KAMALA SANKARAM writes music that straddles the boundaries between opera, musical theater, Hindustani music, and jazz. She has received commissions from Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, the PROTOTYPE Festival, Opera Memphis, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, among others. She is the recipient of a Jonathan Larson Award from the American Theater Wing, and has received grants from Opera America, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kevin Spacey Foundation, and the MAP Fund. Residencies and fellowships include the MacDowell Colony, the Watermill Center, the Civilians, HERE Arts Center, CAP21, Con Edison/Exploring the Metropolis, the Hermitage, and American Lyric Theater. As a resident artist at HERE Arts Center, Kamala created MIRANDA, which was the winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical. Her opera, THUMBPRINT (written with librettist Susan Yankowitz), premiered in the 2014 PROTOTYPE Festival, and was featured on NPR, Agence France Presse, and media outlets around the world. THUMBPRINT has since received productions at LA Opera and Opera Ithaca. She is currently working with librettist Jerre Dye on THE PARKSVILLE MURDERS, the first opera written for virtual reality. Episode 1 is now available on SamsungVR. Dr. Sankaram holds a PhD from the New School and is currently a member of the composition faculty at SUNY Purchase. www.kamalasankaram.com

ROB HANDEL is a librettist and playwright. Collaborations with composer Kamala Sankaram include THE INFINITE ENERGY OF ADA LOVELACE (American Lyric Theatre, Opera Ithaca), BOMBAY RICKEY (MEETS THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DESIRE) (Prototype festival at HERE, Tête à Tête in London), and LOOKING AT YOU (developed at Opera America and BRIC Arts Media). THE ARTWORK OF THE FUTURE, with composer Eric Moe, was developed at New Dramatists, where Handel was a resident playwright from 2008-2015. His plays include MILLICENT SCOWLWORTHY, APHRODISIAC, A MAZE, and I WANT TO DESTROY YOU. Productions: New York Stage and Film, Long Wharf, Target Margin, Theatre Vertigo (Portland, OR), Rorschach Theatre (DC), Just Theater/Shotgun Players (Berkeley), Theatre Battery (Kent, WA), City Lights (San Jose), Curious Theatre (Denver), Theater Ninjas (Cleveland), Half Moon (Poughkeepsie), 99 Stock (San Francisco), and many others. Residencies: The Civilians R&D Group, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Soho Rep, Portland Center Stage, The MacDowell Colony, Todd Mountain Theater Project, and a ‘pataphysics retreat. Handel heads the dramatic writing program at Carnegie Mellon University, served on the board of the MacDowell Colony, and was a founding member of 13P. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, poet Joy Katz, and their son.

KRISTIN MARTING is a director of hybrid work based in NYC. Over the last 25 years, she has constructed 28 stage works, including 9 original hybrid works, 5 opera-theatre and music-theatre works, 9 reimaginings of novels and short stories and 5 classic plays. Kristin has directed 19 works at HERE (where she is Founding Artistic Director) and also premiered works at BAM (Opera House), 3LD, Ohio Theatre, and Soho Rep. Her work has toured to 7 Stages, Berkshire Festival, Brown, MCA, New World, Painted Bride, Perishable, UMass, Moscow Art Theatre, London and Oslo. She has directed readings and workshops for Clubbed Thumb, EST, New Georges, Playwrights Horizons, Public Theatre, Target Margin, and others. Selected residencies include Cal Arts, LMCC, Mabou Mines, MASS MOCA, NACL, Orchard Project, Playwrights Center, Smack Mellon, Voice & Vision and Williams. Kristin was recently named a nytheatre.comPerson of the Decade for outstanding contribution, a Woman to Watch by ArtTable and honored with a BAX10 Award. She also co-founded and co-directs Prototype opera-theatre festival. kristinmarting.wordpress.com