My Collaborators

Below is a little bit about some of the people with whom I have had the pleasure to write. Each partnership has been unique — different and exciting — and has enriched my life.

JASON ANDERSON

Mr. Anderson was raised in sunny Southern California, before moving to Utah to attend high school. It was always his intention to return to the Golden State, but circumstances‑or providence‑never allowed it.

Besides acting and theater tech, his passions include fast cars, off-roading and rock’n roll.

Mr. Anderson still makes his home in Utah.

NOTE: Jason was a student of mine at Pleasant Grove High School in Utah. He was an eager actor, techie and budding writer. I put him in charge of writing and editing a musical that our Advanced Drama class put together. It turned out rather well and is still being produced. — C. Michael Perry

Musical Authored Together:

• A Christmas Memory (Available at: http://www.histage.com/playdetails.asp?PID=2030

Other works by Jason A. Anderson (J.A. Anderson):

Starriders Book 1 — Dragon Fire

Starriders Book 2 — Rebels Without A Clue

Both available at Chalice Publications: http://thestarriders.net/

A new Series — The SoulChaser Series — A war is brewing between the Eternals and the Realm of Lost Souls…and Earth is the battleground. VISIT:  http://www.soulchasers.net

Book 1 — Good Blood — Bad Blood due in late 2012.

Book 2 — Heaven’s Eyes

MIMI BEAN

Mimi and I met in college. I might be able to say that we hit it off right well! She has always had a clever wit and an engaging personality. And a prodigious talent for writing lyrics. Way out there lyrics. Hilarious lyrics. I had this script that needed work. I asked her to rewrite it for me and straighten out the lyrics. She did. Then other projects followed. We even dated for a while. But life called us away and we lost touch for a longer while. We’re back in touch now, and the spark of creativity is still there.

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Cinderabbit! (Eldridge Plays and Musicals)
• Light Waltz
• Rumpelstiltskin (Eldridge Plays and Musicals)

ORSON SCOTT CARD

Scott was a great and early influence on me. We wrote one musical together, but we produced and performed in many works together back in the Seventies — our time at University, and a little bit beyond.

For background and current information on this award-winning Science Fiction author (Ender’s Game, anyone?), please visit his site:

www.hatrack.com

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Liberty Jail (Zion Theatricals)

THOM DUNCAN

Thom and I made it through BYU’s Theatre and Cinematic Arts Department, he writing, acting and directing. Me composing, directing, choreographing and acting. But we never really worked together. We graduated and went our separate ways. Then he called me to pen a score for one of his musical projects. And now there are more projects on the table.

He has written many plays and won awards for most of them!

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• The Tymes Of All Eternity
• The Ballad of Parley P! (Zion Theatricals)
• Let There Be Love (Zion Theatricals)
• APOCALYPSO! (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

MAX C. GOLIGHTLY

Max Golightly — is a retired Professor of Playwrighting at Brigham Young University. Max has taught High School and College drama for the last forty years. He is nationally recognized as an award winning poet and has served as President of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Inc. His plays have been produced all over the western states, and in various other parts of the country. He is a director of considerable reputation in college and community theatre productions. His one-act play “A LITTLE MATTER OF WE” has won awards in national contests. In addition to KEWPIE (now titled ROSE) and “WE” other published plays include PINOCCHIO, THE FORGE AND THE FIRE, TURN THE GAS BACK ON, THE TOKEN, FAUNTLEROY!, A NIGHT ON NEEDLEPOINT and LISTEN TO THE SNOW.

Over the last fifteen years of Max’s life he became my mentor and my champion. He got me my first teaching job at Pleasant Grove High School. What a joy that was! After two years there, that job lead to another great joy — teaching at Spanish Fork High School. Along the way we wrote together and I also became his publisher. He was a wonderful, quirky, perfectionist and we worked diligently to achieve his dreams. Sadly, we lost Max in 1996. He is sorely missed.

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Fauntleroy! (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Rose! (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Turn The Gas Back On! (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Wisdom Tree (Zion Theatricals)

ELIZABETH HANSEN

Ms. Hansen is a Writers Guild Award winner and an EMMY-nominated screenwriter and consultant who has had a varied writing, directing, and acting career, that has taken her from the bright lights of Broadway working with the likes of Tommy Tune and Harold Prince, to the newsrooms of the Los Angeles Times where she had her own “Byline,” to the classrooms of Brigham Young University where she taught screenwriting and playwriting from 1994-2000 as well as helped focus their Screenwriting Program.
After graduating with honors from the University of Utah, Ms. Hansen journeyed to Los Angeles to study musical theatre performance at the highly regarded Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Musical Theatre Workshop as well as acting technique with Charles Nelson-Reilly. From Los Angeles she moved to New York where she studied with the famed acting teacher Uta Hagen. Over the next few years she was seen on Broadway in A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine and Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up.  In her acting career she has starred opposite Milton Berle in Guys and Dolls, James Mason in A Partridge in a Pear Tree, Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!, and Rudolf Nureyev in The King and I, as well as numerous musicals Off-Broadway and in regional theatre.
In the late 80s, Ms. Hansen decided to focus on her writing and was accepted into the prestigious American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film and Television studies, one of the top five film programs in the U.S., where she received an MFA in screenwriting. Since then, she has written for nearly every film and video venue in the business:  feature film, short film, television (long and short form), corporate video, documentary, as well a s musicals and straight plays for the legitimate theatre.
She has spent numerous years as a script consultant, first with the Pasadena Playhouse, where she reviewed new and established scripts which were under consideration, as well as with Entertainment Business Group, an entertainment consulting company where she worked on “Campaign Breakdowns” and “Comparative Picture Analyses”
Also a film and stage director, she has directed a handful of short films and just completed directing Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for Sundance Summer Theatre.
In addition to her Writer’s Guild Award and her Emmy nomination, Ms. Hansen was a finalist for the esteemed Humanitas Prize for excellence in children’s television programing, a Telly Award for her work with the Foundation for a Better Life and has been awarded two Crystal Awards for excellence in corporate video writing as well as numerous screenwriting competitions.

