Matty Selman is a playwright, lyricist, composer, and author based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He first came into the national spotlight when he was hand-selected by Harvard's

Robert Brustein Robert Sanford Brustein (born April 21, 1927) is an American theatrical critic, producer, playwright, writer, and educator. He founded both the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, and the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Ma ...

to write the lyrics to an adaptation of

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponne ...

with music by

HAIR Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

composer,

Galt MacDermot Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song " African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were ''Hai ...

. The resulting work starred

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

winner

Cherry Jones Cherry Jones (born November 21, 1956) is an American actress known for her roles on screen and stage. She has received various accolades for her performances in television and theatre including three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, thr ...

and was presented by the

American Repertory Theatre The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

at Harvard and the Prince Theatre in Philadelphia.

Early life and career

Both having lived on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, Selman and MacDermot continued their collaboration and wrote Goddess Wheel a further exploration of the

tale, which had its world premiere at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Prior to working with Galt MacDermot, Selman had collaborated with Agnes of God playwright,

John Pielmeier John Pielmeier (born February 23, 1949) is an American playwright and screenwriter. Life and career Pielmeier was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the son of Louise (Blackburn) and Len Pielmeier. He was raised Catholic. He earned a Bachelor of Art ...

on three musicals, Steeplechase the Funny Place, developed at The New Harmony Project, Young Rube, produced on the Main Stage of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Slow Dance with a Hot Pickup, produced at BDT in Boulder, Co. He is the author of "Uncle Philip's Coat" which won Best Production at the United Solo Festival. It was recently produced at the Greenhouse Theatre in Chicago starring Gene Waygandt. He is the composer, lyricist and librettist of "La Dottoressa" a new musical about feminist, scientist, educator, mother and advocate for world peace, Maria Montessori. "La Dottoressa" was presented as a full staged reading by the Chamber Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center and featured Kathy Voytko, Ned Eisenberg and Angelina Fiordellisi. Matty was selected by the Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation as its Spring Literature Grantee,2021 for his collection of short stories, "Satchel of Dreams." He is the creator and sole author of "Time Out of Kilter" a monthly newsletter of his original stories. (mattyselman.substack.com)

References

American lyricists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-music-bio-stub