The Writers
Lauren Taslitz (Book and Lyrics) is a librettist, lyricist, producer, teaching artist, partner, mother, and grandmother determined to bring the voice of mature womanhood to the musical theatre table, and committed to fighting the pervasive ageism that renders older women invisible when in fact we grow wiser and more powerful with each passing year. She has written book and lyrics for six full-length musicals featuring older women, as well as on a few musicals that don’t. In addition to her projects with writing-partner Danny Ursetti, projects in development include,The Middle Ages, with composer Jesse Gage, The Quantification of Relative Human Insignificance (Sig-Works Finalist) with composer Jacob Fjeldheim, and Bak Chang, with composer Emily Chiu.
Lauren is the 2020 Robert and Stephanie Olmsted MacDowell Fellow, was nominated by The Musical Theater Factory for the DGF Benjamin Indick Award for Outstanding Librettist or Lyricist, and has been a finalist or semi-finalist for a bunch of things she hasn’t gotten. (A list of productions, residencies, commissions and things she has gotten can be found on her website, laurentaslitz.com). Lauren produced the initial reading of William Finn and Danny Ursettis’ pandemic song-cycle, Once Every Hundred Years, in August of 2021. She also assists William Finn in an on-going series of Master Classes in Lyric Writing.
Lauren is a founding member of The HomeBrewed Collective, and a member of Maestra, MTF’s Women’s Roundtable, and The Dramatist Guild. She has a B.S. from Princeton University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Certificate of Completion from The Second City Writing Program, and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU-Tisch (2017). Lauren is grateful to her collaborators and the musical theatre community at large for making her life infinitely richer, and humbled and honored — shocked, really — by how extraordinarily lucky she is to be a small part of it.
Danny Ursetti is a New York-based composer, conductor, arranger/orchestrator, drummer/percussionist and teaching artist who loves rhythm, E.T., and collaboration. Current projects with Lauren Taslitz include, Regretting Almost Everything (54 Below, Barrington Stage), and their family-friendly plant musical, Mimosa (Broadway’s Future Songbook at Lincoln Center). Other upcoming projects include Once Every Hundred Years, a pandemic song-cycle with lyrics by Tony-winner William Finn.
Danny’s songs and musicals have been developed and presented at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Goodspeed Musicals, Two River Theater, Barrington Stage, and Prospect Theater Company. His arrangements/orchestrations have been performed by The New York Philharmonic, Pasadena Pops, and can be heard on HBO. His drums/percussion credits include A Walk On The Moon (George Street Playhouse), Themes For Falling Down Stairs, and Borrowed Cash (A.R.T.). Danny is City Artist Corps Grant recipient, American Prize Semi-Finalist and Global Music Award Winner. Danny is a current member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop and The HomeBrewed Collective. MFA: NYU Tisch GMTWP.
dannyursetti.com