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Enchanted April — A Musical
• How The West Was Done (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• They Called Him Brother Joseph  (Zion Theatricals)
• Christmas On The Blue (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

LARRY HILLHOUSE

This is from the MEET LARRY page of his own website:

I am a native-born Tennessean and proud of it. Years ago I followed in the footsteps of my hero, David Crockett, and journeyed from Tennessee to Texas. To my surprise I discovered that the Alamo was not only being remembered, but was quite secure. Somewhat disillusioned, I settled in Arlington anyway, thinking that I should keep an eye on things.

For fun and food I designed and developed software for many years. Somehow I’ve managed to squander time writing various things, some of which are described on this site. I currently keep watch over three cats, Milton, Berle, and Penny, as well as continuing to discreetly monitor the Alamo situation.

I have been a creative writer in some form since about the second grade, beginning with poetry. Limericks were, and still are, fun to write. During my teen years, I drifted into writing short stories. Still later, I wrote poems, songs, and stories for my wife to use in her kindergarten teaching.

My first writing that was drama related involved monologues. My wife was teaching a drama class in Mansfield, and needed some monologues for a recital. She didn’t like what was available, so asked me to provide something. The students loved them, which was my goal, as I’m certain that an actor performs noticeably better when they really like their material.

Next I was asked to help adapt the Robin Hood story for a play at Creative Arts Theatre and School (C.A.T.S.) in Arlington, Texas. That led to a couple more minor works there, such as adding a character or songs to existing scripts.

My son, Jason, had been performing on stage since he was around 6 years old, and since I had sat through literally hundreds of performances, felt as though I had a pretty good idea of what actors and audiences would find fun and entertaining. I enjoyed putting those ideas to practice.

When Jason was asked to direct Hansel and Gretel at C.A.T.S. during his senior year in high school, he hesitated, as the script provided was rather lame. I offered to write a script for him if he would take the opportunity to direct. He and I quickly put together a musical version of Hansel and Gretel that had a very different slant from the original version. It was quite well received by the actors and the audiences.

Since then, I have had two collections of monologues published by Contemporary Drama, two collections of monologues published by Encore Performance Publishing, and two plays published by Encore Performance Publishing. One of the published plays is “Robin Hood and the Magna Carta,” which combines the Robin Hood legend with actual English history. The other play is a musical spoof of the Frankenstein story, which is anything but traditional.

Almost by accident, I also wrote a cookbook along the way. I may well be the least famous person to have had a cookbook published by a royalty-paying publisher. I had written a group of humorous short stories concerning life on a southern farm in the 1920-40s. For some bizarre reason, I decided that the best chance of getting the work published was to incorporate the stories into a cookbook. Since the stories are set during the waste-not era of the Great Depression, I rounded up a number of recipes from that same time frame, and then found a publisher (Quixote Press) who happened to be looking for an old-fashioned country cookbook manuscript.

“Grandma’s Cookbook” was subsequently published, and contains some very interesting recipes, such as those involving “recently deceased opossums” and jellies made from cow parts not normally used for human consumption anymore.

Straying from playwriting in 1999, I wrote a mystery novel set in the Arlington area, “In Over Your Head; A Cody Bryan Mystery,” just to see if I could. I published it through ToExcel, primarily to use as Christmas gifts. It was fun to write, and garnered good reviews, so I wrote the second of the series, “Shot at and Missed,” set in the Virginia/Washington, D.C. area. Then I wrote “Deep in the Woods,” a young Appalachian girl’s coming-of-age type mystery novel, with a touch of science fiction thrown into the mix. This book had been tumbling around in my head for a decade, and I finally got it down on paper. The sequel is still primarily in my head.

In 2007 the publisher at Quixote Press asked whether I’d be interested in writing a book of ghost stories to add to their series. Why not? Since then I’ve written four ghost books and another cookbook for them. The first ghost book, “Ghosts of Lookout Mountain” has just been released. Hopefully the others will follow soon.

I write because it is fun, and a creative challenge. It is also personally fulfilling to provide entertainment for others. Since my novels are available via the major online bookstores, I have received emails from people I’ve never met who have read and enjoyed my writing. A guy wanted to know if one of my female characters was real and had a phone number. A college drama class utilized one of my monologue books in their studies, and wrote to me asking for background information behind the writings.

