Seattle, Washington

Orlando G. Morales (he/him) is a musician, educator, and theatermaker from Seattle, Washington. He is currently Assistant Artistic Director for the Tacoma Refugee Choir and holds a B.A. in American Ethnic Studies and a Masters in Teaching from the University of Washington. He is also on the faculty of the Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab and has over eighteen years of experience teaching music and theater, as well as over thirteen years of professional experience as an arts administrator (Seattle Children’s Theatre; The 5th Avenue Theatre). He is a Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project alum and a Jonathan Larson Grant finalist (2019, 2020, 2022).

Favorite music directing credits include: the annual “Rally for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” (2017-2023) for the Kent School District; How to Break (2018, 2016), Great Wall (2012), and Cloaked (2011, 2010) for Village Theatre; The Hunger Lounge (2012) for Book-It Repertory Theatre; and The Tempest (associate music director, 2023) for Seattle Rep’s Public Works. Current musical theater writing projects include Psalm (Village Theatre, 2016 workshop) and The Promised Land (O’Neill Center National Music Theater Conference Semifinalist, 2021; The 5th Avenue Theatre, 2018 workshop). Orlando is a co-founder of Rondalya sa Seattle, a Filipino American folkloric music ensemble and is a member of the Shades of Praise Gospel Choir at St. Therese Parish in Seattle. He is an avid aquascaper, proud chinchilla parent, and he grows vegetables.

Amherst, Massachusetts

Nicolette Blount (she/her) is a songwriter, writer, producer, singer, actress, and tribal member of the Chickasaw Nation. Nicolette is the creator, cowriter, composer and lyricist for a new musical, Savage – The Unconquerable Wanda Savage. Savage received Honorable Mention for the American Playwright Foundation’s Relentless Award 2022 and has 43K streams of it’s music streaming that she self produced. Nicolette’s music has been featured at 54 Below at Women of The Wings Vol. 4, at Joe’s Pub for the Ring of Keys Gala, and at the 2019 New York Musical Festival.

As a producer, she enjoys highlighting new talent and unheard stories through her LLC Take My Shot Productions.  Recently, she started nativetheatreartists.com to help create more visibility for Native artists on and off Broadway.

Nicolette has performed at Broadway Sessions and is featured on Savage’s EP. Some of Nicolette’s performance highlights have been singing at Carnegie Hall and Performing in two operas Tosca and Turandot with the Palm Springs and Riverside Civic Operas. While living in Hawaii, Nicolette wrote and recorded her first album, Conversations and toured with the Kanikapila Singers. She continues to perform in local theater with her recent role being Miss Hannigan in Annie. Nicolette is a member of the Dramatist Guild, ASCAP, Beyond Music, PAAL, Songwriters Guild of America, TRU, and Maestra. She continues to work on the development of Savage and a few new endeavors including Red, the story of the Queen of Hearts and Riot Grrrl.

Chicago, Illinois

Lachrisa Grandberry (she/her), Milwaukee-born native, is an actor, singer, and writer who has made Chicago her home. As a performer she has done regional theater throughout Wisconsin and Chicago, as well as television, film, and commercial work. Her voice as a writer has been heard as a classroom teacher, poet, key-note speaker, and most recently a playwright, lyricist, and composer. Her writing credits include two musicals for Northern Sky Theater in Door County, WI. She is the lyricist and co-author of Girls On Sand, premiering summer of 2024, as well as lyricist, co-author, and co-composer of Sunflowered, produced at Northern Sky Theater in 2022. Lachrisa’s generational drama, Eeny Meeny Miny NO!, had a staged reading in the inaugural Milwaukee Black Theater Festival, and she’s written and performed her solo piece, The Healing Session, a show of all original poetry. Her performance credits include Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Second City, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Theatre LILA, Forward Theatre, First Stage, and seven seasons at Northern Sky Theater where she also serves as the Program Director of NOVA (Nurturing Original Voices & Artists) and leads multiple Writing Circles each year for writers of all levels. Lachrisa was named one of Wisconsin’s 52 Most Influential Black Leaders in 2022. Lachrisa is an alumna of Wisconsin Lutheran College, and is represented by Paonessa Talent Agency. She aims to continue inspiring and transforming the human mind through the power of story-telling. Her first musical, Sunflowered, is available now on Apple Music and other streaming platforms.

Fletcher, North Carolina

In the thirty-plus years Katie Winkler (she/her) has lived in the mountains of western North Carolina, she has been active in the theater community as a writer, actor, director, publicist, reporter, and reviewer, working with various theater organizations, including Blue Ridge Community College’s theater department, Hendersonville Theatre, and Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theater of North Carolina. Four of her plays have been produced, including the musical A Carolina Story with music by Curtis McCarley, which was produced a second time to benefit the Student Emergency Grant and Loan Fund at Blue Ridge Community College. In addition, she has participated in workshops and readings at the Burning Coal Theater in Raleigh, NC, the Southeastern Theater Conference, and Hendersonville Theatre. For a decade she wrote regular theater reviews and feature articles about the arts for the Hendersonville Times-News. Winkler often draws inspiration from some of history’s greatest works such as The Book of Job, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Elizabeth Browning’s Sonnets of the Portuguese, and Robert Browning’s masterpiece, The Ring and the Book. Recurring themes in her work include family bonds, the strength and courage of women, the process of grief, and the healing power of friendship and love. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Joe Barsanti (he/him) identifies as a queer and autistic Composer, Lyricist, and theatre artist currently living in Philadelphia. He studied composition in Chicago after graduating high school and later received a B.A. in Vocal Performance and Theatre. Joe studied composition with Dr. Eliza Brown, Dr. Ilya Levinson, and Dr. Drew Baker, orchestration with Dr. Ken Kumpf, musical theatre writing with Phil Kern, and lyric writing with Adam Gwon and Marcy Heisler. His first musical, Oak Island, was produced by American Lives Theatre and had a staged workshop performance in 2022. While musical theatre writing is his passion, he also explores other ways we use music to supplement or enhance a story. Joe has written original music for plays, as well as theme songs for several podcasts, and has had his music license for independent films. He is the resident composer for the Roll Gay Role Play Network and works as a freelance vocal arranger, educator, orchestrator, and music engraver.  For more information visit www.joebarsanti.com.