Creative Team
Mark Sonnenblick (music/lyrics) is an Emmy and Drama Desk-nominated composer/lyricist/scriptwriter. Collaborations include Saturday Night Seder ($3.5 million+ raised for the CDC Foundation), Midnight at The Never Get (York Theatre Company; Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and OCC nominations; MAC Award, Bistro Award, NYTimes Critic’s Pick), Independents ("Best Production" FringeNYC, NYTimes Critic’s Pick), Dragons Love Tacos (TheatreworksUSA, NYTimes hasn’t seen it he doesn’t think), Twenty Minutes Or Less (Washington National Opera), Ship Show (Yale Institute for Music Theatre), Stompcat in Lawndale (Ars Nova Ant Fest), and Wheel of Misfortune (Denver Center for the Performing Arts). He’s won the Jonathan Larson Grant (American Theatre Wing) and the Harold Adamson Lyric Award (ASCAP). Mark has developed work at The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony (Goodspeed Musicals), UCross Foundation, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, The John Duffy Institute (Virginia Arts Festival), Composers and the Voice (American Opera Projects), and The Johnny Mercer Songwriting Project. Upcoming: Spirited (Apple+), Lyle Lyle Crocodile (Sony Pictures)
Stacey Luftig (book/lyrics) is a lyricist, librettist, playwright, and occasional television writer. Winner of the Kleban Prize and the Fred Ebb Award for her lyrics, Stacey has also received the BMI Jerry Harrington Musical Theatre Award, the Gramercy-Saltzman Opera Award, and the National Children’s Theatre Festival Award as a librettist. Collaborations include My Heart is the Drum (Village Theatre, Richard Rodgers and Jonathan Larson Awards Finalist), Understood Betsy (Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre), and Story of an Hour (Portland Chamber Opera, Gramercy Opera). Other work includes Jinxed (O’Neill NPC Finalist, Dayton Playhouse FutureFest Winner and Audience Favorite); songs/monologue featured in That’s Life (Outer Critics Circle Award Nominee), and episodes of Pinky Dinky Doo (Sesame Workshop). Stacey has developed work at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, NY SongSpace, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and the Johnny Mercy Writers Colony (Goodspeed Musicals). Member: BMI Workshop, ASCAP, and Dramatists Guild.
Keah Brown (book/lyrics) is a journalist, author, studying actress and screenwriter. She is the recipient of Ulta Beauty’s Muse 100 award, which is a celebration of 100 inspirational voices around beauty. She is one of The Root’s 100 most influential African Americans of 2018. Keah is the creator of the viral hashtag, #DisabledAndCute. Her work has appeared in Town & Country Magazine, Teen Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire UK, And The New York Times, among other publications. Her debut essay collection, The Pretty One (Altria Books), is out now. Her debut picture book, Sam’s Super Seats, will be out Fall 2022 via Koklia books. Photography by Katelyn Shufelt
Sally Rosenberg (producer) is the author of the middle grade novel, Invincible (Imagination Stage Press 2006), upon which Invincible the musical is based. She is completing a sequel to the novel. Sally and Jill Lesser are the principals in Ladybug Productions LLC, a theatrical production company, which made its Broadway producing debut in 2018 as a co-producer of Gettin' The Band Back Together. Sally is Deputy General Counsel and a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP. She serves on the Board of KID Museum, an interactive STEM learning environment for school age children, and is President Emeritus of Imagination Stage, a non-profit children's performing arts center. Sally has a JD from Harvard Law School, cum laude (1986) and a BA from Yale University, summa cum laude (1983).
Jill Lesser (producer) is the Vice President for Brand Strategy for National Geographic. She also is a non-profit leader and passionate theater enthusiast. Jill and Sally Rosenberg are the principals in Ladybug Productions LLC, a theatrical production company, which made its Broadway producing debut in 2018 as a co-producer of Gettin' The Band Back Together. Jill has spent many years as a policy expert, advocate and strategist for corporate and non-profit concerns, beginning her advocacy career at the First Amendment organization People For the American Way. She is currently President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer's. Jill holds a BA, with honors, from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and graduated cum laude from Boston University School of Law.