Team
Sam Carner & Derek Gregor
Among Playbill.com’s “Twelve Contemporary Musical Theatre Songwriters You Should Know”, won the Richard Rodgers Award and the John Wallowitch Award for songwriters under 40, and Sam won the Kleban Prize for “Most Promising Librettist.” Their songs, which have garnered 11 MAC nominations for “Best Song” / “Best Comedic Song” with one win, are performed in hundreds of venues around the world every year and have been sung on all seven continents (including Antarctica).
Their musical Unlock’d received a rapturously-received production in 2018 at Houston’s Queensbury Theatre, and the show was produced by Prospect Theatre Company at the Duke Theater in the summer of 2013 (“gorgeous” – NYTimes Festival in 2007, where it won the “Best of the Fest” audience prize and “Astounding, enveloping” –Talkin’ Broadway). Previously Unlock’d was produced at the New York Musical Theatre received Talkin’ Broadway citations for “Outstanding New Musical” and “Outstanding Original Theatrical Score.”
Their musical Island Song, which boasts seven MAC-nominated songs, was produced at the Adirondack Theatre Festival (“tuneful, lyrically smart, and full of heart... an uncountable number of bright, funny lyrics... superb” – Albany Times Union), the Bloomington Playwrights Project (“mesmerizing... vibrant, supercharged” – Herald Times), London’s Rose Bruford College, Oakland University, and London’s Hidden Theatre. Island Song has been performed in workshop or concert at the Balagan Theatre in Seattle, the Indiana Festival of Theatre, Princeton University, Western Carolina University, (le) Poisson Rouge in New York, Crawfish in Tokyo (in Japanese), the Comedie Nation in Paris, London’s St. James Studio, and many more. Other current projects include Toast, a jazz/electro-pop fusion musical set in post-Katrina New Orleans (developed at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, Coastal Carolina University, and the Johnny Mercer Colony), an adaptation of an ABC television series to be announced, additional songs for Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living In New York (original songs by Michael Devon, book by Todd Graff, directed by Susan Stroman), and an adaptation of Emma McLaughlin’s and Nicola Kraus’s New York Times best seller “Dedication”.
Sam and Derek’s special material include the children’s musical Love, Splat, which has been touring the US since 2013 in the TheatreWorks USA revue The Teacher From the Black Lagoon and Other Stories, “Sleep Song” for Cait Doyle’s Hot Mess In Manhattan (Araca Project 2012, etc.), “Eleven O’Clock” for Unsung Musicals’ The Passing Show, “Hard Candy” and “You Inspire Me” for the popular web series My Gay Roommate, and “Redheads Unite” for Redheads Anonymous (Indie Series “Best Song” nomination). Their ten-minute musical Flash-Priest was presented by the Prospect Theatre Company in Rites of Passage in the spring of 2012.
They also created the “Barely Legal Showtune Extravaganza” series, which brought some of the country’s most talented college performers to New York every summer for a blow-out concert, and concerts dedicated to their work have been presented at dozens of venues around the world, including Lincoln Center Feinsteins’s/54 Below, the New York Musical Theatre Festival, St. James Studio and Matcham Room in London, Kompact Theatre in Brighton, the University of Michigan, Baldwin Wallace University, Colorado Mesa University, Oakland University, Roosevelt University, Edge Hill University, and many more.
Michael Barnard - Director
MICHAEL BARNARD is entering his 27th season as The Phoenix Theatre Company’s Producing Artistic Director, concentrating his efforts on continued growth of the theatre in service to the community. He recently directed Phoenix Theatre Company’s production of Seussical and is proud to have opened ¡Americano! Off-Broadway in 2022 as both co-writer and director. Michael has also directed and choreographed numerous hits, including Cabaret, Camelot, West Side Story, Godspell, Chicago, and Newsies here at The Phoenix Theatre Company.
Michael has devoted much of his career to developing original works that amplify powerful, untold stories. These include Unbeatable, about a woman’s unwavering fight against cancer through faith and laughter; Lucky Star, which he conceived and directed, following the memories and connections formed in a beloved neighborhood bar; Gun Metal Blues, All the More to Love, Onward and Upward, TAILS (created for the Calgary Stampede), and more. He is currently directing a new musical titled Unlocked, a musical that uplifts us all as we look at how we find ourselves in the most mysterious of ways in order to find true love, and is actively working on two others: Cookin’s a Drag and Lucky, based on Damon Runyon’s Madame La Gimp.
