The ASCAP Foundation Educational Series

Chad Beguelin (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Chad Beguelin wrote the lyrics and co-book for The Wedding Singer (Tony© Award Nomination for Best Book and Best Original Score, Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Lyrics.) He also wrote the book and lyrics for (The Rhythm Club (Signature Theater), Wicked City (American Stage Company, Mason Street Warehouse) and wrote the book for Disney’s stage version of Aladdin (Hyperion Theater). He is the recipient of the Edward Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyric Writing, the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award. His plays have been produced at Playwrights Horizon, The Avalon Theatre Company and HOMF for Contemporary Theatre and Art. Chad received his Masters of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Hunter Bell ([title of show] Panel Member)

Hunter Bell is the bookwriter of and plays Hunter in Broadway’s [title of show]. He was awarded an Obie, earned a GLAAD Media nomination and, along with his cast mates, received a Drama League nomination all for [title of show]. Other writing credits include the books for Silence! The Musical and the 137th edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Bellobration!, as well as original material for BC/EFA’s Easter Bonnet competition, the Actors Fund 125th Gala, Vineyard Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Gala, Broadway Bares 18: Wonderland and the 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards. He has appeared on Broadway in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and at the St. Louis Rep, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, North Shore Music Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, the MUNY, P.S. 122, Dallas Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Play House, Stages St. Louis, Goodspeed Opera House, Alliance Theatre, Carnegie Hall, York Theatre, Coconut Grove, Paper Mill and the Vineyard. Hunter is a proud graduate and distinguished alumnus of Webster University and a member of Actors’ Equity and the Dramatists Guild.

Nell Benjamin (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Nell Benjamin co-wrote the music and lyrics for Legally Blonde with Laurence O’Keefe, for which she received 2007 Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Nell adapted Pirates of Penzance for Goodspeed Opera House, wrote Cam Jansen with Laurence O'Keefe, (produced by TheatreworksUSA), wrote lyrics for Sarah, Plain and Tall, and The Mice, won a Kleban Award and a Jonathan Larson Foundation grant, and is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild of America.

Susan Birkenhead (Charles Strouse Panel Member)

Susan Birkenhead wrote the additional lyrics for High Society and the lyrics for Triumph of Love. She received a Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award for her lyrics for Jelly's Last Jam. She was one of the writers nominated for a Tony Award for Working and won an Outer Critics Circle Award for What About Luv? She wrote Zhivago with Mr. Kopit and Lucy Simon and The Night They Raided Minsky's with Charles Strouse and Evan Hunter. She wrote additional lyrics for High Society, with a book by Arthur Kopit and a score by Cole Porter. She wrote lyrics for Pieces of Eight with Jule Styne and Michael Stewart, Fanny Hackabout Jones with Erica Jong and Lucy Simon, and was one of the contributors to A My Name Is Alice. She has just finished Moonstruck, with John Patrick Shanley and Henry Krieger. She and Mr. Krieger are also currently at work on two new projects. Ms. Birkenhead is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, Treasurer of the Dramatists Guild Fund, and a member of the Musical Theater Council of the Manhattan Theater Club.

Susan Blackwell ([title of show] Panel Performer)

Susan Blackwell makes her Broadway debut as Susan in [title of show]. Off-Broadway credits include [title of show], Speech and Debate, Anon, Working Title and Vilna's Got a Gole, as well as playing Peter Patrone in The Heidi Chronicles. Television appearances include 'The Sopranos', 'Third Watch', 'All My Children' and various 'Law & Orders'. Films include P.S.: I Love You, Margot at the Wedding, Bun Bun, Changing Lanes, and Night Int. Trailer for the feature film Ten Minutes Older. As co-creator of The New Wondertwins, she performed in such venues as Dixon Place, Caroline's Comedy Club and the HBO Workspace in LA. She has created and performed original material for many projects, including the [title of show] show, The 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards, The Actors Fund 125th Anniversary Gala and the Avant Garde-A-Rama series at PS122.

Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show] Panel Performer)

Heidi Blickenstaff is currently playing Heidi in Broadway’s [title of show]. Broadway: The Little Mermaid (OBC Carlotta, u/s Ursula), The Full Monty (Susan Hershey, u/s Vicki Nichols). Off-Broadway: [title of show] (Heidi) at the Vineyard. Tours: The Full Monty (Vicki Nichols), Jekyll & Hyde, Steel Pier, The Who’s Tommy (u/s Mrs. Walker) and Dreamgirls. Regional: Most recently, Heidi was honored with the Helen Hayes Award for her work as Ann Mitchell in Meet John Doe at Ford’s Theatre. Also, The Girl in the Frame (Laney) at Goodspeed at Chester; Bat Boy: The Musical (Meredith Parker) at Theatreworks in Palo Alto (BayArea premiere); and Prairie (Caroline Ingalls), directed by Francesca Zambello at \ New York Stage and Film (world premiere). Film: The Rebound (2009) with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Heidi is also part of the voiceover cast for the PBS kids series, “Word World.” She is a graduate of Duke University.

Jeff Bowen ([title of show] Panel Member)

Jeff Bowen wrote the music and lyrics for and also plays Jeff in Broadway’s [title of show]. He won a 2006 Obie for [title of show] as well as a GLAAD Media nomination and, along with his cast mates, a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance by an Ensemble. He has written music and lyrics for the 2007 Easter Bonnet competition for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Actors Fund 125th Anniversary Gala, the Vineyard Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Gala, the 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards and Broadway Bares 18: Wonderland. He has composed music for several shows at P.S. 122 including Avant-Garde-A-Rama in Sparklevision, Hello, My Name Is Avant-Garde-A-Rama; Sparklefest 2000 at Dixon Place; The A-Train Plays; and the film Boat Mime. As an actor, he has performed works at Manhattan Theatre Source, Ars Nova and the Vineyard. Other performances include The Who’s Tommy, Of Thee I Sing, Shenandoah, On the Twentieth Century and the Actors Fund benefit of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Jeff is a proud member of the National Audubon Society and the American Birding Association.

Peter Filichia (Comedy Tonight Panel Moderator)

Peter Filichia is a New York-based theater critic for The Newark Star Ledger newspaper in New Jersey and New Jersey's television station News 12. He also writes a regular column, "Peter Filichia's Diary," for the website TheaterMania.com. Filichia is the author of the book Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community or Professional Theater. He served four terms as president and chairman of the nominating committee of the Drama Desk, and has also been a member of the nominating committee for the Lucille Lortel Awards and is host of the Theatre World Awards.

Zina Goldrich (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Zina Goldrich is a composer, best known for her work with bookwriter/lyricist Marcy Heisler. Goldrich and Heisler are slated to make their Broadway debut as authors of the book, lyrics and music for the Broadway musical stage adaptation of Ever After, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes and choreographed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford. Goldrich and Heisler have been collaborating since 1993 and are the recipients of ASCAP’s prestigious Richard Rodgers New Horizons Theatre Award. Their songs have been performed from Carnegie Hall to the White House. Goldrich and Heisler worked on songs for Winnie the Pooh and Tinkerbell at Disney's Toon Studios and Feature Animation. Last summer, their musical Junie B. Jones had a sold-out run Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and is presently touring across America. Goldrich has played keyboards on Broadway for Avenue Q, Bombay Dreams, Oklahoma, and Titanic, where she also conducted.

Mark Hollmann (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Mark Hollmann won a Tony Award for writing the music and lyrics for Broadway’s Urinetown: The Musical. He recently wrote the music and lyrics and starred with Greg Kotis in Eat the Taste at New York’s Barrow Street Theatre. A former member of the Cardiff-Giant Theatre Company in Chicago, he played trombone for the Chicago art-rock band Maestro Subgum and the Whole and played piano for the Second City national touring company and Chicago City Limits. He attended the Making Tuners Workshop at New Tuners Theatre in Chicago and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre workshop in New York. Mark is a member of the Dramatists Guild and ASCAP.

