2025 Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop
Writers and Composers
REBECCA BEEGLE (Bookwriter, Computer Chess) is an Evanston-based writer/director and Dramatists Guild member. She studied at Northwestern University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was selected by Edward Albee for his master class at the University of Houston. With collaborator Robert Melton, she creates original musicals, including Computer Chess: The Musical, adapted from Andrew Bujalski’s cult film. rebeccabeegle.com
ROBERT MELTON (Composer/Lyricist, Computer Chess) is a composer and lyricist based in Evanston. After two decades as a visual artist, he turned his focus to musical theater, creating original works with collaborator Rebecca Beegle, including Computer Chess: The Musical, adapted from Andrew Bujalski’s cult film, and SOPHiE, a 1990s rock musical about four misfit mallrats who channel their angst into an all-female band. robertwmelton.com
BENNETT PETERSEN (Bookwriter/Lyricist, Siren Song) is passionate about two things above all else: magic and the mundane. Originally from Delavan, Minnesota, Bennett spent his time telling stories that transformed his small farm town into a world of magic and monsters. Now a playwright, lyricist, and director based in Chicago, he’s found a love of the mundane stories that are hidden just beneath the surface of unassuming passersby. He studied Theatre at Northwestern University, where he graduated with the Creating the Musical Module after spending several years writing for The Waa-Mu Show (Shout-out Waa-Mu 90: The Secret of Camp Elliott!) and developing his capstone musical, Home for the Summer, with Brandon Acosta and Juliet Huneke. Home for the Summer went on to be selected as part of Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater’s inaugural WinterFest in 2024. Bennett’s writing was featured on the Tales from the Singing Porch podcast by Talefolk Productions, where you can hear him narrate his episode, “A Fable Sprite, Foreclosed,” and his first full-length play, Ikkan and the Sunweaver, is currently in development as part of The Factory Theater’s The Workshop program.
SAMANTHA WESTLAKE-HART (Bookwriter/Composer/Lyricist, Myself, and Myself, and Myself) is a Chicago-based writer and musician originally from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Her first play, French Fried, premiered at the Windsor International Fringe Festival in 2011, with subsequent works, Rosaline and Juliet (2013) and Felonious Monk (2015) performed at the London (Canada) Fringe Theatre Festival. Samantha received her Bachelor of Music from Wayne State University and her MFA in Screenwriting from DePaul University where she was part of the first class to receive a degree in Comedy Screenwriting through DePaul’s collaboration with The Second City, Chicago. A pianist and violinist, Samantha has worked in Chicago as a musical theatre accompanist and music director for works ranging from improv and sketch comedy to full-length musicals.
BRANDON JACKSON BAIRD, MD (Bookwriter/Composer/Lyricist, Code) is a laryngeal surgeon at the University of Chicago Medical Center by day and a musical theatre writer by night. He trained in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University and completed fellowship in Laryngology at Harvard–Massachusetts General Hospital. A profound experience during residency inspired him to begin Code, a musical that plunges into the fast-paced world of medicine while exploring love, loss, and what it means to be fully alive in the face of mortality. A pianist and singer, he has performed the national anthem for the Chicago Bulls (2022) and in 2024 was selected for the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. His surgical practice centers on phonomicrosurgery, treatment of early glottic cancer, and airway reconstruction—but through the Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop, he is most excited to merge the worlds of medicine and art, using the stage to give voice to stories of healing, humanity, and hope.
ERIC MATTHEW RICHARDSON (Bookwriter/Composer/Lyricist, Heel Turn) is writer and composer based in Chicago, Illinois. He has been a Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellowship for Musical Theater Finalist, an O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference Semi-Finalist, and has been featured as one of William Finn’s Emerging Writers. His latest a cappella musical, ei hytte (the cabin), was performed at the 2024 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival finalist through Steppenwolf’s LookOut Series in conjunction with Kokandy Productions, and was awarded an Individual Artist Grant through the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. His other musicals include The Book of Sebasti├ín (The Jacobins, 2018), The LEA Project (No Proscenium’s NoPro Audience Award, 2022), and Down & Out in Rocky Heights (Berklee College of Music, 2023).
GABRIEL ROWE (Bookwriter/Composer/Lyricist, Wayward) (formerly Ford-Dunker) has a BFA in Musical Theatre from Ball State University & spends most of his time creating his own work. He has worked as a co-producer and writer for The Larry Ray Show, a sketch comedy and talent showcase in New York. In 2021, he wrote and produced his debut album titled Hawthorne Park. The 8 song album explores the themes of friendship, loss, and dreams at the intersection of folk and electronic music. A self taught music producer, he leans into the experiences of experimentation, failure, and surprise! Gabriel has also released music under the name Noni, and The Hand Me Downs (Maya and Gabriel’s group. A new Hand Me Downs album is currently in production! Beyond music, Gabriel pours his creative energy into mixed-media paintings, ceramics, and carpentry.