His commitment to the development of new work has reached national platforms, including workshops of ¡Americano! and Onward and Upward at AMAS Musical Theatre in New York City, the Off-Broadway run of ¡Americano! at New World Stages, and a recent reading of Unlocked at Open Jar Studios in NYC.
Michael received his Master’s in Theatre with an emphasis in directing at Northwestern University. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University. Native born, Michael grew up in Glendale and returned to Phoenix after receiving his degree.
Michael’s history with the theatre dates back to the early ‘80s when he was the organization’s first production manager from 1979 to 1982. He continued as a resident director/choreographer until 1985. Prior to arriving back in the Valley in 1999, Michael was a senior show director for the Disney Corporation in Anaheim, directing more than 400 corporate events and highly noted stage shows over nine years. In addition, he directed multiple studio film openings, countless industries, and the California Governor’s Arts Awards.
For nearly two decades, Michael has also collaborated with Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan and directed their REBORN parade, celebrating their fifteenth year. He was the director of the remount of their parade Parade de Carnival and created a variety of shows there, including Snapshots Show and The Laugh Makers. Formerly the Director of Theatre for the City of Phoenix and Associate Producer of Musical Theatre of Arizona, Michael has directed over 560 productions from New York to Los Angeles, working for prestigious companies including The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios Japan, Ashland Cabaret, Utah Shakespeare, Florida Stages, Santa Barbara CLO, Webster University, Forestburgh Playhouse NY, The Barrows Group NYC, St. Louis Playhouse, and PCPA. In Arizona, Michael has directed and/or choreographed for Actor’s Theatre of Arizona, Arizona Jewish Theatre, The Phoenix Symphony, Black Theatre Troupe, Herberger Theatre Center, Valley Youth Theatre, and Childsplay.
Michael is devoted to a variety of social causes and has directed over 1,000 special events. He conceived The Phoenix Theatre Company outreach program Partners That Heal, now in its 14th year of training actors to use improvisational theatre to bring laughter and comfort to children and their families in hospitals across Arizona.
He has received countless awards for his work including the 2011 National Arts and Letters Award, the 2012 Leadership in Arts Award from the YWCA, the 2015 Arts Leader Award from Phoenix Boys Choir, and the prestigious 2018 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Michael, along with Vincent VanVleet, received the Champion of Compassion Award from CASA. Michael is co-author of Unstoppable Me, a children’s musical based on the Wayne Dyer book, and has written a children’s book entitled The Red Ornament. In addition, Michael wrote and directed a statewide tour called The Empower Pack, an anti-tobacco, nutrition, and fitness musical targeted at eight to twelve-year-olds.
Michael owes much of his success at The Phoenix Theatre Company to the dedicated staff, board, artists, and to his husband Vincent, for his constant devotion, support, and nurturing of Michael and the theatre.
Judy Loseff - Producer
In 2013, JUDY LOSEFF, a romantic-comedy lover who believes mixing humor with love makes magic, launched her producing career with the award- winning musical comedy UNLOCK’D, which The New York Times called “surprisingly lovely...very amusing...gorgeous.”
Ms. Loseff’s other theatrical producing projects include the Broadway-bound King’s Speech, Half Time (Paper Mill Playhouse, Broadway in Chicago), Othello: The Remix (Off-Broadway), Can Can (Paper Mill Playhouse), Handle With Care (Off-Broadway), and Island Song (in development). Ms. Loseff has also been involved with An American in Paris (Broadway, London, U.S. Tour) and The 39 Steps (Off-Broadway) as an investor-producer. Ms. Loseff is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theater (NAMT) and has completed courses at the Commercial Theatre Institute (CTI).
A native Chicagoan, Ms. Loseff was also a journalist employed by The Chicago Sun Times and other publications. She authored the book, “Special Kids Need Special Parents: A Resource for Parents of Children with Special Needs” (Berkeley Publishing) and has worked to help families of children with special needs.
Ms. Loseff has a Masters degree in Social Work and has appeared on television, radio and in print across the United States as well as internationally, advocating for special families.