I don’t have a particular formula for writing. Sometimes I start with outlines, but not always. The “Woods” novel began with me knowing only the very ending scene. The first “Cody” I began writing without knowing much about the plot. I created a character and let him tell me the story as we traveled from beginning to end. The second “Cody” had me writing various chapters, totally out of sequence, and then putting them together with putty. I really enjoy writing dialogue, but that is probably the toughest part of writing. Often what looks good on paper is lousy when spoken aloud. (I think we’ve all seen many examples of that on television and movie screens.) At least three fourths of the time spent on the ghost books is in research, as the settings need to be easily recognized.

I am currently working on the third Cody Bryan mystery, set in New Orleans, and also a sequel to the “Woods” novel. Several more plays are in various stages of completion. Of course I still write the occasional poem. Unfortunately, my everyday life severely interferes with the time I can allot to my writing. I am always interested in hearing from people who have read any of my work or have simply visited my website, www.larryhillhouse.com.

Visit his site and see what Larry has been up to!

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Frank’n Styne (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

JON-ROBERT HOWE

Jon Robert Howe is first last, and always a seeker of truth who is happy to share–an educator experienced in multimedia ways to make learning memorable.

He has been in turns a newspaper photographer, radio news broadcaster, professional Santa Claus, actor, video producer, musical playwright, graphic and Internet designer, marketing executive and innovative blogger.

In his college classes, Jon loves to teach hungry students the presentation computer techniques that he is always polishing and using.

He really enjoys leading church classes using his multimedia skills to not only keep his students awake–but more, to help make the lessons “stick” in the minds and hearts of his fellow students.

Missionary Boxer (with music by Lynn Burton)

also: Teaching Moment Boosters (A book that gives your talks and lessons more punch and power) (Visit Leicester Bay Books)

Grampa In Training Volume 1 (A book about being a great and constructive Grampa) (Visit Zion BookWorks)

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• The Saga of Sasquatch C’lone: Doc Hollidays Electronic Medicine Show (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

WILL HUDDLESTON

Will is an actor, director and playwright who lives with his family in San Francisco. His experience includes work with five different Shakespeare festivals, including six years with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as both an actor and director. He has worked as a professional actor at the Intiman Theatre Company and the Tacoma Actors Guild in Seattle. Since moving to the Bay area, he has been artistic director of the VITA Shakespeare Festival and worked as an actor and director for the California Actor’s Theatre, the San Jose Repertory Company, the Magic Theatre and other companies. Currently, Mr. Huddleston is Resident Director with the California Theatre Center. In addition to writing adaptations, he has created numerous original plays including THE ADVENTURES OF PERSEUS, A NEW AGE IS DAWNING (about the Ragtime Era), THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, AMELIA EARHART and THE RAVEN’S TALE, as well as THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. These plays have been seen in productions at the Seattle Children’s Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Alaska Youth Theatre, South Coast Repertory and at schools and theatre programs for young people across the United States

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• The Scarlet Pimpernel (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

CONI KOEPFINGER

Coni was recommended to us by another NYC author — June Rachelson-Ospa. We have her  plays SAINTS IN REVOLT and OFF THE PATH

As winner of the 2021 Olwen Wymark Theatre Award for encouraging artists worldwide by the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain, Coni Koepfinger believes that creative energy is never lost – it just changes hands and hearts. Currently she is the host of AIRPLAY/ DETERMINED WOMEN, a virtual theatre program in its 13th season that brings the voices of artists, actors, playwrights from all over the world. As adjunct faculty, Coni has taught theatre and composition at Carnegie Mellon, Penn State and Point Park University. Coni considers herself a global personality as Get the Message was performed in 2023 by high school students in the Philippines; she is also a contributing writer for the Center of Conscious Creativity in LA; a Member of The Dramatists Guild, a former board member and committee chair of the International Center for Women Playwrights and the League of Professional Theatre Women. Working with her writing partner Joe Izen, Coni has scribed powerful commentaries on society with Eve of Beltane -a fresh look at political corruption in the face of ancient Celtic mythology which played in the Broadway Bound Festival (2019); Schoolhouse -an ultramodern musical that takes the young victim of a school shooting through a magical journey; and the new age musical, Kingdom Come, where technology meets its match with TED, the world’s first transhuman who falls in love with boss only to reveal a beautiful evolution for humanity, currently being developed by Sia Koskina in Greece. Other productions include Garrett, the Blue Giraffe at Pan Asian Rep’s NuWorks 2019; Takin’ It Back a ten-minute play for THE ME-TOO PROJECT in Harlem; and Playing House a commissioned play on Bella Abzug for UNTOLD STORIES OF JEWISH WOMEN and Playing Fate in the New Blood Series; My Dinner with Mary, which was streamed-live from The Player’s Club in Gramercy Park. Simon Says, won placement in PLAYBILL’S VTF (Virtual Theatre Festival) 2020 and was accepted in Manhattan Rep’s STORIES film competition in 2021; Josie in the Bardo (2022) at The Chain Theatre; The Unusal Chauncey Faust (2023) at the Rogue Theatre Festival; Live from the Bardo (2023) read at The East Broadway Theatre Project; and a showcase of Auditioning for Eternity (2023) at Theater for the New City.

Working with Coni is a true collaboration as we Zoom and Facetime session after session discussing, suggesting, amending, and finalizing a script and lyrics for THE SHADOW DANCERS.

