Meet Our Writers

Kate Anderson Reynolds

Lyricist/Librettist

Kate is a performer, pun-maker upper, and half of the writing team Samsel/Anderson. Their work has been featured in the New York Theater Barn’s D-Lounge Series, The Platform: London, as well as “4@15” with NYU Steinhardt and UC Irvine. They have penned three short musical comedies, “Camp Wish-No-More”, “Llamaze 101”, and “My Little Brony”. “Camp Wish-No-More”, an original musical about a camp for delusional girls who believe they are Disney Princesses, was developed into a full length 90 minute musical, and presented as a staged reading with NYU Steinhardt in the fall of 2013. Kate and Elyssa contributed “Kittens First Full Moon” based on the book by Kevin Henkes to Theatreworks USA’s “Fly Guy and Other Stories” which will tour the US in the fall of 2014. Kate and Elyssa are currently working on some exciting new projects including a full length musical adaptation of a bestselling novel.

Steven Bergman

Composer

Steven’s credits with BCT include: “Melampus,” “Reigning Cats and Dogs,” “Lost Princess of Oz.” Other scores: “Animal Farm,” “The Curse is Reversed!” “Jack The Ripper: The Whitechapel Musical,” “Four Kisses” and “Perfect Sync.” As Musical Director: over 100 regional and national productions including “Spring Awakening” (FUDGE Theater), “Rent” (Theater at the Mount), “Les Miserables,” “13” (ACTS), “The Add1ng Mach1ne” (Speakeasy Stage), “Annie,” “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”  (Wheelock Family Theatre), “The Who’s Tommy,” (Brandeis Theatre Company), “Das Barbecü” (w/ Amy Graves! at New Repertory Theatre), “The Gig” and “When Pigs Fly” (Lyric Stage Company), “Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill“, “The Fantasticks“, “Pirates of Penzance” (Worcester Foothills Theatre), and the world premiere of “Monsters the Musical” (Centastage). Keyboardist: credits include “Nunsense Jamboree” (national tour with Georgia Engel, CD/DVD with Vicki Lawrence), national tours of “Sunday in the Park with George“, “Dreamgirls“, and “Guys and Dolls”.

   

Christin Eve Cato

Bookwriter/Lyricist

Christin is a playwright and performing artist from the Bronx. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University and completed her BA in Political Science and Philosophy at Fordham University. Cato is also a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and the Performing Arts. She is affiliated with NYC theater companies, Pregones/PRTT (ensemble member & former Resident Dramaturg), INTAR Theatre (UNIT 52 ensemble member), and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. Cato’s artistic style is expressed through Caribbean culture and the Afro-Latinx diaspora, honoring her Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots. Recent off-broadway productions include The Good Cop (DUAF 2022) . Upcoming productions include, Sancocho (Vision Latino Theatre Company/ Destinos, 5th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival); American Made (Samuel French OOB Festival/ NYC); and an audio play journey, The Mayor of Hell’s Kitchen Presents: A Time Traveling Journey Through NYC’s Wild West (The Parsnip Ship & Playwrights Horizons/ NYC). Publication/Contributor credits include: We Are Not Neutral (Amazon Books) and, launching soon, Latinx Actor Training (Routledge). She has developed her work with The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Harlem9, Pregones Theater, Milagro Theatre, Borderlands Theater, Teatro Vivo, Smith College, Indiana University, Texas State University, Cardinal Stage, The Road Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Piper Theatre Productions, and many others. Cato is also the 2020 Greater Good Commission recipient for Afro-Latinx writers and the 2021 ReImagine New Plays in TYA grant. She is a 2021-2022 PWC Core Apprentice Playwright. An aspiring screenwriter, she is currently represented by 3 Arts Entertainment. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. www.christinevecato.com

Frances Domond

Librettist

Frances is a Haitian-American actress/visual artist from Cambridge, MA. Acting since the age of nine, you may have seen her on WGBH/PBS’s third season of “ZOOM”! She later studied theatre at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Hampshire College. A self-taught pointillism/stipple artist, her work can be found in a few University halls, overseas, and on the set of the Netflix Series “Raising Dion.”  You can also find a few prints for sale at www.etsy.com/shop.FrankMariKathrin, she describes her work as minimal, spiritual, and brown. Frances is currently based in Atlanta, GA, auditioning for film and TV projects to achieve her goal of reaching the Silver Screen.

