Avenue Q - Off-Broadway Creative Team

Broadway: co-creator/writer of The Book of Mormon (nine Tony Awards including Best Book, Best Original Score and Best Musical), co-creator/songwriter of Avenue Q (three Tony Awards including Best Original Score and Best Musical). Regional: Frozen (Denver Center), Up Here (La Jolla Playhouse), 1001 Nights (Atlantic Theater). Film: Pixar's Coco (Oscar Best Original Song win for "Remember Me"), Frozen (Oscar Best Original Song win for "Let It Go"). TV: songs for The 87th Academy Awards, "The Simpsons," "South Park," "Scrubs," "The Wonder Pets." Upcoming projects include Disney's Frozen 2. One of 12 artists to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony ... read more Jeff Marx is an American composer and lyricist best known for co-creating the musical Avenue Q, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2004. Born on September 10, 1970, in Hollywood, Florida, Marx grew up in a musical family and began playing the piano at a young age. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied music composition and theater. After college, Marx moved to New York City to pursue a career in musical theater. He worked odd jobs to support himself while writing music and lyrics in his spare time. In 1998, he met Robert Lopez, a ... read more STEPHEN OREMUS received the 2013 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Kinky Boots, for which he also served as Music Supervisor and Arranger. He received the 2011 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for co-orchestrating The Book of Mormon, as well as the 2012 Grammy Award for producing the cast recording. In addition to orchestrations for The Book of Mormon, he wrote the vocal arrangements and serves as music supervisor for the Broadway, National Tour, and London productions. Stephen is the music supervisor and arranger of the original Broadway production of Wicked, and of the subsequent productions of this hugely popular musical ... read more Gary has been working as a theater musician in New York for over 25 years. As a pianist and conductor, his credits include Avenue Q, Kinky Boots, Next to Normal and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. As a writer, he wrote music and lyrics for the long-running Off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz, for which he received two Drama Desk Award nominations. Other writing credits include Disney Channel’s “Johnny and the Sprites” and a number of contributions to the “Carols for a Cure” album series. Bender joins Paper Mill Playhouse directly from her role as a member of the musical theater faculty at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, Bender was Senior Vice President of Production and Development at The Araca Group in New York City. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Programming and Artist Services for the New York Musical Festival (NYMF), and as Resident Director for the Broadway productions of The Lion King and Avenue Q. She was the Assistant Artistic Director for Cirque du Soleil's Ovo for productions in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, ... read more Scott Elliott is an American theatre director and the founder and artistic director of The New Group, the acclaimed Off-Broadway theatre company. Born in Ohio in 1960, Elliott studied theatre at Ohio University, graduating in 1982 before moving to New York City. He founded The New Group in 1987, where productions have included Hurlyburly, The Starry Messenger, and The Kid. His Broadway directing credits include Three Sisters, Present Laughter, and The Threepenny Opera, and his work has earned multiple Tony Award nominations. Beyond the stage, Elliott directed the film A Map of the World, starring Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore, and has ... read more Louizos began her Broadway career as an associate scenic designer, working on The Red Shoes in 1993, The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1997, and Taller Than a Dwarf and Uncle Vanya in 2000. She also served as art director for the 47th Tony Awards in 1993 and later worked as art director on eight episodes of Sex and the City in 2003. Her first major scenic design credit came with the 2003 Broadway production of Avenue Q. She went on to design numerous Broadway productions, including Golda’s Balcony, Steel Magnolias, High Fidelity, Curtains, In the Heights, All About Me, Baby It’s You!, ... read more Originally from Rochester, NY, and now based in the New York City area, Mr. Lyon studied theatre at Penn State University, and puppetry at the Institute of Professional Puppetry Arts in Connecticut and the Institut Internationale de la Marionnette in France. While he was studying in Connecticut in 1986 he met the late Jim Henson, which later led to him working for Mr. Henson as a puppeteer with the Muppets, and with Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Mr. Lyon has also worked in television and film for Columbia Pictures, New Line Cinema, ABC, CBS, PBS, The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, ... read more Jason Moore studied acting and directing as a theater arts major at the University of California, Los Angeles, and continued at UCLA as a film directing major in the M.F.A. program. His thesis film, Paradise, Nebraska, won UCLA's top prize, the Spotlight Award for best film of the year. Paradise was a hit on the festival circuit and was sold to more than 20 domestic and international networks, including Showtime and the Sundance Channel. After graduating, he began directing commercials. He found them to be a natural extension of short filmmaking, and he enjoyed the fast pace and quick turnaround of ... read more