Isaac Robert Hurwitz ([title of show] Panel Moderator)

Isaac Robert Hurwitz is the Executive Director and Producer of The New York Musical Theatre Festival. He is a theater director, producer, dramaturg, and musician. He has directed and developed new works at Trinity Repertory Theatre's New Plays Festival, the Kennedy Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Chashama, HERE, Raw Impressions, Dixon Place, Makor, and elsewhere in the Northeast. He is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab and a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Putting his background as a musician to use, Isaac has also directed and produced numerous concerts. For the 92nd Street Y's Lyrics & Lyricists series, he directed The Wit and Wisdom of Ira Gershwin, a tribute created by David Ives, Rob Fisher, and Sheldon Harnick. For three seasons, Isaac served as Music Associate for City Center's Encores! series, assisting music director Rob Fisher on fifteen concert productions and overseeing the score restoration of A Connecticut Yankee, Bloomer Girl, Golden Boy and House of Flowers, among others. He was assistant director for the Encores! production of Pardon My English in 2004. Isaac studied theater at Brown University, where he received the Westin Award in Musical Theater.

Michael A. Kerker (Charles Strouse Panel Moderator)

Michael A. Kerker has been Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers) since 1990. In addition to coordinating ASCAP's Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, Kerker works with Walt Disney Studios to produce the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles. Together with Michael Feinstein, Kerker produces a regular series of concerts featuring songwriters at Carnegie Hall. He is also currently producing a series of seminars and concerts at the Kennedy Center featuring some of the leading composers and lyricists of the American Mucial Theatre. Kerker also produced the ASCAP Foundation Jerry Herman Legacy Program which was a series of nationwide concerts, seminars and master classes featuring the legendary Broadway songwriter. Kerker is a member of the board of directors of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and The Johnny Mercer Foundation.

Bobby Lopez (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Bobby Lopez is creator, composer and lyricist of the Broadway musical Avenue Q with collaborator Jeff Marx. Avenue Q won the 2004 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, and a Grammy nomination for its Original Cast Album. Lopez and Marx’s very first project together, a spec Muppet movie, Kermit, Prince of Denmark, which was very loosely based on Hamlet, won them (as part of a tie) part of the $150,000 Kleban Award. They are currently working on an original movie musical for Universal Pictures and a stage musical in collaboration with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of South Park. Robert Lopez's musical version of Finding Nemo written in collaboration with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, opened at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom Park in November 2006. He also collaborated with his brother, the NYC musician & poet Billy Lopez, on several episodes of Nickelodeon's hit series, The Wonder Pets. Lopez attended Hunter College High School and received a B.A. in English from Yale University.

Karen Mason (Charles Strouse Panel Performer)

Karen Mason has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, and recording: and "has few peers when it comes to ripping the roof off with her amazing voice that knows no bounds!" (TheatreScene.net) Karen is a nine time MAC Award winner and has won the MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist of the Year for six consecutive years. She has also won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and three Bistro Awards. Ms. Mason originated the role of Tanya on Broadway in Abba's Mamma Mia!, and was awarded a 2002 Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress. Her other leading roles include Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, which she performed to critical acclaim and standing ovations on Broadway and in Los Angeles for three years; Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway; Rosalie in Carnival (another Drama Desk nomination); plus featured roles in Broadway's Torch Song Trilogy; and Play Me A Country Song. Karen won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And The World Goes ‘Round, and starred Off-Broadway in her own show Karen Mason Sings Broadway, Beatles and Brian. Her television appearances include the hit dramas “Ed” and “Law and Order: SVU. Film credits include Sleeping Dogs Lie and A Chorus Line.

Matt Prager (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Matt Prager is the writer, composer and lyricist of She Can’t Believe She Said That!, which is part of NYMF 2008. He is a former Hollywood studio executive who worked on numerous Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning projects before becoming a TV and film writer for such shows as “South Park” and such films as the upcoming remake of Valley of the Dolls.

