Preston Max Allen (Music, Lyrics, and Book) Allen’s work as a writer, composer, and lyricist has been featured at the New York Musical Festival, Musical Theatre Factory, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Joe’s Pub, Signature Theatre, and Second City Chicago. Preston’s musicals include WE ARE THE TIGERS (Hudson Backstage Theatre, L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation winner for Best Lyrics/Composition), REMISSION (NYMF Developmental Reading Series), and THE RAGE: CARRIE 2, AN UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY. Additional projects include FRANKLIN PIERCE: DRAGON SLAYER (composer Will Buck, Sound Bites 4.0 Selection) and music/lyrics for BRADICAL AND THE PINK SOCKS (Diverging Elements). Preston is an alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
Jessica Kahkoska (Book and Dramaturgy) Kahkoska is a Colorado and NYC-based performer, writer, and dramaturg. Her writing has been developed and presented by American Music Theatre Project, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova ANT FEST, Musical Theatre Factory, Village Theatre, Barn Arts Collective, Chautauqua Institution, and UCROSS Foundation. She has performed at New York Theatre Barn, Ars Nova, the Bushwick Starr, and NYMF, among others, and regionally at the CS Fine Arts Center, Theatre Aspen, American Stage Theatre, Notre Dame Shakespeare, and the Smithsonian Festival. Artistic Associate at Local Theater Company in Boulder, Colorado. Graduate of Northwestern University.
Sammi Cannold (Director) Cannold is a theater director whose recent credits include Ragtime on Ellis Island and Violet on a moving bus at the A.R.T. Sammi recently served as the associate director on the Broadway production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 among other associate work for Rachel Chavkin and Diane Paulus. Sammi also served as an Artistic Fellow at the A.R.T. and a Sundance Institute Fellow. She holds a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. from Harvard University. www.sammicannold.com.
Madeline Smith (Music Direction and Orchestrations) Favorite recent endeavors include conducting WAITRESS and RAGTIME ON ELLIS ISLAND, developing the EDM musical NIKOLA TESLA DROPS THE BEAT and adapting and orchestrating Disney’s FROZEN JR. Other Broadway: WAR PAINT (Key 1 sub). Off-Broadway: SKIN OF OUR TEETH (Theatre for a New Audience), 1001 NIGHTS (Atlantic Theater Company), THE LIGHT PRINCESS (ART/New Victory Theater), FUTURITY (Soho Rep/Ars Nova), and AN OCTOROON (Theatre for a New Audience). Madeline is history’s youngest female Broadway conductor. B.A. from Harvard University.