Sammy Grob

Composer/Lyricist

Sammy is a composer/lyricist, music director, performer, and teaching artist. He recently graduated from Yale University, where he studied Psychology and Education (BA) and wrote an award-winning thesis on high school musicals! He loves developing new musicals kids and adults (aka ‘big kids’). Sammy has worked with New York City Center, 54 Below, Music For Autism, Yale Repertory Theater, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Irish Repertory Theater, and other arts organizations. His musical Wake (co-written with Asher Muldoon and Danielle Koenig) will have a staged reading at the Emerging Artists Theatre in Spring 2022, and he’ll soon be music directing a production of Legally Blonde (Kidz Theater). A new Brooklyn resident, Sammy works at the Berkeley-Carroll School and teaches songwriting at the Brooklyn Music School. He loves cooking, going on very long walks, watching TV, and cuddling with his cat (Misty). 

Eve Hyppolite

Composer, Songwriter

Eve Hyppolite, also known as Rhythm HB, is a self-taught music producer, singer-songwriter, and musical artist living in the Philadelphia area. Eve started a music production and publishing company titled, Heartboi Productions. She has also produced for numerous artists and independent film companies. Eve believes the power of music and storytelling is a great way to engage and connect with people on multiple levels. 

Danielle Koenig

Bookwriter/Lyricist

Danielle is an actor, librettist, and lyricist from Los Angeles who is absolutely stoked to be working with Brooklyn Children’s Theater. They have received their MFA from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and their BA from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television. Recent acting projects include: Charlotte Lucas is 27 And Not Dead (Piper Theater), Parx (Live Source Theatre Group), Alice Formerly of Wonderland (Whitefire Theatre). Notable writing projects include: Stuck (Off-Off Broadway, Winner of Chain Theatre Audience Choice Award), Camp Song (NYMF 2020 Finalist), various songs performed at 54 Below and Duplex Theatre, and a prestigious Writer’s Room Internship at Saturday Night Live. daniellekoenig.com

Julia Klot

Composer/Lyricist

Julia is a singer/songwriter and pianist based in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up in the city, Julia has been performing since a young age at historic venues such as The Bitter End and Rockwood Music Hall. In 2019, Julia released her debut album “Brooklyn”, followed by her sophomore release and EP “Ghost”. Julia is currently enrolled in the graduate studio composition program in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, working towards her Master of Music. She is looking forward to recording and releasing her next album. For more information, visit https://juliaklot.com/. 

Jonelle Robinson

Librettist/Lyricist

Jonelle is an actor, model, youth theatre producer, and teaching artist based in NYC and Long Island, and is thrilled to be directing and choreographing at Brooklyn Children’s Theatre! Her commercial credits include Purell, Prudential, My Heritage DNA, New Balance, and Johnson & Johnson Band-aids. Theatrically, she’s performed at The Brick Theater, Target Margin Theater, Columbia University, Primary Stages, and most recently devised The Space Between The Letters at The Jack Theater in Brooklyn, which will be featured in the Under The Radar Festival at The Public Theater in January. She co-created and supervises Pit Theatrical, a non-profit theatre group for teens in conjunction with The Jeanne Rimsky Theater in Port Washington, NY, and she has had the absolute pleasure to have working with youth, both teaching and producing dozens of shows, for the last five years. She is an Ithaca College graduate with a BFA in Acting.

Clay Zambo

Composer/Lyricist/Librettist

Clay loves being part of the BCT family, where his shows include They Fly, The Most Wonderful Cap in the World, The Super Solvers Detective Agency, and the recent A Cure for Creatures. His musicals have been performed in London (I Am Star Trek), Off-Off Broadway (Lost in Staten Island, Downtown Dysfunctionals), in regional theatre (Windjammers, Greenbrier Ghost), and on national tours. His first full-length work for dance, Blue, recently premiered in La Jolla CA. 

Winner of BMI’s Harrington Prize for Achievement in Musical Theatre and American Composers Forum’s “Welcome Christmas” choral-writing award, Clay has served on the faculty of Carnegie-Mellon University and Idyllwild Arts and currently teaches at the Hartt School/University of Hartford and the Lucy Moses School (NYC), and is active as a music director, conductor and keyboardist in CT and NY.

A proud member of the Dramatists Guild and BMI and alumnus of Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College, he is a runner, a pretty good cook, and whenever possible a producer of TV game shows. Recognizing that almost nothing worth seeing or hearing is done alone, Clay is indebted to the writers it is his honor to call collaborators and friends, among them Robin Share, Richard Sheinmel, Susan Murray, and Scott Ethier. Clay lives in Connecticut with his wife Melissa and thier cats Aschenputtel and Gus. More than nearly anything else, he believes in collaboration, the power of the finished first draft, and in showing up.

Elyssa Samsel

Composer

Elyssa is an actress/violinist/pianist/composer.  Elyssa and Kate Anderson most recently wrote MY LITTLE BRONY, and LLAMAZE 101 for 4@15 Festival at NYU (dir. Brian Blythe), and were featured in NYTB’s monthly series at the D-Lounge in October 2012. Samsel and Anderson developed CAMP WISH-NO-MORE with NYU Steinhardt.  Elyssa is a member of the BMI Advanced Workshop, and trained for Musical Theatre Performance at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She is a member of AFA. More info can be found on SamselAnderson.com or ElyssaSamsel.com.

