2026 Shows
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by Jad Jacob
In a rock-and-roll retelling of Ludwig van Beethoven's story, the scandalous rock star turns Vienna upside-down with his musical revolution. The legendary composer comes to life through original music, from his humble beginnings as a young upstart on the music scene, to his fall from grace during the scandals of his later life.
by Kim McClay & Rebbekah Vega-Romero
Concord, 1878: Meg, Jo, & Amy have drifted apart, until Beth’s ghost calls them home to relive the memories of their Civil-War-torn adolescence. As the March sisters struggle to find their girlish harmony in adult relationships, this folk/rock Little Women asks: can sisterhood set you free?"
by Laura Guli & Premila Mistry
Sixth grade girl Amalie, socially awkward, lonely and bullied, yearns for another world. After magically entering Van Gogh’s painting Cafe Terrace at Night, Amalie bonds with Van Gogh over a shared understanding of life’s pain and beauty. Amalie visits Van Gogh in the painting several times and this friendship gives her the confidence to start making friends.
2026 Student Showcase
C’est La Vie: The Musical
by Victoria Bernardes & Miriam Lakein
C’est La Vie is a musical centered around the lives of four teenage girls. Each has a set of problems that they are struggling to deal with from absent parents to blackmail to impossible expectations of success. The four girls are thrown together for a school project and do not initially hit it off. They face many trials as they attempt to work together, but eventually learn to trust and confide in each other. Throughout the events of the show, they learn that even when their lives are falling apart, having someone beside them, even if they cannot solve anything, makes life more enjoyable.
2026 Writers
Beethoven: Live in Concert Writing Team
Jad Jacob (Book, Music, Lyrics) is an award-winning Syrian-American composer and filmmaker. Film score credits include: Never Can Say Goodbye (produced by Tony-nominee Crystal Lucas-Perry); feature film Concessions, starring Michael Madsen and Steven Ogg (Edinburgh Int’l Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival). Recent performance credits: Area D (Ars Nova); Hayati (Liminal Theatre Collective); Tribute To Queen: Somebody To Love (The Palace Theatre, NH). Jad played Ludwig van Beethoven in the first staged developmental production of Beethoven: Live In Concert at Fort Salem Theater (April 2024). Jad has traveled the world as dueling pianist, piano bar entertainer, and music director - teaching music at Yaya Theatre Academy in Shenzhen, China; at Forestburgh Playhouse, with APTC; and performing on cruises with both Norwegian and MSC. Film directing credits include: I Am Syria, a documentary about Syrian refugees living in Germany (screenings, Harvard University); and Benson’s Playground (Premiere, Golden State Film Festival). He is recipient of the Al Budde Playwright Scholarship; finalist for the Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting; and a graduate of NYU Tisch’s Film & TV program. His songs have been performed by Broadway veterans such as Lexi Lawson (Hamilton), Brennyn Lark (Six), and Keri René Fuller (Wicked). In February 2025, he made his 54 Below debut in a sold-out concert of original works, entitled Finished/Unfinished. www.jadjacob.com | @jadjjacob
Brian Clemente (Director) has worked as a Director and Assistant Director on a multitude of Professional, Community and Educational productions. Local Directing Credits include Spring Awakening, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, The Glorious Ones, A Little Night Music at Schenectady Light Opera Company; the Regional Premieres of Theatre People, or the Angel Next Door, Popcorn Falls and Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End at Curtain Call, where he also serves as Associate Producer, and Into the Woods and Spring Awakening at Fort Salem Theater. Favorite Assistant Director credits include: the American Premiere of Angry Young Man at Urban Stages NYC (Dir. Stephen Hamilton), Intimate Apparel at Bay Street Theater (Dir. Scott Schwartz), A Streetcar Named Desire at Bay Street Theater and on the Guild Hall production of All My Sons starring Alec Baldwin and Laurie Metcalf, also with Stephen Hamilton. Recipient of the Gwen Fraser Award for Creative Excellence from Schenectady Light Opera Company. MFA: Stony Brook Southampton | brianclementedirector.com
