes in school re-ignited my passion for musical theater. Unlike songwriting, when you're writing to advance a storyline, there certainly are right or wrong answers, and boiling emotions and plot points down to musical parameters is a very fun puzzle to solve.

My guiding motto is "content dictates form" - so I'm glad to say the styles I write in, the vocabulary I use in my lyrics, the rhyme scheme, even the instrumentation I choose when I arrange my songs are all informed by the content of the story and the context it's told in - Where are we? What time period are we in? Who are the characters? How old are they? Are they educated? Articulate? Guarded? The answers to all my musical questions lie in this information.

Being able to take an idea that only existed in my head and to transform it into a tangible product that other people can hear and experience is very cool to me!

ROBERT: My grandmother took my sister and I to see a show at the Alhambra Theatre in St. Augustine when I was ten years old. I don’t remember what the show was, but distinctly remember leaving the theatre angry that I hadn’t seen a play sooner! This led to my first performing role in middle school as Jacey Squires in the Music Man. I’ve been hooked ever since.

ROBERT: Thanks to my mom’s love of movies, I grew up learning life lessons from a variety of good stories. I have always been inspired by the power of stories to move hearts and minds, from classic Disney films to Nora Ephron’s timeless collection of work and everything in between. After the life changing experience of performing in Hong Kong Disneyland’s Festival of the Lion King, I knew I wanted to be a part of crafting these types of deeply stirring tales from their inception. The magic inherent in the process of shaping an original thought is truly unlike anything else, and I feel lucky to collaborate with so many great artists to bring these creations to life.

ROBERT: As a Stanford engineering grad and full time STEM educator, I apply my unique professional background and analytical problem-solving skills as a part of my creative craft. I’m passionate about applying these skills and my experience as a performing artist to champion black, brown, and primarily queer characters telling universally transformative narratives. A proud member of the Musical Theatre Factory community of innovators and the Actors’ Equity Association, I strive to dismantle the gatekeeping that keeps undiscovered and underrepresented storytellers from sharing their stories.

ROBERT: Growing up listening to Barbra and Celine, Luther and Patti, Basia and Barry Manilow, I am always amazed at the one-of-a-kind language of music, able to communicate emotion and feeling across differences in experience. Like any fantastic Nora Ephron romcom, I want my musical theatre work to embody that spirit of vulnerability and connectedness.

I got the "theatre bug" in Kansas when I was in fifth grade. I played Winthrop in Blue Valley High School's production of The Music Man. That experience was nothing short of life-changing. I remember being so thrilled to be a part of a group that was making something bigger than the sum of its parts. I never looked back!

My mom is a piano teacher and I started lessons when I was 4. In the best way, I don't have one specific memory of "deciding" to write music. The piano was always just a place for me to make music, whether that meant learning songs, putting my own spin on songs, or writing new songs. I am beyond thankful to have a mom that created such a safe space for that.

I am influenced first by all things jazz and second anything orchestral. I'm currently working on a full musical that is all jazz fusion music, so the golden age-y sound of "Another Afternoon" has been a nice palette cleanser.

I have two main loves when it comes to writing music: I really love the flow state I get into when writing on my own, and I also adore any kind of collaboration that I can find. On my own, writing has become a really safe place where I can be free from self-judgement. And with others, I have written exciting things that I never would have come up with on my own. I'm really glad to be passionate about both options and love the variety it's given me in my career so far.

VAHEED: My first experience with theatre was going to my sister's high school production of the Jungle Book when I was 6 years old. After that, I wanted to sing and act with my sister all the time. We watched every musical film my parents had and would belt along to any and every song possible together. My love of musical theatre is all due to her, and we still sing together whenever we can even twenty years later.

FAIZA: Hamilton had me in a chokehold as a teenager. I had limited access and exposure to theatre growing up, so as far as I knew, musicals were just old people twirling in a meadow and singing incomprehensibly. Hamilton became the first of many modern musicals I grew to appreciate, and whose writing styles I learned from (and eventually, I grew to appreciate the Golden Age, too). But Hamilton was also a gateway to accessing theatre in general: as a through-musical with an online soundtrack, I could follow along with the story without having to attend the show, and it was all the more special when I finally got to experience it live.

VAHEED: The first time I tried writing a song was after watching one of my favorite trashy ABC Family shows and I was writing from the perspective of one of the characters. And while I can guarantee that song was not good, it started my journey into writing music. After that, I would take existing poems and set them to music to practice writing and exploring different styles. The musical that has inspired my current style the most would be RENT. Something about queers belting and riffing at the top of their lungs really spoke to me as a child. After years of therapy... I realized why....

FAIZA: I started writing when I was six or seven years old and was gifted my first journal; I would write poems that rhymed and took pride in showing them off to my friends and teachers. As I got older, I began writing songs, but they mostly would sit in my desk drawer. It wasn’t until I was a teenager when I discovered Hamilton (did I mention it had me in a chokehold) that I realized songwriting and musical theatre writing could be a legitimate career. When I learned that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote his first musical at 17, I thought “psh, I could do that,” and the rest is history.

VAHEED: My musical writing is a combination of indie pop, rock, and Persian music, all with a hint of R&B. Dramatically, the stories I'm most interested in revolve around queer and POC characters. The way I try to include representation in my stories is not through identity politics, but through having these characters present at all. I love comedies, but also am such a sucker for a devastating ballad.

FAIZA: I would describe my style as a fusion of pop-rock, rhythmic, modern MT with Arab influence. Thematically, a lot of my work explores Arab & diaspora culture, intergenerational and cross-cultural stories, class struggles, and the discomfort of the human experience.

VAHEED: The most rewarding thing about writing music for me is connecting with audience members. If my music speaks to at least person and evokes an emotional response, I consider that piece a massive success.

FAIZA: There is something powerful that music can evoke which is difficult to replicate through other mediums. Music can change your mood, make you empathize with those you don’t understand, and get stuck in your head long after you’ve heard it. For me, what’s most rewarding is that through writing music, I can reach those who don’t have the same experiences as me. Most people haven’t been to Egypt or befriended an older immigrant Arab woman, but through a song, they might be able to see a picture of a beautiful community they didn’t previously know, and feel for those who have lived like the character whose voice they’re listening to. Hearts are easier to reach through a good soundtrack.