2025 Shows
For hundreds of years, Catholic girls in white dresses have graduated from Peace Lily Preparatory School in San Francisco. But Max, the first out trans boy in Peace Lily's 2019 senior class, wants to wear a suit. Their three-day senior retreat is Max's last chance to change the Dean's mind. In this pop musical with a hymn-infected score, Max and his friends brave rituals, romance, and the endless confusion of growing up to ask: how much is it worth to make a statement?
Do No Harm
by Amanda Yesnowitz (book & lyrics) and Doug Katsaros (music)
Growing up in small-town, working class 19th century Ireland, Margaret Bulkley is told what to do, what to think, and how to behave. But this spirited lass refuses to follow the well-worn path of servile, domesticated women before her. Fueled by a joyless childhood and an unflappable ambition, she is determined to become a doctor even if it means living her life in disguise — as a man. Over the course of our story, Margaret reinvents herself as Dr. James Barry, sacrificing her womanhood for a greater cause. In the process she becomes the first female surgeon to perform a successful C-section, in which both mother and child survive. Tragically, her accomplishments go undiscovered until her death when the world finally learns that the real genius and medical pioneer was a lady.
Nadia Half Dreaming
by Elle Tyler (book, music, lyrics)
The Happy Parts follows a young girl named Kelsey Writworth. Kelsey is bright, energetic, precocious, has a deep love for bugs, and fantasizes about becoming an entomologist someday just like her mother. Kelsey and her family’s life is shaken when she is offered a spot at an elite school in Chicago, and travels there for the beginning of her high school career. With great joy also brings great trials. We watch as Kelsey battles social expectations, life as a young girl, and finding who she truly is. The Happy Parts is a powerful musical aiming to portray what teenagers face in their day to day lives, the art of growing up, and what it means to love yourself radically in a cynical world.
Kairos
by Mel Hornyak (book & lyrics) and Cassidy O’Connell (music)
Nadia is a typical suburban teenager–except for the facts that she has a form of narcolepsy that blurs the lines between the Real World and the Dream World, and that her best friend Dar lives in her mirror. Otherwise, she bickers with her mom, adores her grandmother, and tries to navigate the choppy waters of high school. But when her mom initiates family therapy, Nadia’s past–and the reason for her condition–starts to come to light. Can she confront the truth, and leave behind her Dream World…forever?
The Happy Parts
by Melody Blauw (book, music, lyrics)
2025 Writers
Kairos Writing Team
Mel Hornyak (they/them; book & lyrics) is a New York-based bookwright, lyricist, and researcher specializing in queer and trans speculative fiction. They write musicals with Elliot Valentine under the artist name Melliot, as well as plays, libretti, and short stories under their own name. Their work has been supported by organizations like Ring of Keys, Let's Hear It For The Boys, and Musical Theater Factory, and has been performed at classic NYC cabaret venues like Joe's Pub and The Green Room 42. They graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton University with a degree in Psychology and certificates in Theater, Creative Writing, and Neuroscience. They are currently studying bookwriting and lyrics at NYU's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program. Awards: Winner New Musicals Project 2025 (Kairos), Open AIR Artistic Residency Recipient Summer 2024 (Ghost Story), Semifinalist for 2024 Live and In Color Musical Theater Writing Development Lab (Ghost Story), Semifinalist for the 2023 O'Neill National Music Theater Conference (Adamandi), Joyce Carol Oates Creative Writing Prize 2023 (At Our Most Golden), Francis LeMoyne Page Book Award 2023 (Adamandi), Honorable Mention at the 2023 New York Screenplay Awards (Feel Better). Proud member of The Dramatists Guild, Phi Beta Kappa, TEMPO, and Ring of Keys.
Cassidy O’Connell (she/her; music) is a composer from Los Angeles, based in NYC, best known for her pierrot ensemble piece “The Abduction of Persephone” which was performed at Carnegie Hall by the Constantinides New Music Ensemble. Cassidy holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the LSU School of Music where she acted as a Music Director for the LSU Musical Theater Club and performed in the LSU A Cappella Choir. Her work has been selected by the Parlando New Musical Project and Atlantic Music Festival, and she has been commissioned for multiple collaborative composition projects. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Next up, Cassidy’s original musical “Kairos” will be supported by a writing retreat at Goodspeed with a table reading at Tisch in May 2025.