MUSICALS TOGETHER:

• TINKERTOWN! Where Creativity Comes To Life (Premiere Theatrical Licensing)
• THE SHADOW DANCERS (soon to Premiere Theatrical Licensing)

JOANNA H. KRAUS

I met Joanna at an ASSITEJ/AATE Convention in Boston back in the 1990s. She is one of the early movers and shakers as a writer of children’s plays. Fast forward to 2018, when a friend of mine (and one of the authors in Leicester Bay Theatricals and Leicester Bay Books), mentioned that he was doing 2 new plays by Joanna and that I should take a look at publishing them. He also suggested a book, THE BLUE JEANS REBELLION. Well I published the book and six of her plays, and now in 2022 we are writing a new musical together based on one of her early plays about a land-swindler in Arizona and his romance with the supposed daughter of a large land-owner.

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• SOFIA • A Musical About a Southwest Legend (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

JAMES G. LAMBERT

Recollections of Jim

James G. Lambert was a playwright, lyricist and composer as well as a director and actor. He was active in theatrical enterprises wherever he lived. His wife, Elizabeth Lambert, survives him and lives in Provo, Utah. His children Julia Lambert Grogan, James D. Lambert and Christian Lambert have settled in various places around the country.

Jim and I were introduced to each other in the ‘Production of the Century’ at BYU called “Brigham!” (Max Golightly was directing it — it was huge. It starred Harve Presnell, who was a delight to work with.) Jim was in the cast and I was the Assistant Choreographer to another great man Dee Winterton! [Later, Dee, another mentor, gave me the opportunity to choreograph Dick Van Dyke for a television special that Dee had been hired to oversee. Circles and connections just lead on and on.] Jim was also a member of the cast of the original production of Scott Card’s and my “Liberty Jail.”

Jim and I formed a friendship. He told me that he wrote musicals. I told him that I did, also. We got together.  He became a great friend and collaborator. He asked me to come and help him with his pet project, FRONTIER! We got it stageworthy and after that worked together on numerous projects (like the ones mentioned below) and others, never produced.

In 2011 we all lost a great man, husband, father, friend. I lost a true friend, collaborator, and father-figure when Jim died.

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• The Angel and the Rebel
• Curses, Foiled Again! (with Eldridge Plays and Musicals)
• Frontier!
• Golden Dreams (with Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• The Homely Touch (aka: The Tender Touch)
• Jedediah! (with Zion Theatricals)
• That’s Life
• Where Freedom Stands (with Zion Theatricals)

SUSAN L. LEWIS

Susan and I met at BYU where she had written several plays that were produced at the university, directed by both Faculty members and Graduate Students alike. They were fine plays. I needed help re-structuring the book to an experimental musical. Susan got the job done.

Musical Authored Together

• Of Babylon (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

NEIL K. NEWELL

Neil Newell — was born in Orem, Utah and attended Brigham Young University where he received a BS degree in Business Management and the University of Southern California where he received an MFA in Professional Writing. He has taught Creative Writing at Clark County Community College in Las Vegas and at Utah Valley State College. He has also taught Advanced Playwrighting at Brigham Young University. Various articles and short stories of his have been published in national magazines. His science fiction novel, THE RELUCTANT WIZARD was published by Manor Books. In addition to his collaboration on the music and lyrics for KEWPIE (now titled ROSE) and TURN THE GAS BACK ON Max C. Golightly and C. Michael Perry he has written the music and some book and lyric elements for PINOCCHIO with Max.

He has also written the book, music and lyrics for LOVERS AND OTHERS and COVENANTS. Since Max’s death Neil and Mike have continued their partnership with ANNE…WITH AN ‘E’: THE GREEN GABLES MUSICAL, SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS, and GREAT EXPECTATIONS. He works for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a researcher/writer. He is married to Ariane Moffit, also of Orem, and has five children.

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Anne With An E: The Green Gables Musical (With Eldridge Plays and Musicals)
• Great Expectations (with Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Rose (with Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Such Stuff As Dreams (with Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Turn The Gas Back On! (with Leicester Bay Theatricals)

JUNE RACHELSON-OSPA

I met June in NYC when she attended a performance of my musical, “AN ENCHANTED APRIL” on 42nd Street. We talked after the show, she told me how she enjoyed it. Soon, COVID hit and no one was talking with anyone.

After Covid she began to send me some of her other musicals which are being included in the Leicester Bay catalog.

• Rapunzarella White (a fairly fractured tale)
• S.W.A.K. (a twist on the Frog Prince)
• The True Colors of Weedle (finding your way in the Autism spectrum)
• Welcome to Tourettaville (a searing and inspiratiional portrait of Tourettes Syndrome)
• Stupid Wig (coming to grips with childhood cancer)

(more to come on June)

MUSICAL TOGETHER:

• Pinocchia (soon to Premiere Theatrical Licensing)

CAROL LYNN PEARSON

Carol Lynn Pearson is a well-known writer in a variety of genres. The unlikely area of poetry provided her first major success. Well over 250,000 copies of her poetry books have been sold and poems have appeared in literature books as well as Ann Lander’s column.  A book that brought major recognition in a different way is “Goodbye, I Love You”, the story of her life with her husband, a homosexual man struggling with the conflicts this brought to his life and marriage. After twelve years and four children, the couple ended their marriage and vowed to remain good friends. Six years later, in Carol Lynn’s home, where she was taking care of him, Gerald died of AIDS. Believing their story could help many others, Ms. Pearson decided to tell it. The book made her a popular guest on such shows as “Good Morning, America,” “Oprah,” “Sally Jesse Raphael,” and was featured in “People” magazine and “Woman’s Day.” She has also written education motion pictures and children’s plays, two commissioned by Robert Redford’s Sundance Theatre, “Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Cry Wolf” and “I Believe In Make Believe.” Her most recent project is a one-woman play which she wrote and performs, “Mother Wove The Morning,” in which she portrays sixteen women through out history in search for the female face of God. Ms. Pearson received her BA and MA degrees in Theater at Brigham Young University in Utah, where she twice received the “Best Actress” award. She lives and works in Walnut Creek, California.