Nick Robertson

Librettist and Songwriter

Jameel is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and author. Hailing from Tuscaloosa, AL, Jameel earned his Bachelor’s of Music Education Degree specializing in Choral Music from Florida State University. Jameel relocated to New York City and earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre at New York University. Jameel teaches in
the New York City public school system and is the Songwriting Lead for Music Unlimited Entertainment, LLC, a full-service music publishing company.

Sissy Van Dyke

Librettist/Lyricist

Sissy is a librettist / lyricist, comedian, and novelist. She has performed stand-up comedy at various venues throughout the U.S. She is the author of two humorous novels: The Adventures of Sissy Van Dyke, and Further Adventures of Sissy Van Dyke. Sissy is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop.

Olithea Anglin

Composer/Lyricist

Miss Olithea is a native New Yorker that has been singing since the age of three. By the age of 18 years old, she had performed at every major concert hall in NYC. She attended The Hartt School and received her BFA in musical theater. Olithea is grateful for the opportunity she has had to perform in various theater productions all over the country. After the passing of her father, Olithea changed gears and decided to start writing her own music. She has come out with 2 EP’s Long Day’s Journey (2016) and To Be Seen And Heard (2017).  Since those releases, Olithea has deepened her practice in meditation and improvisational music. With the use of vocal loops, fx, and sound bowls, she channels spirit that calms the heart and eases the mind.

Isabella Batts

Lyricist/Librettist

Isabella is a theatre artist and educator. She loves to design costumes, write plays and create theatre with people of all ages. She holds an M.A. in Educational Theatre from New York University.

Utsav Bhargava

Composer/Lyricist

Gini Chang

Bookwriter/Lyricist

Gini is a Taiwanese American playwright, lyricist, and creative educator. She is passionate about writing stories that explore intergenerational conflicts, mental health, and education. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Gini is a lyricist in the Advanced BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. 

Cassidy Dermott

Lyricist/Librettist

Cassidy is a Brooklyn-based performer, writer, and performing arts educator. She holds a BA in Theatre & Dance from Dickinson College, a certificate in physical theatre from the Headlong Performance Institute in Philadelphia, and studied classical theatre at the Pearl Conservatory in New York City. Her most recent creative projects include performing as a clown with the Big Apple Circus and serving as the voice of an adventurous mouse in a new animated TV program. Cassidy has authored and produced several original musicals for children and for the past 8 years has had the pleasure of teaching classes in acting, musical theatre, clowning, playwriting, and dance, for various programs throughout the NYC area, including The Dalton School, Creative Arts, and Athletics, KJK Productions and Brooklyn Children’s Theatre. www.cassidydermott.com

Fernanda Douglas

Composer

Fernanda is an NYC-based composer and music director from Santa Barbara, CA. TYA Commissions: The Hobbit (upcoming; First Stage, WI); Spells of the Sea (orchestrations; upcoming, Metro Theater Company, MO); Sweet Tooth and Scouts! (Brooklyn Children’s Theater, NY). NYC productions: Jolie Rouge (workshop, Columbia University); From Russia, With Love (Midtown International Theatre Festival); Plath. (NY Fringe Festival). Music Dir./Rehearsal Piano: Moulin Rouge (Broadway); The Unknown Soldier (Playwright’s Horizons); Monsoon Wedding (with Mira Nair; Delhi, India). Fernanda is an active member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and an alumna of Columbia University.

Aïssa Guindo

Librettist/Lyricist

Aïssa is a writer, director, actress, and tech consultant. She recently graduated from Yale University, where she received her B.S. in Cognitive Science. Aïssa has worked and performed with the Yale Repertory Theatre, Bedlam, Symphony Space, The Chain Theatre, Stagedoor Manor, the Emerging Artists Theatre, and Little Y. Before coming to rest in the Big Apple, Aïssa grew up in Paris, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, and Montreal where she was lucky enough to participate in a whole host of diverse YA theatre opportunities. This is part of what makes her so excited to bring some of those experiences to BCT, and help introduce the next generation of performers to the art form she so loves.

