Creative Team

STEPHEN WEINER - COMPOSER

STEVE is a two time Richard Rodgers Award winner, a Jonathan Larsen Grant recipient, a Global Search for New Musicals Award winner and has been nominated for Obie, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk awards.  Recent scores include three he wrote with Bookwriter and Lyricist Peter Kellogg: Penelope at the York Theatre, The Rivals at the Bristol Riverside Theatre, and Monte Cristo (in development). Other scores include The Honeymooners at Papermill Theatre (Peter Mills, Lyrics and Bill Nuss and Dusty Kay, Book); Iron Curtain (Peter Mills, Lyrics and Susan DiLallo, Book); Once Upon a Time in New Jersey (Susan DiLallo, Book and Lyrics); Rocket Science (Patricia Cotter, Book and Jason Rhyne, Lyrics); The Hudsucker Proxy (Glenn Slater, Book and Lyrics); newyorkers at MTC (Glenn Slater, Lyrics); and Spittin’ Image (Karin Kasdin, Book and Laura Szabo Cohen, Lyrics.) Steve is member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.  www.steveweinermusic.com   

SUSAN DILALLO - LYRICS

SUSAN wrote book and lyrics for the original musical comedy, Once Upon a Time in New Jersey, produced worldwide and licensed by TRW; Barbie Live! In Fairytopia, a Mattel/Clear Channel production; Fancy Nancy The Musical, original cast CD released by Ghostlight Records; and two Angelina Ballerina musicals. Other credits include the libretto for Onanov Broadway (formerly Iron Curtain), developed during a residency at the Eugene O’Neill Music Theater Conference; the revised libretto for the classic Arthur Schwartz/ Dorothy Fields/George Abbott musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and co-libretto for Fancy, a country jukebox musical that recently premiered at the Meadow Brook Theater. Awards include: the Kleban Award; a Richard Rodgers Development Award; a Jonathan Larson grant; and a New York Innovative Theater Award for Best Off-Off Broadway Musical.  She was the winner of The Global Search for New Musicals Competition, Cardiff; the KIDDSTUFF New Play Competition; and Creative Child Magazine CD of the Year. She has two Outer Critics Circle nominations, and was a Fred Ebb Award finalist. When she’s not writing musicals, Susan co-authors thrillers with James Patterson. She is a member of New York Women in Film and Television, ASCAP, and the Dramatists Guild. www.susandilallo.com

ROGER GRIFFIN - BOOK/PRODUCER

ROGER produced the New York developmental production of After Happily Ever After at The Players Theatre. He wrote music, book and lyrics for Lights Out! produced at the Barn Dinner Theatre in Richmond,VA, wrote book and lyrics for Vagabond Kings, Theatre Building Chicago, and book and lyrics for The Piper, currently in development with a recent reading at the Rave Theater Festival, NYC. He has appeared in both dinner theater and mainstage productions, directed over forty classic musicals and plays, and voiced numerous film narrations and training modules.  Recently, Jabberwocky, Stuff and Nonsense, his recording of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poems, has been rereleased as an Audiobook at www.jabberwockystuffandnonsense.com .  While based in Chicago, he produced and directed a wide variety of award-winning films and videos, including PSAs, documentaries, television commercials and business to business advertising. His The Arrest is Only the Beginning won six international awards, and was seen on PBS and on Cox Cable nightly for an entire year. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and an investor in the development of Tony Award -winning producer Ken Davenport's Broadway productions of The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise, Harmony, The Griswold's Broadway Vacation , and JOY.

JOHN PLUMPIS - DIRECTOR

JOHN is a director and an actor. In addition to directing our 2022 developmental production at The Players Theatre, NYC, he has directed or acted in 31 productions at The Actors Company Theatre in New York, directing their productions of Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Spinning Into Butter, The Magistrate, Come Blow Your Horn, I’ll Leave it to You, Toys in the Attic, The Dock Brief, and If Men Played Cards as Women Do.  He also directed Charlotte’s Web for The Great American Children’s Theatre.  John’s acting credits include National companies of The Lion King, Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer (both on stage and in the 2011 film).  He has appeared in multiple Off-Broadway productions, and in a wide variety of comedies, dramas, musicals and Shakespeare at many of North America’s leading regional theatres including Denver Center, Yale Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, and Cincinnati Playhouse, among others. His recent television appearances include Apple TV’s Little America, Half Life, and HBO’s The Deuce.  He is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities, conducting master classes at over 50 institutions, and has taught multiple semesters at Montclair State University.  Some of his thoughts on Theatre have been published in the Northwest Theatre Review.