Carol Lynn and I met during the Utah production of MY TURN ON EARTH. She had written so many successful pieces, but her warm and engaging personality welcomed me. She suggested I write a score for her new children’s musical, a fable: “The Apple Kingdom”.

Musical Authored Together:

• The Apple Kingdom (Eldridge Plays and Musicals)

Other Plays and Musicals:

• Martyr In Waiting (Zion Theatricals)
• Don’t Count Your Chickens Until They Cry Wolf! (Anchorage Press — now owned by Dramatic Publishing)
• I Believe In Make Believe (Anchorage Press — now owned by Dramatic Publishing)
• A Stranger for Christmas [play] (Eldridge Plays and Musicals)
• A Stranger for Christmas [play with songs] (Eldridge Christian Plays and Musicals)
• The Order Is Love (exclusive license by Zion Theatricals by permission of Deseret Book)
• My Turn On Earth (exclusive license by Zion Theatricals by permission of Deseret Book)
• Move On! (Zion Theatricals)
  
• The Dance (Zion Theatricals)
• Mother Wove The Morning (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Facing East (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Caravan (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

ROBERT G. PECK, JR.

Robert G. Peck, Jr. — my other ‘first’ collaborator. I would never have accomplished the things I have accomplished without the influence of this man in my life. I know of many others who give him equal credit in their lives.

This little article is from the Chicago Tribune’s Memorial Service notice about his death in 1986.  “A memorial service for Robert G. Peck Jr., 78, a retired advertising executive, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in Grace Episcopal Church, 120 E. First St., Hinsdale. Mr. Peck, of Hinsdale, died Wednesday in Hinsdale Hospital. He retired in 1968 from Armstrong Advertising, where he had been an account executive and vice president for 20 years. Mr. Peck, who also was a freelance writer, was a contributor and substitute columnist for 15 years for The Tribune’s “Rimes and Remnants” column and several years for the newspaper’s “Line O’Type or Two” column. He wrote many reviews for The Tribune`s Sunday Book Magazine. He was active in numerous Hinsdale organizations. Survivors include two sons, Robert and William; and six grandchildren.”

LESLIE LILLIS (PIAZZA)

Leslie Lillis (Piazza)

What can I say about Leslie? She was my first — lots of things — friend who was a girl (I mean true friend), we were soul-mates from the time we met in 5th Grade; she was my first collaborator; she was my first defender; and although we never were really an ‘item’ she was my first girlfriend. I think she taught me what it was like to associate with a ‘female of the species’ and do it right. She was always incredibly supportive of me and anyone else who came into her sphere of influence.

We were thick as thieves in 7th and 8th grades and we took many of the same classes in High School (especially French with Madame Marshall, Madame LaPert and Monsieur DeSandre [in High School]) and were active together in all the Drama and Music Department productions. We rehearsed, partied, played and supported each other. We also formed an amateur youth theatre group together THE PLANK ROAD PLAYERS — producing Oliver!, The Music Man and Babes In Arms over the summers of 1969, 1970 and 1971.  (Our Sophomore, Junior and Senior years.) We were in all three shows together and we were running the group with the help of oh so many of our still very close friends.

We left for different colleges and corresponded — constantly. She visited me in Provo, Utah and I visited her in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. Then we were chosen to work with our favorite man of all time, Robert G. Peck, Jr. to write the pageant for our hometown.  What a year that was —  filled with more college for her and work for me as I came home to live with friends since my parents had retired and moved away. But Leslie and I were always together. We wrote, laughed, cried, got frustrated, celebrated, orchestrated, sang and produced and directed — together.

When that year ended — it was the hardest decision for me — but I went back to school. So did Leslie. But we kept in touch. We are still in touch. Much of that theatrical gang of our youth are still in touch. Leslie is the cement that holds it all together.

She graduated in Music. She has a husband of many years and two lovely daughters. She is a special and unique person and there will never be anyone close to her in my own universe, except for my wife. My Solar System has twin suns around which all of the other planets revolve.

Thank you, Leslie!

Musical Authored Together:

• Old Hundred, New Hundred

GAYANNE RAMSDEN (KING)

Gayanne is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a Ph.D. from the Department of Theatre and Film with an emphasis in Children’s Theatre. She took, however, as many writing classes as she could. An adaptation of hers of the BREMENTOWN MUSICIANS was performed by the Rocky Mountain Youth Theatre. Dr. Ramsden’s play BEOWULF was performed as a staged reading at Brigham Young University and a full production was staged at Spanish Fork High School in Utah. It is published by Eldridge.  Dr. Ramsden has worked as a children’s librarian in both school and city settings. Telling stories is one of her favorite pastimes. She has finished a musical version of HEIDI and is currently working on a musical of EAST OF THE SUN — WEST OF THE MOON.

