Rob Hartmann (Book, Lyrics, Music)

Rob received his MFA from New York University’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, where he is currently a member of the adjunct faculty.  His work has been produced around the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Sarasota and Minneapolis.  He is a recipient of a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award; he received a 2003 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to develop a new musical with director Peter Rothstein.

Wild Blue, written with fellow alumni Scott Keys and Liv Cummins, was commissioned by the Human Race Theatre Company as part of the centennial celebration of the Wright Brothers’ flight. Another Hartmann-Keys-Cummins collaboration is Vanishing Point: produced in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, Vanishing Point was presented in April 2004 at Symphony Space with Alison Fraser, Emily Skinner and Barbara Walsh.  Macabaret, written with Scott Keys, has been produced more than a dozen times across the country.

Other projects: 24 Hours, a rock musical written with Bruce Goodrich, ran at the Stella Adler Theater in Los Angeles in the summer of 2004, where it was nominated for an Ovation Award for Best Small Musical.  24 Hours is currently being produced as an independent film.

In December of 2004, the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus premiered Rob’s song “All the Years” in their 25^th Anniversary Christmas Concert in Carnegie Hall. 

Current projects include The Story of An African Farm, an adaptation of the 19th-century South African novel, written with South African bookwriter/lyricist Sophie Jaff.

In addition to his stage works, Rob has written more than a dozen articles for the Encyclopedia Americana, including the revision and expansion of Ethan Mordden's history of musical theater. He has also written a number of study guides for Broadway productions, including Wicked, Titanic, 1776, Kiss Me Kate, Amadeus, Aida, Jane Eyre, 42nd Street, Copenhagen, Into the Woods and Hairspray.

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Liv Cummins (Book, Lyrics)

In addition to working with Hartmann and Keys on Vanishing Point, Liv was thrilled to team up with them again in June, 2003 to write lyrics for Wild Blue, a musical revue that explores the magic and mystery of flight throughout the years.  This show was commissioned by Dayton, Ohio's Human Race Theater as a part of Dayton's 100-year celebration of the Wright Brothers.  She co-wrote the musical comedy The Big One with Sandy McKnight; she and McKnight co-produce a live variety show in Columbia County, NY called Saturday Night LIV, hosted by Liv herself.  This show features original sketch comedy and short musicals written by McKnight and Cummins, as well as up-and-coming singer/songwriters and other variety acts, including jugglers, comics, belly-dancers and impersonators. 

Liv teaches writing, songwriting and acting/writing for television at Marist College, Berkshire Community College and Hudson Valley Community College.  Every summer, Liv adapts a fairy tale into a musical, and then directs a group of fifth-graders in the show in Merkin Hall at the Elaine Kaufman Center for the Arts at Lincoln Center.  With writer/husband Sandy McKnight, Liv works at the Phoenix Academy in Westchester to lead a playwriting/theater program for drug-addicted teens.  Liv also writes and performs her own folk-pop songs, and records albums and tours with her band.

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Scott Keys (Original Concept, Additional Lyrics)

Scott Keys is director/choreographer, teacher, writer currently residing in Sarasota, Florida where he is on the faculty of Booker Visual & Performing Arts Hgh School. He holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre Performance from Syracuse University  and a M.F. A. in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU-Tisch School of The Arts where he was the recipient of the Oscar Hammerstein Fellowship for lyricists.  While at NYU he met composer Rob Hartmann and has collaborated on several musicals including Macabaret, Hereafter, Vanishing Point, and Wild Blue. Their works have been produced in New York, Chicago's Porchlight Theatre, The Illusion Theatre in Minneapolis, The Human Race in Dayton, OH, West Coast Ensemble in LA and elsewhere.  While in New York Scott also worked as a Musical Theatre Associate in development for Playwrights Horizons. In Florida, Scott's work as a director/choreographer has garnered several awards for productions of Seussical, Assassins, Kiss of The Spider Woman and Into The Woods.

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