Tools of the Trade: Composers Talk High-Tech and Low-Tech

Sep 04, 2021

Artwork featuring the body of a small string instrument, affixed with metal scraps and tools

JAY ALAN ZIMMERMAN: So, I want to get a little peek into your workspace. Do you have a workspace; do you have many workspaces? And if you do, let’s talk about the physical things: What are the instruments that you have there? What is your basic set-up? What are your physical essentials for creating?

Subscribe to gain full access to The Dramatist Issue Archive.

Join and become a Dramatists Guild Member, Business Subscriber or subscribe to the magazine with an annual plan for unlimited access.

Guild Members receive our magazine as a benefit of membership!

View Options

Jay Alan Zimmerman

’s works include Incredibly Deaf Musical(Duke on 42nd Street), BRAIN. STORM. (Prospect Theater Company), Roboticus with musical robots (Spotify/LEMURplex), Comfort Pet play for Disabled actors (Fault Line Theater), the Naughty & Nice Holiday Songbook (Lincoln Center/54 Below/Amazon), and the Seeing Music Visualizers (Google Creative Labs). He is a recent BMI Harrington Award winner for his visual music ASL song “Our Universe” and his current musical projects include The Bridge inspired by a Thornton Wilder novella and Songs For Hands On A Thursday based on the poems of Sarah Ruhl.

Masi Asare

is a composer/lyricist, playwright, voice teacher, and performance scholar. She is assistant professor of theatre and performance studies at Northwestern University, and divides her time between New York City and Chicago. Her shows include The Family Resemblance, Rishvor, Monsoon Wedding, Mirror of Most Value: A Ms. Marvel Play, Paradise Square (currently playing at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre), and the secret agent musical Sympathy Jones. masiasare.com

Curtis Moore

is a composer, songwriter, and musician in New York. He wrote original songs for the Amazon Prime hit series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for which he received three Primetime Emmy nominations for Best Original Song, a World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song, and an HMMA award. He is the recipient of the Fred Ebb and Jonathan Larson awards, LA’s Garland Award for best score, and the ASCAP award for film composing.

Rona Siddiqui

is a NYC-based composer/lyricist. Musicals: Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan, One Good Day, Hip Hop Cinderella. Awards: Jonathan Larson Grant, Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award, ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award. Music Direction: A Strange Loop.

Deborah Wicks La Puma

is one of the most produced Theatre for Young Audiences artists working today. Honors: Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Musical; Jane Chambers Playwriting Award; Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical Adaptation. She is a proud Mexican-American, “Navy brat,” and Tisch School of the Arts graduate.

Related Dramatist(s)

Jay Alan Zimmerman,

Deborah Wicks La Puma,

Curtis Moore,

Masi Asare,

Rona Siddiqui

Related Organization(s)

Maestra,

New Dramatists,

Final Draft