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Heidi
• Star Of Israel  (on the Musicals in development page)(Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• East of the Sun, West of the Moon (coming soon)(Leicester Bay Theatricals)

GEORGE KING

George G. King is from Utah. He has served a French mission for the LDS Church and earned Degrees from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and completed course work at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He has worked for United States Steel, WordPerfect Corporation and Zions Bank as a publications editor and technical writer and taught English and French at BYU, Rice University, & Utah Valley University. He loves to write and share his philosophies and ideas in poems, stories, and theater. He also really enjoys and admires the way C. Michael Perry puts wings to his words through music.

I have never met George in person. But he married a dear friend, Gayanne Ramsden, just a few years back, and has made her so happy, that when Gayanne suggested that George contact me to create songs for his new musical script, COMING HOME, I couldn’t say no, because I knew Gayanne would not steer me wrong. She didn’t!

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Coming Home: A Christmas Story (Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• Star Of Israel  (on the Musicals in development page)(Leicester Bay Theatricals)
• East of the Sun, West of the Moon (coming soon)(Leicester Bay Theatricals)

SHEILA RINEAR

Sheila is a San Antonio-based, award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and teacher. I met her at a convention in Houston. Her work has been commissioned, developed and produced throughout the United States but especially in Texas where The Playhouse San Antonio, The Classic Theatre, and The Overtime Theatre are her artistic homes. Commissioned six times in the past 8 years by the City of San Antonio to produce performance pieces for Luminaria, Rinear also teaches Playwriting and Screenwriting at NESA (San Antonio Arts Magnet High School) and serves The Dramatists Guild as Regional Rep for Austin-San Antonio.

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETTER

• Dancing On Daddy’s Shoes

ALSO VISIT HER WEBSITE: HERE

Plays listed with Leicester Bay:

• A Day Without Palestine — A one-act
  
• Counter Intelligence — a one-act
  
• The Ransom Note (or Sweet Lily’s Peril) — a melodrama with songs
  
• Lifelines — a full-length
  

Other plays: (some of these titles will be coming on board at Leicester Bay)

• Mission Improbable 
• Watch and Prey 
• How Are You With Gluten?
  
• Dead To Rites
  
• At Least I Got Out of My Pajamas
  
• Embers
  
• Merry Gentlemen 
• Calais (the play)
  
• Urned Praise
  
• The Outskirts
  
• Stepping Out
  
• Bound By Truth (New Play Exchange)
• Cries That Bind (New Play Exchange)
  
• Moving Home
  
• A Hunger
  
• Wake Up! 
  
• Bringing Sons to Glory!  
• Do I Look Like Anyone?
  
• Chasing the Blues (the play)
  
• Unbounded
  
• I Didn’t Sign on for That!
  
• Don’t Be Like That!
  
• Heatwave 
• In the Market 
• For Mal to Hide 
• You’re Killing Me Here 
  
• Staying in Vegas 
• Deities 
• Women of Letters
  
• Teacher’s Lounge
  
• Zero Tolerance 
• Dixie
  
• We’re Doing Cinderella?
  
• Dancing on Daddy’s Shoes
  
• We’ve Got Something to Say! 
• SmokeScreen
  
• Oklahoma Framed
  

THOMAS F. ROGERS

A former director of the BYU Honors Program, Thomas F. Rogers was a professor of Russian language and literature at Brigham Young University, now retired, and the author of more than a dozen plays, many on Mormon subjects. Four of these have been published in God’s Fools (Signature Books, 1983), which also received the Association of Mormon Letters Drama Prize that same year. Those titles are HUEBENER, GOD’S FOOLS (or JOURNEY TO GOLGOTHA), FIRE IN THE BONES, and REUNION. Other titles include: THE SECOND PRIEST, THE SEAGULL (Adapted from the Chekov play), GENTLE BARBARIAN, FRERE LAWRENCE, CHARADES, were published in a second anthology entitled ‘Huebener’ and Other Plays by Thomas F. Rogers, in 1992. Then  THE ANOINTED. He has also penned stage adaptations of Dostoevsky’s novels, Crime and Punishment and The Idiot. The former received a BYU production, directed by Tad Danielewski, in which Tom played the role of Marmeladov.  In 1995–1996 God’s Fools was produced (in translation) by a professional repertory theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.  (While Tom was serving as an LDS mission president. He also played the role of the American double spy, Cooper in that production.  Later on that mission he directed a Russian language version of Huebener in St. Petersburg.

His latest published stories appeared in the Summer 1991 issue of Dialogue (receiving an annual Dialogue fiction award) and in the collection Christmas for the World. Rogers was once the editor of Encyclia, journal of the Utah Academy, and author of a critical monograph, Myth and Symbol in Soviet Fiction (The Edwin Mellen Press). He studied at the Yale School of Drama and holds degrees from the University of Utah, Yale, and Georgetown. He has also studied theater in Poland and Russian at Moscow State University and taught at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Utah. Rogers’ theatrical activity includes acting and directing in addition to writing plays. He has traveled extensively in Russia, Eastern Europe, and India. He and his wife Merriam are the parents of seven children, thirty-eight grandchildren and, so far, three great-grand-children. They reside in Bountiful, Utah.