Kairos Writing Team
AMANDA YESNOWITZ (book, lyrics) is a winner of the Kleban Prize, Jonathan Larson Award, Dottie Burman Award, Jamie deRoy Award, Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Berklee Alumni Achievement Award, and 8 MAC nominations, all for excellence in book/lyric writing. Selected musicals: CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (Broadway Licensing commission; Goodspeed mainstage world premiere), SOMEWHERE IN TIME (Portland Center Stage), MAY/DECEMBERr (Oldcastle Theatre), BY THE NUMBERS (Johnny Mercer Grove, ASCAP workshop), THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE (Hangar Theatre), THE HISTORY OF WAR (NYMF invited selection). Featured lyricist: Notes From Now (59e59), ASCAP Centennial at the Kennedy Center, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, NAMT Songwriter Showcase, “Gotta Start Small” (Stephanie J. Block; PS Classics, PBS/Live from Lincoln Center). Amanda is also a full-time writing professor at NYU, a professional parodist, and a NY Times crossword puzzle constructor and competitive speed solver.
DOUG KATSAROS (music) is an Emmy and Grammy winning musician whose work as a conductor, arranger or composer on and off Broadway includes Footloose, The Life, Rocky Horror, Altar Boyz, The Toxic Avenger, A...My Name is Alice, Hal Prince’s Diamonds, Just So, Laughing Room Only, Gettin’ The Band Back Together and others. He has written several TV scores including the original animated "The Tick," “The Jim Henson Hour” and “Mancuso FBI,” as well as music for several films including the sci-fi classic “Star Crystal” and Sandra Bullock’s “Me And The Mob.” He has dozens of gold and platinum CDs for his keyboard and arranging work with artists such as Kiss, Sinéad O'Connor, Gloria Estefan, Frank Sinatra, Todd Rundgren, Rod Stewart, Judy Collins, B. B. King, Marlo Thomas, Donny Osmond, Richie Havens, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Cher, Michael Bolton, and Peter Paul & Mary, among others. He was a founding member of the 80’s American band Balance and the 90’s European band GeWaDoKa. He has written special material for Ringling Brothers and Macy's 4th of July Fireworks and Thanksgiving Day Parades, and with Amanda Yesnowitz, besides this show, has written the scores for Somewhere In Time, May/December, and a host of special material for various artists. He lives in New York with his wife, jazz artist Elise Morris, his rock and roll daughter ShadowGirl, and yes, he is the guy who wrote "By Mennen". http://www.dougkatsaros.com
Nadia Half Dreaming Writing Team
Elle Tyler (book, music, lyrics) tells stories of the thirst for transcendence and transformation. With naturally rooted lyrics washed in tonal harmonies, her work yields utterly singable tunes that whisper to your core—you were made for something extraordinary. A classically trained pianist, her music melds influences from Chopin to Jason Robert Brown, mixing the singability of pop with the extended chords you love to hear in late night jazz.
Elle works as a composer, lyricist, educator, innovator, and champion for the arts. Based in the Front Range of Colorado, she created the Commissioned Composer Project at Parlando in Boulder; co-created the New Musical Project, and advocates for music by women in her duo Chansonniers. Her work has been featured at the Dairy Arts Center (Boulder), the Colorado New Musical Fest (‘21, ‘22), Circle in the Square Theatre School (NY), and the Musical Writers Cabaret series (Dallas). Her first musical, Getting Through April, recently had its world premiere in Dallas, Texas, helmed by acclaimed director and producer Rebecca Lowrey. Elle is grateful for her husband and two children, who inspire her every day to keep creating.
The Happy Parts Writing Team
Hi I'm Melody! I'm 17 years old and I've been doing theater since I was 7 and I have been writing songs since I was in 6th grade.
I've been working with Parlando since the first New Musical Project show. I wrote The Happy Parts initially as a freshman and it has been an intense journey of love and discovery. Through this show I hope to spread conversation and represent teen voices in a way that there hasn't been before and shift culture, and foster connection and understanding among all ages.