MAYA ROWE (Bookwriter/Composer/Lyricist, Wayward) has absolutely loved the ‘apprenticeship’ that has been her 20’s as an actress in the professional theatre scene. From performing at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Drury Lane, Marriott Theatre, The Studio Theatre, Writers Theatre, Rocky Mountain Repertory, Theo Ubique and more, to winning a Jeff Award this year, she feels incredibly lucky to be learning every day from the amazing community we’ve cultivated here in Chicago. She’s been writing songs since her little legs dangled on the piano bench but has only just started recording them with her folk duo of her and her husband, Gabriel, called The Hand Me Downs. As they sat and wrote more and more songs together, they felt a story form that culminated into this musical. Just last fall, she acted in two new works (Child of the Wild, directed by Marti Lyons & The Hildegard Play, directed by Braden Abraham at Writers Theatre) which helped her observe the process of an efficient workshop. Her experiences in these workshops, and in every production, have helped inform her work as a writer. What stories are missing right now? What are some harmful patterns in musical theatre that she can try to break? She wants contemporary musical theatre to reflect the diverse and powerful people that built it: a weird and wild and wonderful community. Her writing focuses on divine femininity and navigating relationships as sisters and mothers and more. Women are three-dimensional. They, along with every identity, deserve to feel that way onstage.
JACK FOLEY (Composer/Lyricist, Siren Song) (He/Him) is a Composer/Lyricist living in Chicago, and has worked as an actor/musician here in town, as well as around the country. Inspired by a love of nature and a desire to find connection in the world, themes of community, environmentalism, and fantasy are often guiding his work. When not performing, Jack enjoys going to folk music jams, drinks on a patio, game nights with friends, and getting lost in a good book. Previous writing credits include music for the one-act musical, Don’t Go Out With Peter (Musical Creators’ Institute), select music and lyrics for Texas Hold Me (Streamline Theatre Co.), and music for the musical short film, Guys Like You (Webster University). Huge thanks to the most supportive wife in the world and my best friend in the world. Love you, Lexie! (<3)
MICHAEL R. OLDHAM (Bookwriter/Composer/Lyricist, Common Romance) is an active composer, pianist, and music director. Michael keeps very busy around Chicago as a Music Director with The Second City’s national touring company, while also hustling as a freelance pianist/MD/producer for cabarets, shows, choirs, and everything in between. Professional productions he has worked on include: Fun Home (Porchlight), Falsettos (Court Theatre), 9 to 5 (Metropolis Theater), American Psycho (with Kokandy Productions), Queer Eye: The Musical Parody (at The Second City), and Children of Eden (with Broadway in Chicago) where he was able to work alongside Stephen Schwartz and Michelle Williams. He has collaborated with the Annoyance Theater, Chicago Fringe Opera, the Art Institute of Chicago, New Music Chicago, and has performed everywhere from the Green Mill to the Kennedy Center. A prolific composer, he has released over 13 albums and EPs of his own music. He earned his degree in Film Scoring and Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied briefly at Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece. He premiered his first self-produced song cycle musical, COMMON ROMANCE, this past June. Check out www.michaelroldham.com for more.
ELLEN WARNER O’BRIEN (Bookwriter, Tight) is a writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She is a fan of all mediums, having written several stage plays, screenplays, pilots, and short stories. She earned her undergraduate degree in Film, Television, and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame and has since won Stage 32’s Female Driven Contest for a screenplay version of “Tight.” Ellen has worked as a production assistant at Warner Bros. Television, an assistant to a literary manager, and currently works for the writer-director Sam Esmail. When she’s not working, she hikes, watches movies, and runs her own writers’ group. In her writing, Ellen enjoys playing with genre, creating delusional protagonists, and using more swear words than her parents would like.
GABRIELLE WINTER (Composer/Lyricist, Tight) is a Chicago based, composer, lyricist, performer, and teacher. She is the lead singer and bassist for the Chicago girl band, Hotell. Gabrielle attended Ohio State University where she earned a dual degree in Choral Music Education and Music Composition. In 2021, she attended “Composing in the Wilderness” in Denali National Park where her piece, “Catching My Breath” premiered at the Fairbanks Arts Festival. When she is not writing or performing with her band, Gabrielle is teaching middle school music, choir and theatre in Berwyn, IL. In her free time, Gabi loves to see live music, enjoy Chicago’s lakefront, and travel.
