Vaheed Ali Talebian

Vaheed Ali Talebian is a queer Persian-American composer and performer. He received his B.A. in Arts Administration and Economics from the University of Virginia and his M.F.A. at the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Max Dreyfus Award). On the stage, Vaheed made his Off-Broadway acting debut in The Monsters of the Villa Diodati as John Polidori with Emergent TheatreWorks. He then performed in the Tank’s 2024 International Human Rights Arts Festival in his original 20-minute musical, Another Cousin’s Wedding. Also in New York City, Vaheed has performed at 54 Below, Green Room 42, and SoHo Playhouse. In addition to performing, Vaheed wrote scores for films produced at the Virginia Film Festival, and was both a NMTC 2024 Semi-Finalist and AMTP 2024 Semifinalist alongside Alex Manaa for their show The MENA Show (excerpts showcased at Joe's Pub and 54 Below). His other projects include Blood Is Thicker (musical; production at The University of Virginia; 54 Below; Makers Ensemble Intimate Artist Night); Dino Nuggets Are Gay (play), La Resistenza (musical, produced in South Korea in 2022), Frank ‘n Me (20 minute musical, produced at the New York Public Library), ‘Til Next Time (10 minute play, produced by The Village Playwrights).