Larry Pressgrove ([title of show] Panel Performer)

Larry Pressgrove is the Music Director and Arranger [title of show]. He was music director for Cats (Broadway and national tour), Les Misérables (national tour) and conducted Colm Wilkinson’s last performance of Les Miz at the National Opera Theatre in Shanghai, China. He was assistant conductor on The Phantom of the Opera tour and has music directed various productions at the Ford’s Theatre, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. With collaborator Rachel Lampert, he composed the scores for The Angle of the Sun (NYMF 2007) and Bed No Breakfast and Comfort Food (Kitchen Theatre, Ithaca NY). For two years, he was artistic director of Metro Theater Company in St. Louis.

Jonathan Rayson (Charles Strouse Panel Performer)

Jonathan Rayson has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally. He made his Broadway debut as an understudy in A Year With Frog and Toad, and later starred in the same production as Frog. Jonathan landed his second Broadway role as the understudy for Seymour Krelbourn and Orin the sadistic dentist in the first-ever Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. He went on several times in his dream role of Seymour, and when the show closed in August of 2004 and plans were being made for a national tour, Jonathan was cast in the leading role and toured for most of 2005. Jonathan has also recorded his first solo CD, entitled "Shiny and New," comprised of cover songs from the mid-1970's.

Matthew Sklar (Comedy Tonight Panel Member)

Matthew Sklar composed the music for The Wedding Singer (Tony© Award nominated for Best Original Score, Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music). He also co-produced the show’s cast album for Sony/BMG Masterworks Broadway. Matthew is a recipient of the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award and the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. His original musicals include The Rhythm Club (Signature Theatre), Wicked City (American Stage Company, Mason Street Warehouse), and various projects for Disney. Since the age of 18, Matthew has worked extensively on Broadway as a pianist and conductor for a dozen productions including Caroline, or Change, Nine, 42nd Street, Titanic, Miss Saigon and Les Miserables.

Charles Strouse (Charles Strouse Panel Memeber)

Charles Strouse has written the score to over 30 stage musicals, 14 scores for Broadway, four Hollywood films, two orchestral works and an opera. He has been inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Theatre Hall of Fame. He is a three-time Tony Award winner, a two-time Emmy Award winner, and his cast recordings have earned him two Grammy Awards. His song “Those Were The Days” launched over 200 episodes of “All in the Family” and continues to reach new generations of television audiences in syndication. With hundreds of productions licensed annually, his musicals Annie and Bye Bye Birdie are among the most popular musicals of all time produced by regional, amateur and school groups all over the world.

Karen Ziemba (Charles Strouse Panel Performer)

Karen Ziemba won the Outer Critics Circle Award and was nominated for the TONY Award, Drama Desk Award, the Ovation Award (in LA) for playing Georgia Hendricks in the new Kander and Ebb musical Curtains. She received the Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for playing The Wife in Contact. Karen’s other Broadway appearances include Never Gonna Dance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony nomination), Steel Pier which was written for her by Kander & Ebb (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Chicago, 42nd Street, A Chorus Line and Crazy for You (Joseph Jefferson Award, L.A. Drama Critics nomination). Off-Broadway she has appeared in And The World Goes ‘Round (Drama Desk Award), I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk nom.) and at NYC Opera she played leading roles in 110 In The Shade, The Most Happy Fella and Candide. Karen also starred in Bye Bye Birdie, The Pajama Game, Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 and Allegro at Encores! at City Center. In regional theatre she has been seen as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theatre, DC and Hartford Stage), Leading Ladies (Ford’s Theatre, DC), House and Garden (GeVa Theatre, N.Y.), Lucy Brown in The Three Penny Opera (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and The Opposite Sex (Magic Theatre, SF). Her many film and TV roles include The Producers (2005 film), “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Kennedy Center Honors,” “Pedalfoot”; and for PBS, “My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies,” “Gershwin at 100” and “Stephen Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall”.