David Rackoff (lyricist) In 2012, David Rackoff wrote the lyrics for the seven original songs in his feature film I AM BAD (written and directed by David, with a score by Harry Gregson-Williams). The film won Best Original Music at Chicago's Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, and Best Horror Film at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, and starred NCIS's Pauley Perrette, Taylor Dayne, and Tony Award Winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia. He wrote and directed the play THE CHASE LOUNGE, which Backstage West called “a delightfully crafty… one-person Noises Off”, and LA Weekly called “side-splitting”. In 2013, he wrote the lyrics for, and directed, the full-length stage musical GILBERT & SULLIVAN'S PULP FICTION (which is exactly what it sounds like.)
Sahara Sunday Spain (composer) grew up in San Francisco, though she spent a large portion of her childhood in West Africa where she was heavily influenced by Dogon storytelling through music and verse. At age nine, Harper Collins published a book of her poetry, If There Would Be No Light, which The New York Times called “charming, alert, and unfettered”. Sahara attended Colgate University, where she studied history, French, and opera. Since graduating in 2014, Sahara has been composing neoclassical and singer/songwriter music, in addition to writing for musical theater. Sahara has written and music-directed pieces for, among others, the San Francisco Girls' Chorus and the Essakane Music Festival in Mali. Gloria Steinem described Sahara as "a musical genius".
Sahara and David met at the NMI Lehman Engel musical theater workshop in Los Angeles in 2014. After graduating, they teamed up to write the full-length musical WONDERLAND WARS. NMI produced a workshop production of the musical.
For their second musical together, they adapted D. H. Lawrence's THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER, a tale of a young boy trying to win his mother's love. The show recently had a staged reading with an orchestra at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Next up is a staged reading in NYC in May. Zev Buffman said of THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER, "This is one of those journeys, driven by two talented partners in music, that deserves attention and recognition. The work is mysterious and original."
Sahara Sunday Spain (composer) grew up in San Francisco, though she spent a large portion of her childhood in West Africa where she was heavily influenced by Dogon storytelling through music and verse. At age nine, Harper Collins published a book of her poetry, If There Would Be No Light, which The New York Times called “charming, alert, and unfettered”. Sahara attended Colgate University, where she studied history, French, and opera. Since graduating in 2014, Sahara has been composing neoclassical and singer/songwriter music, in addition to writing for musical theater. Sahara has written and music-directed pieces for, among others, the San Francisco Girls' Chorus and the Essakane Music Festival in Mali. Gloria Steinem described Sahara as "a musical genius".
Sahara and David met at the NMI Lehman Engel musical theater workshop in Los Angeles in 2014. After graduating, they teamed up to write the full-length musical WONDERLAND WARS. NMI produced a workshop production of the musical.
For their second musical together, they adapted D. H. Lawrence's THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER, a tale of a young boy trying to win his mother's love. The show recently had a staged reading with an orchestra at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Next up is a staged reading in NYC in May. Zev Buffman said of THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER, "This is one of those journeys, driven by two talented partners in music, that deserves attention and recognition. The work is mysterious and original."