Meg, Jo, Beth, & Amy Writing Team
Kim McClay (she/her) is a New York City based theatre artist & songwriter. As a performer, she is best known for playing Maggie in the National Tour of A Chorus Line and, most recently, her portrayal of Sally Ride in Discovery (a new musical). She’s also been seen as Maggie in I’ll Be Home For Christmas at The Arvada Center & Maggie in A New Song & Dance at Red House Arts Center. Additionally, she’s performed at Ogunquit Playhouse, Cape Playhouse, Engeman Theatre, & Stages St. Louis. As a songwriter, McClay has performed her music in venues across the east coast including Birdland Jazz Club, Green Room 42, & Mercury Lounge in NYC & she was featured in the 2025 Ladybug Music Festival in Wilmington, DE. She is the co-founder of ‘Show & Tell’, a monthly writer’s room in NYC for writers of all disciplines, & spent a week in residency with Drama Club Camp this past June to develop Meg, Jo, Beth, & Amy. Kim is currently in the studio finalizing her latest EP & planning a spring 2026 release! Training: Millikin University (BFA), Interlochen Arts Camp, Jen Waldman Studio, AMAW NY. www.kim-mcclay.com. @heyitskimmcclay
Rebbekah Vega-Romero (she/her/ella) is an Afro-Latina-Jewish performer/writer, who resides in her native NYC with her cat. As a performer, she stars as Maya in the feature Tidings of Joy (Prime, TUBI), and is known for such theatrical roles as Magnolia, Show/Boat: A River, Target Margin & Skirball; Maria, West Side Story, 5th Avenue; Luisa, The Fantasticks, Cape Playhouse. Creator/star of “The Question,” (Official Selection, 5 Festivals). As a dramatist, she is a member of the BMI Lehman Engle MT Workshop (Lyrics/Book); 2025 Drama Club Camp Cohort 4; 2024 Finalist for O’Neill National Playwrights Conference; 2024 & 2023 Candela Fellow at Dramatists Guild Foundation; founding member of the DIEZ collective; Librettist with the Untitled Writer’s Group; produced playwright with Playground-NY. She is a typewriter poet and the creator of Lace/Love/Letters, bespoke poetry collages. Her poems have been published in Sixfold, The Quaranzine Zine, Vocal — and in her debut collection, Speaking Love: Las Lenguas del Amor, which will be published in early 2026. Awards & Degrees include: 2023 Doreen Montalvo Scholarship honoree; LaGuardia (FAME) H.S.; YoungArts; & Boston University B.A. Rebbekah hopes her art empowers other mixed-race girls to share their magic.
Sunflower: The Story of Amalie & Vincent Writing Team
Premila Mistry, composer and orchestrator for Sunflower the Musical is a public school music teacher and teaches music at John Eaton Elementary School in Washington, DC. She is a certified Orff teacher, and has won the Rubenstein Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2019, and the Spotlight Award for the American Center for Elemental Music in 2018. She is the Founder and Director of Sticks+Bars Youth Marimba Ensemble, DC’s first and only African style marimba band. Mistry’s ensembles have performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, at Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, MD with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and at various venues in the DC area and beyond.
Laura Guli, the bookwriter and lyricist for Sunflower the Musical, is a Licensed Psychologist in private practice in Austin, TX where she works with adolescents and their families. She obtained her PhD in School Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English from the University of Virginia. Laura is the author of the Social Competence Intervention Program (SCIP), a theater based curriculum for youth on the autism spectrum. She is also an award winning poet with a chapbook (A Fiery Grace) published by Finishing Line Press. Laura is passionate about musical theater, children and the power of art to create meaningful change.
C’est La Vie Writing Team
2026 Directing Teams
Victoria Bernardes & Miriam Lakein