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• The Anointed (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

PLAYS AUTHORED

• Huebener
• Fire In The Bones
• Reunion
• God’s Fools (or Journey To Golgotha)
• The Second Priest
• The Seagull (Adapted from Chekov)
• The Gentle Barbarian
• Frére Lawrence
• Charades
• A Good Man Is Hard To Find (based on the Flannery O’Connor story)
• The Idiot (adapted from Dostoyevsky)
• Crime and Punishment (adapted from Dostoyevsky)
• Petunia Passes, a one-act
• Intruder in the Dust (Faulkner adaptation)
• Judgment Day (Flannery O’Connor)
• Woyzeck (from Buechner a translation)
• The Wager (from the Phillip Flammer novel)
• Military Justice: The Last Mass Execution in the United States (Richard Whitingham history)
• The MTC: Set Apart” (from the Ben Parkinson novel)
• The Scarlet Letter (Opera libretto) (from Hawthorne)
• Nest of Feathers
• Josephine
• Siegfried Idyll
• And He That Wavereth
• Once Upon a Summer
• The Deserted
• The Immortal
• First Trump
• (Bolded titles are available through Leicester Bay Theatricals)

COLLECTED PLAYS: (available through Leicester Bay Theatricals)

• The Plays of Thomas F. Rogers Volume 1: Perestroika and Glasnost
• The Plays of Thomas F. Rogers Volume 2: Personal Journeys
• The Plays of Thomas F. Rogers Volume 3: Crises In Faith

JOE ROSENBERG

I met Joe at a Theatre Convention in Texas. Everything is big down there — including the talent. Joe was an engaging and accomplished professional. He had been one of the pioneers, nationwide, in Bilingual Theatre and was the founder of Teatro Bilingue. He wrote many plays and adaptations of all kinds. We worked on one together — a Bilingual Musical about bullying listed below.

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• El Bully (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

SHIRLEE SHIELDS

I met Shirlee many years ago when we were both in a graduate playwrighting class together, she working on her Doctorate and I working on my Masters. We collaborated on the little multi-media musical below. She is the author of three other plays: HIRUM BEEBE; COMING OF AGE; and MERRY CHRISTMAS, GEORGE BAILEY.

She has also written several books published by Leicester Bay Books and Zion BookWorks.

Shirlee passed in 2022. What a special friend and person she was. I will miss her.

Musical Authored Together:

• Where Is Jill? (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

R. REX STEPHENSON

R. Rex Stephenson TEACHING EXPERIENCE 1973 to present: Ferrum College Drama Department Rank: Professor since 1989 1966-69: Teaching high school and junior high English, government, speech, and drama EDUCATION Ph. D., New York University, Education/Theatre, 1984 M. A., Indiana State University, Speech/Theatre, 1973 B. S., Ball State University, Social Science and Speech/Drama, 1964

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Plays: Wicca. In online journal Nantahala: A Review of Writing and Photography in Appalachia. Issue 1:01. Nov. 2001. Kipling’s Just So Stories and Just So Stories—the Musical, with music Emily Rose Tucker. Venice, FL: Eldridge, 2006. Grandmother Tales: Mutsmag and Ashpet, Traditional Tales from the Blue Ridge Mountains. New Plays for Children, 2004. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. Salt Lake City, UT: Encore Performance Publishing, 2004. The Prince and the Pauper: Based on the Mark Twain Classic. Orem, UT:  Encore, 2002. My Travels with Cecil. Encore, 2002. (Now with LBT) About British ballad collector Cecil Sharp’s visit to Franklin County, VA in 1918. The Three Old Women’s Bet. I. E. Clark, 2002. The Adventures of Huck Finn, with music by Jon Cohn and C. Michael Perry. Adapted from Mark Twain. Encore, 2002. (now with LBT)  A Christmas Carol.  Adapted from Charles Dickens. I. E. Clark, 2001. (Now with LBT) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Eldridge, 2000. And the Rains Came. . . And Came. New Plays for Children, 2000. Glorious Son of York: A Play for Two or More People about King Richard III. Orem, UT:  Encore Publishing, 2000. (Now with LBT) Jack’s Adventures with the King’s Girl. Encore Performance Publishing, 1999. Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. New Plays for Children, 1998. Too Free for Me. Encore Publishing, 1998. (award-winning play based on local history) The Vision: A Play about John Wesley and the Founding of Kingswood School, with co-author Mike Trochim,1998. Alice in Wonderland, with music by Jon Cohn. 1997. Revised with new music. Eldridge, 2009. Galileo: Man of Science, with co-author Mike Trochim. New Plays for Children, 1996. Treasure Island. I. E. Clark, 1995. The Jack Tales. I. E. Clark, 1991. “The Jack Tales,” in Eight Plays for Youth, ed. by Christian Moe, Lang, 1991. The Liberated Cinderella. I. E. Clark, 1973. Other Publications: Mutsmag, in AppLit, 2002. An online picture book adaptation, illustrated by children in grades K-3, Franklin County, VA. Script in Crosscurrents of Children’s Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism, Oxford UP, 2006. “Jack and the Giants” in AppLit, 2010. “Jack and the King’s Girl,” in ALCA-Lines:  Journal of the Assembly on the Literature and Culture of Appalachia , vol. IX (2001): 14-15. Also published with guidelines for dramatizing with children, in Nellie McCaslin’s Creative Drama in the Classroom, 5th ed. (New York:  Longman, 1990). Full text reprinted at this link in AppLit. “Teacher Resource Guide” for Galileo: Man of Science (with Jon Cohn, Kara-Beth Oliver, Madison Williams, Donna Speidel, and Mike Trochim). In Nellie McCaslin’s Creative Drama in the Classroom, 7th ed. (NY: Longman, 2000). “Jack and the Hainted House,” in Nellie McCaslin’s Creative Drama in the Classroom and Beyond(Boston: Allyn & Bacon, editions 4-8. In story form with guidelines for dramatization.) “Jack and his Lump of Silver,” in ALCA-Lines: Journal of the Assembly on the Literature and Culture of Appalachia, vol. VI (Fall 1999): 6-7. Full text reprinted at this link in AppLit. “Feedback and Follow Up” (with John Hodgson). Virginia English Bulletin, Spring 1995. “The Script as Story Theatre.”1994. Reprinted in AppLit. “A Way to Begin: The Narrative Story Expansion.” Virginia English Bulletin, Spring 1992. “Why Do I Do It.” Geriatric Nursing, Winter 1987. “The Jack Tales of the Southern Appalachian Area.” Ferrum Review, Spring 1976.

