Experience the Magic of Mad Around Here Musical
rene zabel - book and lyrics
Rene Zabel (she/her) holds a BFA in Psychology from University of Arizona Global Campus. She uses her degree in Psychology and her love of folklore and mythology frequently in writing her plays, such as Evil Therapy, A Rare Case, and Deirdre the musical. Her solo musical, When the Silence Sings, was a finalist in the Rave Theater Festival in 2020 and the 2019 Producer’s Perspective: Producer’s Pick. She was selected for the Kennedy Playwriting Intensive for 2022.
Rene is a member of the Dramatist Guild and Expert Theater Company.
Mad Around Here: A Musical Journey
ian stephenson - music
Ian is a UK-based composer of musicals, and a musical theatre MD & accompanist.
His first musical, “The 3 of Us”, written in 2013 with librettist Tom Allsopp played to sold out audiences at the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton and was revived in 2015 at the Old Joint Stock, Birmingham.
In 2016 he began “Wardrobe”, the true story of a First World War soldier who spent almost the entirety of the conflict hidden in cupboard on occupied France. It received a £15k UK Arts Council grant in 2018 for research and development and is still in the process of being written.
Switching his attention to the U.S., Ian teamed up with Eric C Jones to write “Fired!” Set in America’s financial scene, it tells of corporate greed and the plight of one man’s journey to rid himself of the ghost of his father and late boss as he struggles to become the man they hoped he would one day be. He has recently been the beneficiary of an off-Broadway staged reading in New York under the direction of Harmony Harris - recent recipient of New York Theatre Barn’s inaugural ‘Emerging Artist’ award.
He is delighted to have been recommended to work with Rene on this exciting project by off-Broadway director, producer and dramaturg, Cate Cammarata.
Ian teaches in s Special School but spends much of his free time playing in theatre pits for a range of local amateur and semi-pro theatre groups.