ANDREW WHEELER - MUSIC DIRECTOR

ANDREW is a musical director, orchestrator, vocal technician and coach.  In addition to having directed the music for our 2022 developmental production at The Players Theatre, NYC, his credits include, Broadway: Waitress, Shuffle Along. Off-Broadway: Fiddler On The Roof in Yiddish (Dir. Joel Grey, Drama Desk winner), Amerike-The Golden Land, Golden Bride (NYTF; Drama Desk Noms.), Urinetown (Araca), Naked Boys Singing, NEWSical (Theatre Row), Burlesque to Broadway (Tour) TV/Film: Monica's Mixing Bowl (pilot, w/ John Tartaglia), Triple Threat (Feature). Andrew’s orchestrations are included in the Pops Orchestra touring concert Live From Broadway and he has worked with the Pacific Symphony on Pops/MT concert adaptations. Orchestrated & supervised a world premier country musical which featured five #1 Billboard Hits, and choreography by Emmy Winner, Tyce Diorio. Selected Regional: Breath and Imagination (w/ Travis Pratt & Cheryl Freeman), Sweeney Todd (Playmaker's Rep.); Fiddler… (w/ Bill Nolte), Sweeney Todd, Legally Blonde, JCS (CFRT). As a vocal technician and coach, Andrew’s clients have worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in National, International tours and television. Andrew’s teaching draws from the latest advances in vocal pedagogy, plus his experience as an actor and dancer, supporting every aspect of the musical performer’s work. Teaching Artist with NYU, CAP21, Molloy College, Pace University and many international programs. BFA NYU/Tisch. www.andrewwheeleronline.com

NELLESA WALTHOUR- CHOREOGRAPHER

NELLESA is a choreographer, dancer, actress and dance educator. Her passion for communicating through movement began at a young age. Whether working in musical theater, jazz or contemporary dance styles, she is inspired by stories or ideas that encourage self-reflection and introspection. She encourages students and professionals alike to explore how these ideas and concepts inform how movement is executed. In addition to choreographing our 2022 developmental production at The Players Theatre, NYC, her musical theater works include productions of West Side Story and Merrily We Roll Along, and assisting for Trav’lin at the NYMF. She has choreographed dances for Dallas Black Dance Theater, Benjamin Briones Ballet, Festivals, Competition Teams, and her own solo works. She recently completed two personal dance films and created two for Benjamin Briones Ballet. Trained at the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance School, Nellesa has danced with contemporary companies like Dallas Black Dance Theater, Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance, Nathan Trice Rituals, Patricia Kenney Collection and others, performing works of many inspiring choreographers such as Alonzo King, David Parsons, Elisa Monte, Donald Byrd, and Donald McKayle (who called her his nightingale), to name a few. Theatrical credits include Disney’s The Lion King, Ragtime at the Kennedy Center, The Denver Center’s Frankenstein, Pippin and The Call.  Her recent television appearances include High Fidelity, The Blacklist, Bull and The Good Wife.

CHRISTOPHER NATALE - PERCUSSION

In addition to creating the percussion score for After Happily Ever After, Christopher played percussion for our 2022 developmental production at The Players Theatre, NYC. Currently on the international tour of The Sound of Music, he has played marimba for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Off-Broadway at The Players Theatre for A Christmas Carol, Sleepy Hollow, Beauty and the Beast, Here There Be Dragons, and Frankenstein, The Musical. He has played with major ensembles including The New York Pops, the New Haven Chorale (New Haven, CT), Little Radicals Theatrics (Yonkers, NY), Capitol Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Hartford, CT). Chris studied with marimba virtuoso Eriko Daimo, Benjamin Toth (Percussion Group Cincinnati), Javier Diaz, Ted Piltzecker, Joe Galeota, John Amira, Rogerio Boccato, and Shane Shanahan of the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma.  He received his M.M. in Percussion Performance from New York University and his B.M. in Percussion Performance from The Hartt School (University of Hartford) in West Hartford, CT. www.natalepercussion.com

JESSICA CHOI - LIGHTING DESIGNER

JESSICA designed the lighting for our 2022 developmental production at The Players Theatre, NYC. She has designed lighting at The Players Theatre for a number of shows including, Between Panic and Desire, Somewhere I Can Scream, Murder on the Links, Cinderella, Sleepy Hollow, Christmas Carol and Beauty and the Beast. In addition to her design work, she is a freelance electrician, assistant lighting designer, and light board programmer/operator working in the field of theatre and fashion. She studied and graduated in Entertainment Technology at NYC College of Technology.