ADDITIONAL THEATRICAL AND SCHOLARLY EXPERIENCEProducer/Director, Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre (summer, since 1978)Producer/writer/director of Ferrum College Jack Tale Players since 1975Director of over 150 playsWriter/producer of over 25 playsActor in over 100 playsProducer/writer/director of 8 stateside USO tours for Veterans Administration Medical CentersProduced 48-minute video, The Jack Tales Performing Live, Media Link Productions Conducted many workshops for teachers and students on drama, storytelling, and uses of folktales Presentations at Virginia Humanities Conferences, 1996 and 1998; Biennial Conferences on Modern Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature, 1997 and 2001; and Appalachian Teachers’ Network Conference, 2001, on dramatic adaptations of folklore and literature Performances and presentations at theatre conferences since 1982 Recipient of IUPUI National Youth Theatre Playwrighting Competition award for “Excellence in Playwrighting” for Jack’s Adventures with the King’s Girl in 1996 Recipient of 2007 Sara Spencer Child Drama Award, Southeastern Theatre Conference

Working with Rex and the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre was almost dream-like. I acted as a Dramaturg in 2002 for their production of MY TRAVELS WITH CECIL a delightful historical play about the origins of the music of the Appalachians. The next summer he asked me to write the score for his new version of DANIEL! I jumped at the chance. It was a whirlwind journey. I arrived at the auditions having only seen act one and the music was finished for that act. Upon arrival Rex presented me with the second act and I wrote seven songs in a week before rehearsals started. I love pressure and it pushes me to be creative. I acted as the director of the production and musical director and also accompanied the performances. It was sheer delight. Rex was always there to support and help me in my varied tasks. And the professionals I worked with were some of the best I have ever met. Thanks, Rex!

MUSICALS AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Daniel!
• Adventures of Huck Finn (with Jon Cohn)
• We Band Of Brothers (with Jon Cohn)

CHARLES W. WHITMAN

Dr. Charles W. Whitman was one of my early mentors at BYU. He was my first playwrighting teacher and without him I never would have been able to go on to do what I did. He was careful and supportive — encouraging. He called on me to write the score for his Summer Youth Theatre project in 1976 based on the work I had done in his Playwrighting Class and the year before as a dance and movement teacher for the workshop with the plays:  CAPTAIN JINKS OF THE HORSE MARINES and THE BLUEBIRD. So we wrote ENTERTAINING MARK TWAIN together.  Then, again he called on me in the 1990s to write and adapt a score for his current project, which eventually became ONSTAGE. At first it was a mix of well-known theatre songs and original tunes. After meeting with the playwright — Nancy Zelenak — she and I wanted to take it further than just the workshop — I wrote new songs to replace the ones that we had borrowed for the Workshop production. Dr. Whitman was there, as usual, encouraging us to go farther.  I spoke with him on the phone early in 2012 and he was doing well and we talked of good times and lots of memories. He also wrote many plays and a few musicals (with other composers) but one of my fondest memories was being a part of the ensemble for his LDS play, PLAY THE DRUM SO THAT IT IS HEARD AGAIN in 1972.

NOTE: Dr. Whitman taught us in his Playwrighting class that the reason for the spelling of the word Play-wright-ing is because, like a metal worker or blacksmith is an iron-wright, or a wheelmaker is a wheel-wright, so a play is wrought — not just written. It is formed carefully by hand by an artisan. That is quite something to aspire to.

MUSICAL AUTHORED TOGETHER

• Entertaining Mark Twain (Leicester Bay Theatricals)

NANCY ZELENAK

Nancy and I were thrown together, but quite willingly, as collaborators, by Dr. Charles Whitman — a mentor of too many people to count — at a summer workshop at Brigham Young University, where we were also teaching. We developed ONSTAGE! there and later, when I was teaching High School, we developed it further into the musical as it now exists. She is a delightful and capable writer — and a great person, too!

MUSICAL AUTHORED

• Onstage! (Eldridge Plays and Musicals)