ALBERT EVANS

Wrote the Off-Broadway hits Nite Club Confidential, The Texas Chainsaw Musical, Streakin’ thru the 70s and Pageant, chosen by Time Magazine as one of the year’s ten best entertainment events. In addition to its 2 off-Broadway productions, Pageant has been performed in London, Australia, Japan and all of the USA.

His lyrics are featured in a new performing edition of The Merry Widow, seen at New York City Opera and televised on Live from Lincoln Center (PBS).

For ten years, Mr. Evans was Composer-in-Residence at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse where he wrote scores for Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities and Mikado Inc.

He is now Artistic Associate at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, where he adapted the songs of George M. Cohan for the musical biography, Yankee Doodle Dandy, subsequently mounted at The Ordway Center (St. Paul) and Theatre Under the Stars (Houston), Rosie the Riveter! (touring Theater for Young Audiences musical), and Paint Your Wagon (co-creator of new musical arrangements). Evans is the writer and host of The 5th Avenue’s Show Talks with Albert Evans, pre-show chats about all things theatrical.

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RONALD KAEHLER

Is a playwright, lyricist, and composer living in New York City. His current projects include Under the Overture, an operatic farce for which he adapted the music of Rossini, and Poor Players, a darkly comic thriller. Under the Overture was a finalist in the MUT International Musical Entertainment Competition in Munich, Germany July 2018. In October 2018, a workshop directed by Gerard Alessandrini was held in New York City. Poor Players is one of ten works cited in Tony Award-winning producer Ken Davenport's "Producer Pick List 2018."

A Country Christmas Carol marked Ron’s initial collaboration with Albert Evans. The original production was commissioned and directed by James Rocco for Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and subsequently presented in New York by the National Music Theatre Network's "MainStreet Musicals" series, where it won the Directors' Choice Award. The team of Evans & Kaehler also wrote six annual editions of The Story Salad Shows, musicals for children toured the country under the auspices of Theatreworks USA. They also created the touring children’s musical I Feel Great! (Sweet Youth Productions, Boston) and collaborated on the title song for the Off-Broadway play Beat: A Subway Cop’s Comedy by John DiResta.

Ron has written songs and specialty material for noted Broadway performers (Bryan Batt, David Garrison, Eddie Korbich, Alix Korey, Marin Mazzie, Jessica Molaskey, and Mary Testa, among others) and theatrical events (Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefits and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society's Mr. Abbott Awards). His songs have been published (Midder Music) and recorded ("Twisted Turtle Tinsel", "The Best of In Celebration of Life"). In addition to Albert Evans, Ron has collaborated with David Friedman, Anne Bryant & Ellen Bernfeld, Steve Silverstein, and Jeremy Franklin Goodman.

In addition to his theatrical work, Ron served as Executive Story Editor and contributing writer for the children's television series Van-Pires (Abrams/ Gentile Entertainment), which was one of the earliest live action/animated series to utilize CGI technology. The show was rated No. 1 in its time slot in various domestic and international markets. Ron has also edited many academic books, including David Kaplan’s acclaimed textbook series "Five Approaches to Acting" (Hansen Publishing Group).

He is a member of The Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and New Play Exchange.

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JAMES A. ROCCO 

Is the co-founder of Thirty Saints Productions, which created The Broadway Songbook® series for seven seasons at Ordway Center.  Together with Broadway Asia, Thirty Saints toured Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat® to Tokyo and led the artistic team for the US Air Force’s 9/11 tribute video; There Are No Words, seen by millions of viewers on 9/11/2016.  Thirty Saints is an investor in the current Broadway, National Tour and Toronto productions of Come from Away and Magic Mike in London.From 2005-2017, Rocco was the VP of Programming and Producing Artistic Director at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.  At the Ordway, Mr. Rocco presented and booked the best of touring Broadway with productions like August, Osage County, An American In Paris, Kinky Boots, Les Misérables and more.  He produced and/or co-produced award-winning theatricals like In The Heights, Love, Janis, Cabaret, West Side Story, White Christmas, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Grey Gardens. As the Ordway representative and member of the Broadway League and the Independent Producer’s Network, he was a producing partner and investor in Fun Home, Something’s Rotten, Legally Blonde, The Color Purple, Monty Python’s Spamalot and others, as well as serving on the IPN’s Governance Committee

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JAYME McDANIEL 

Is a Director, Choreographer and Producer whose recent credits include:  Korea and Japan: Rebecca, The Musical; The Man Who Laughs, Xcalibur (Broadway On Demand), Marie Antoinette, Monte Cristo, Hamlet, The Rock Opera; The Last Kiss & Maury Yeston’s Phantom! EMK International and TOHO Theatricals.  Regional: White Christmas, Joseph…, starring Clay Aiken, (Broadway World awards best direction and choreography) Singin’ in the Rain (IRNE nomination choreography): Ogunquit Playhouse  Joseph… North Shore; Singin’ in the Rain, Grey Gardens, Yankee Doodle & The Rocky Horror Show: Ordway Center; The Student Prince: Paper Mill Playhouse; Zorba & H.M.S. Pinafore: Berkshire Theatre Festival, Violet, Candide & Drood: Connecticut Repertory; Always Patsy Cline, Evita, It’s a Fabulous Life, Chicago, Zombie Prom, The Merry Widow, People Like Us, They’re Playing Our Song etc.  Producer at Ogunquit Playhouse and Ordway Center. On Stage: final national tour of Hello, Dolly! With Carol Channing.  Minneapolis Star Tribune Outstanding Director of a Musical of 2007.  

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