Lindsay Hinojosa

Librettist/Lyricist

Lindsay is an actress and teaching artist, performing and teaching all over NYC. After graduating from Syracuse University with her BFA in Drama, this Jersey girl set off on a crazy journey across the US and Canada with Missoula Children’s Theater, bringing theatre to deserving communities each week for a year. This solidified her lifelong love of the stage as well as her passion for teaching. Nowadays she can be seen in classrooms across the city teaching drama, musical theater, and dance with Arts Connection. She is a production advisor to Broadway Jr. which gives middle schoolers here in NY the opportunity to perform on a Broadway Stage! And at The Creative Arts Studio, in Boerum Hill Brooklyn she is the resident Drama and Music teacher as well as The Coordinator for their Summer Arts Camp. She also directs Creative Arts Studio’s Student Theatre Company (CASTCO). She also directs with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre in Park Slope. As an actress Lindsay has appeared in numerous productions here in NY and regionally including Cortland Repertory Theatre, MOC Musical Theatre, Elephant Theatre, Abington Stage, NYC Fringe, Strawberry One-Act Festival, Alphabet Arts plus many many more. In addition to the stage, she works as a voice over actor. You can also catch Lindsay performing with the award winning improv/sketch comedy group Story Pirates.

Ben Krauss

Composer

Ben is a composer, music director, and arranger living in New York City. He is a former resident writer at Musical Theatre Factory, and an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.  As a music director or arranger, Ben has worked at regional theaters around the country, such as North Shore Music Theater, Merry Go Round Playhouse, and Surflight theater.  His orchestrations have accompanied singers such as Kristin Chenoweth, Tituss Burgess, and Donna Mckechnie. He has also served on the music teams of two Broadway musicals, THE ADDAMS FAMILYand THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. Ben holds an MA in composition from Queens College, and a BA from Vassar College.

Jameel McKanstry

Composer/Lyricist

Jameel is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and author. Hailing from Tuscaloosa, AL, Jameel earned his Bachelor’s of Music Education Degree specializing in Choral Music from Florida State University. Jameel relocated to New York City and earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre at New York University. Jameel teaches in
the New York City public school system and is the Songwriting Lead for Music Unlimited Entertainment, LLC, a full-service music publishing company.

Lawrence Rush

Composer/Lyricist

Lawrence was twice a Richard Rodgers Award finalist for his musicals, Winter of the Fall and Pride & Prejudice – the Musical, which was also chosen by FWD Theatre Project for development and a public reading in Chicago, was performed in concert at 54 Below, and will have its first full production in England this Fall. He is co-composer of Under the Influence (OUTwright Theatre Festival, Portland, OR), is composer/lyricist for A Maiden’s Consent, a bi-lingual musical which twice toured high schools on a national tour, and co-composer/arranger for Rules for Girls (L.A. Weekly Best Musical nomination). The Way to Your Heart, the Words and Music of Lawrence Rush played at Don’t Tell Mama and his song cycle, Four Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets received performances in the U.S. and Austria. He received the Shalshelet award for Jewish choral music for Sim Shalom which is performed at synagogues throughout the country. His songs and arrangements have been performed by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the Turtle Creek Chorale and Musaic. A member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theater Workshop, he is also a teaching artist, musical director, stage director, singer and actor. company.

Steve Saari

Composer/Lyricist

Steve is a pianist/musical director who has worked extensively in New York City and across the country. He has music directed and performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally and internationally. His solo piano recording Variations on a Theme was released in 2001 in association with Waddell Production and Soapbox Records.

For BCT, Steve has composed Little Golden Hood, The Lupine Lady, Things Could Always Get Worse, Ferdinand, The Little Velvet Bunny,Rock #3, The Gods, Recess, Next to Abnormal, and Dancing With the Czars. He was the arranger and musical director for the opening number of the 2007 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade which featured 600 young performers from around the United States.

Steve was on staff at the American Girl Place live theatre in New York City, which featured young girls and adults, and he has served as a musical director and arranger with Camp Broadway.  Steve is currently working internationally as a vocal director for Royal Caribbean Cruise lines.  www.stevesaari.com

Jennifer Yadav

Bookwriter/Librettist

Jennifer is a Bronx-based actor, singer, voiceover artist, and teacher. She performed off-Broadway in the Jackie Mason Musical for over five years and won Best Actress in the West Village Musical Theatre Festival for an original work with music from award-winning composer Sheldon Harnick. Jennifer also appeared at Lincoln Center with Essential Voices USA, in numerous cabaret and regional theatre performances, and she can be seen on film in several shorts and a feature on Amazon Prime. Current projects due for release include the short films The Missed and American Boy, both produced in 2021. Before coming to NYC, Jennifer got her B.S. in Medicinal Chemistry and M.Ed. in Science Education at SUNY Buffalo and taught high school science for 15 years. As a teacher at Harlem Village Academy in NYC, Jennifer directed, choreographed, and stage managed the high school musical performances and taught IB Theatre in addition to science. Jennifer is currently an Adjunct Professor at Berkeley College and is a member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA. More at www.jenniferyadav.com.

Librettist