Grace McLean

"Penelope" + Co-Book

Grace McLean is a multi-hyphenate actress-singer-writer-teacher called "phenomenal" by The New York Times, "electrifying" by The Huffington Post, and a "sly-eyed musical powerhouse" by New York Magazine. In addition to performing on Broadway (Suffs; Bad Cinderella; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), Off Broadway (New Group, MCC, LCT3, Public, La MaMa, Vineyard, among others) and TV/film (The Other Two – HBO; The First Lady – Showtime), Grace also makes time for her acclaimed original music. Rolling Stone called the "avant-garde pop" songs "brilliant" on her debut full-length album "My Lovely Enemy." Stephen Holden of the New York Times says "Ms. McLean's voice [is] a flexible instrument with unexpected reserves of power...Behind her playful adventurousness lies a well of passion." Grace's first original musical In The Green was commissioned and produced by Lincoln Center Theater, earning a Richard Rodgers Award for writing and a Lucille Lortel Award for her performance. Her work with Alex Bechtel and Eva Steinmetz earned another Richard Rodgers Award for their piece, Penelope. She composes music for theater (Lunar Eclipse, The Apiary) and film (Marina, Our Mine – Best Score from Brooklyn Film Festival and Athens International Film Festival). Other honors include a Vivace Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, a Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and she is a Broadway Women's Fund Woman to Watch. Her band has performed for the Lincoln Center American Songbook two years in a row, and she toured Pakistan and Russia with the US State Department as an artistic ambassador. gracemclean.com

Alex Bechtel

Music, Lyrics + Co-Book

Alex Bechtel is a composer, actor, sound designer, writer, director, teaching artist, and multi-instrumentalist dedicated to the creation of new works of music, theatre, and musical theatre. In addition to Penelope, recent work includes: Arrangements/Music Direction for Poor Judge, an experimental dance-theatre exploration of the music of singer/songwriter Aimee Mann, with Pig Iron Theatre Company; Music & Lyrics for Lightning Rod Special's The Appointment (NYTimes, Vulture, TimeOut NY "Best of 2019" lists); People's Light & Theatre Company's Peter Panto: A Musical Panto, Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Panto, Sleeping Beauty: A Musical Panto, and Shakespeare in Love; Arden Theatre Company's The Light Princess and A Midsummer Night's Dream; and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's Two Gents, Henry V, Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Midsummer, Much Ado, Merry Wives and Twelfth Night. Workshop productions of his musicals Philadelphia Nocturne (2017) and Cheer Up, Dostoevsky (2018) were presented in Philadelphia. He is the creator/director/composer for the devised musical hall drama The West, which had its world premiere in 2014 at the Off-Broad Street Theatre. Bechtel is a graduate of The Pig Iron School (Inaugural Class, 2013) and The University of the Arts (BFA 2008). He has received 7 Barrymore Awards. In 2015, he was awarded an Independence Fellowship in the Arts. In 2026, Bechtel was awarded the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre for Penelope, alongside co-writers Grace McLean and Eva Steinmetz. alexbechtel.com

Eva Steinmetz

Director + Co-Book

Eva Steinmetz is a Philadelphia-based theater director and filmmaker, creating new works that straddle the ordinary and extraordinary. Most notably, she directed and co-created Poor Judge, a dance-theatre-cabaret exploring heartbreak and the Hollywood Dream (Pig Iron – 4 Barrymore Awards, including Outstanding Production of a Musical); Penelope, a contemporary chamber musical about Odysseus's waiting wife (Alex Bechtel & Grace McLean – Richard Rogers Award; 4 Barrymore nominations); and The Appointment, a musical satire skewering the hypocrisy and absurdity at the center of the American abortion debate (Lightning Rod Special – two-time NY Times Critic's Pick; New Yorker "Best of 2023;" 6 Barrymore nominations). Other credits include Sad Boys in Harpy Land (Alexandra Tatarsky), Art Houses (Theatre Horizon), The Caregivers (Pig Iron), Hart Island Requiem (Ty Defoe & Tidtaya Sinutoke), Wolfthicket (Lily Kind), and Krapp Hour (Anne Carson & Lightning Rod Special). Eva's short film, Marina, starring Grace McLean and Succession's Peter Friedman, received The Gotham Award and distribution through Focus Features. She was also a performer/creator in Josephine Decker's acclaimed movie, Madeline's Madeline. Eva is a Co-Artistic Director of the Pig Iron Theater Company.

rigor + ruckus

Producer

rigor-ruckus (Producer) is a New York-based boutique theatrical producing and general management company built on a simple premise: combine operational rigor with the ruckus of creative vision to identify and develop projects that meet the current cultural moment. Founded by two-time Tony-winning producer Rachel Sussman, Tony-nominated producer and general manager Heather Shields, and Special Tony Award-winning producer Robb Nanus, r+r's recent projects include: the critically acclaimed Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (Edinburgh Fringe, London); the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Liberation (Broadway); and the sold-out, one-night-only concert event Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment in partnership with Jane Fonda and the Committee for the First Amendment. Upcoming: Nobody Cares US tour and Liberation in London. Several projects in development. rigor-ruckus.com

JGF Productions

Co-Producer

JGF Productions is a Tony-winning & Olivier-nominated producer of theater & film in New York and London founded by Jessica Goldman Foung. Recent credits include: KYOTO (Producer); Cats: The Jellicle Ball (Co-Producer); Liberation (Co-Producer); Fear of 13 (Co-Producer); Weather Girl (Co-Producer); John Proctor is the Villain (Co-Producer); Suffs (Co-Producer, Broadway and tour).

Salem Productions

Co-Producer

Elizabeth Salem founded Salem Productions to develop and produce new work in New York and London. Her producing credits include Broadway's Operation Mincemeat, Every Brilliant Thing, Liberation, and CATS: The Jellicle Ball; Off-Broadway's You Got Older and Max Wolf Friedlich's play The Holes; the UK's Invasive Species and Ceilidh.

Alisa Sommer O'Hara

Co-Producer

Alisa Sommer O'Hara is the Global Head of Learning & Education Partnerships and Developer Relations at Google, where she is responsible for identifying and driving strategic partnerships with organizations in the education ecosystem to build products and programs that increase Google and our partners' impact on students, teachers, and administrators. In this role, her team has led partnerships ranging from early-stage EdTech Accelerators to Google's work with Miami from K12 to career. She is passionate about building community and equity and is involved in Google's Pride@Google ERG, as well as serving on the Board of Directors for Da Vinci Schools Fund and LA's Best.

Todd B. Rubin

Co-Producer

Todd B. Rubin is a Tony, Drama Desk, and Lortel Award-winning producer. Select Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End productions: Liberation, Suffs, Oh Mary!, CATS: The Jellicle Ball, Operation Mincemeat, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Paddington, Mexodus. Upcoming projects: Inter Alia, Damn Yankees. With gratitude to family and friends.

Dale Joan Young & James Young

Co-Producers

Producer: Bedbugs, The Musical. Co-producer: The Best is Yet to Come, The Music of Cy Coleman; The Cottage. Investor: Irena's Vow; Becoming Tennessee. Donor: Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, EduHam.