NOELLE DONFELD
Book writer and Lyricist
Noelle Donfeld has had seven musicals produced during the last eight years with seven musicals scheduled for performances in 2009-2010. The Revolution of Betsy Loring (book and lyrics) will be read at Encore Theater, Dayton, Ohio, on January 12, 2010. Selections from the show, written with composer Denise Wright, will also be heard on their web site. Her one-act, Squeak, (lyrics), with Sachi Oyama, book, and Brian Leader, music, which was read at Theatre Building Chicago and staged at the Colony Theatre, will premiere at La Canada Theatre, in La Canada, California, in February 2010. The Spark, Hannah Senesh, (book and lyrics), with composer Sandy Shanin, which was a finalist in PlayFest 2007, and semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference, opened Theatre Building Chicago’s Monday Night Musicals series on October 26, 2009 and will be read again at the Pierson Playhouse, Pacific Palisades, Ca. on April 20, 2010. Ghost(s) (lyrics) for the Lyric Theatre, Los Angeles, with Kincaid Jones, book, and Brian Woodbury, music, has an initial reading planned for summer 2010. Powder Puff Pilots, (lyrics), with book by Marian Partee and music by Cindy O’Connor, is being written for a reading at the University of California, Irvine, this fall. Her sung-through one act, Carjacked!, (libretto) written with composer Bonnie Janofsky, was produced at the 10 by 10 Festival of the Art Center Stage, Carrboro, North Carolina in July 2009. Currently, she is writing lyrics for The Antique Shop, with book by Peter Kuo and music by Nathan Wang. A production is planned for fall, 2010.
Past productions include Hands, for which she was book writer, lyricist and co-composer with composer Nathan Wang, which was selected for Stages 2000 by Theatre Building Chicago, under the direction of Chuck Smith, Resident Director of the Goodman Theatre. The Revolution of Betsy Loring, for which she was book writer and lyricist, was selected for a workshop production by Casa Manana, Fort Worth, Texas, in 2001 under its "Tomorrow Project" series. The production garnered rave reviews by the "Dallas Morning News" and the "Ft. Worth Star Telegram." Donfeld was commissioned by NextStage Productions, Houston, Texas, as lyricist for Twas, which was presented both at the Cashman Theatre in Las Vegas, and at the Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre in Houston, under the production of Stuart Ostrow in 2002. Aesop, for which she was original book writer and lyricist, with composer Thomas Bahler, was selected by Musical Theatre West for its Festival of New Works at the Carpenter Center, in Long Beach, California, in 2004. Act 1 of Shahrazad, Heads or Tales?, for which she was lyricist, with book by Stephen Oles and music by Sandy Shanin, was selected for presentation at the Century City Theatre, at the Long Beach Theatre and at the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden, by Mercury Musical Development in 2005. Donfeld wrote the book and lyrics for Act 2 at the request of Playwrights Arena, which presented a workshop reading at LATC and hopes to produce it in the future. Donfeld was commissioned as lyricist for Miss Vulcan 1939, with book by Marian Partee and music by Jan Powell, by Red Mountain Theatre, in Birmingham, Alabama, which premiered the light hearted romp in the fall of 2007 and produced it again in September of 2008.
Other projects include: Big Top, (book and lyrics) with composer Nathan Wang; Forbidden City, (lyrics) with book writer Sachi Oyama and composer Nathan Wang, which was a semi-finalist in the Musical Theatre Conference of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and Stages and Mita, the Magnificent, (book, lyrics, music) a bi-lingual children's musical.
A published songwriter, Donfeld is a member of the Dramatist Guild, ASCAP, ALAP, and on the Board of the Academy for New Musical Theatre, Los Angeles. ndonfeld@aol.com