New Dramatists administers the awards on behalf of the Kleban Foundation, created by late lyricist Edward Kleban, who wrote the lyrics to A Chorus Line. Falcone is the composer/lyricist for Wanda's World, recently seen at the 45th Street Theater, produced by Amas Musical Theatre in association with Terry Schnuck. She served as associate conductor for the Broadway run of Martin Short's show, Fame Becomes Me, and produced and musical directed Broadway for Obama, a benefit concert in Easton, PA, which featured over 30 Broadway performers who traveled to show their support for President Obama's campaign. She holds a Double Masters Degree in Piano Performance and Conducting from Northwestern University.
Kerrigan is a bookwriter, playwright and lyricist based in New York City. Her musical Henry and Mudge, written with composer Brian Lowdermilk, had an Off-Broadway run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 2006 and was commissioned by TheatreworksUSA. Since she and Lowdermilk began collaborating in 2002, they have also written The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, The Woman Upstairs, Wrong Number, Tales from the Bad Years and a web-based musical called The Freshman Experiment. Kerrigan's works have been developed by the La Jolla Playhouse, Primary Stages, Lark Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, National Alliance of Musical Theater Conference, CAP21, and Goodspeed Opera House.
Submission guidelines and an application for the 2010 Kleban Awards are available at the New Dramatists website, www.newdramatists.org. The postmark deadline for the next competition is Sept. 15.
