Meet
The Team
Kevin Hammonds
Book and Lyrics
Kristin Bair
Music
Kevin and Kristin are an award-winning writing duo who have been working together since they were paired for their first assignment in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in 2009. In 2015, the BMI Foundation honored them with the Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement for their writing, including their original musical comedy, Up and Away.
Up and Away’s world premiere was produced by Pittsburgh CLO in January 2018. It had an extended sixteen-week run, and was the featured performance of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Spring Conference, as well as the headlined event of the Pittsburgh CLO’s Spark Festival of New Works. Up and Away was the first world premiere developed through Pittsburgh CLO’s Next Generation Initiative, selected from the inaugural Next Generation New Musicals Weekend of readings in 2017. Prior to this, the show (formerly titled Super Hero) was produced as a staged reading by the Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab at the Snapple Theater in New York in November 2014, and received an Anna Sosenko Assist Trust grant. In 2019, Up and Away was selected for Apples & Oranges Arts’ THEatre ACCELERATOR. Most recently, the show had its West Coast premiere in January 2020 at the Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Portland, Oregon. The production was nominated for multiple Portland theatre awards, and won three.
Kevin and Kristin are currently writing a musical adaptation of acclaimed photographer Hinda Schuman’s memoir Dear Shirley. Philadelphia Theatre Company was awarded a 2020 NAMT Writers Residency Grant to develop Dear Shirley, presenting its first staged reading of the show in July 2020. Dear Shirley was also a finalist for Theatre Latte Da’s Next Generation Commission Grant and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
Previous collaborations include commissions for projects with URock Theatricals and New York City Children’s Theatre. Their short musicals The Sell and The Phobia Phobes were produced by Prospect Theater Company for their Musical Theatre Lab and New York Musical Festival Summer Intensive. Other musicals include Queen with a Crown and King of Kong, developed at the BMI Workshop.
Kevin is a published librettist/lyricist whose work has had more than fifty productions in New York, London and around the world. He was the 2017 librettist recipient of the Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement. His newest musical Under the Canvas Sky, written with London composer Charles Miller, was presented at the London School of Musical Theatre in December 2019. Their musicals When Midnight Strikes, No One in the World, Mr. Christmas and Hope were published and licensed by Concord Publishing and are now available for production throughout Europe. When Midnight Strikes was nominated for an Off-West End award for Best Musical in 2013 (original cast recording available on iTunes). Another musical, Brenda Bly: Teen Detective, received critical acclaim at London’s Bridewell Theatre, and is published and licensed by Samuel French. Additionally, Brenda Bly, When Midnight Strikes, Hope and Mr. Christmas have been published by German publishing company Gallissas and translated into German. His musical The Answering Machine won Best Musical and Best Lyrics at the Theatre Now New York’s 2nd Annual Sound Bites 10-Minute Musical Theatre Festival. Kevin is a member of the BMI Librettists Workshop and the Dramatists Guild.
Kristin is a composer whose work has been performed in New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Her mini musical Dustin Gavins P.I. (lyricist – Sarah Ziegler) was commissioned by 4@15 Musicals Program in conjunction with UC- Irvine, and performed in 2016. Her songs have been featured in the BMI Smoker Series and at Feinstein’s 54 Below, The Duplex and New York Theatre Barn. Kristin is the book writer, lyricist and composer of Cats and Mice, a full- length family musical produced at a Philadelphia private school. She is a member of the BMI Advanced Workshop, Maestra, and the Dramatists Guild.
Marlo Hunter
Director/Choreographer
Marlo Hunter is a film director, and theater director and choreographer who was recently honored as a “2022 Woman to Watch on Broadway” by the Broadway Women’s Fund. Her feature film directorial debut, American Reject, will be released in April 2022 -- a comedy featuring an original soundtrack. American Reject stars Kathleen Monteleone (also screenplay), Keala Settle, Annaleigh Ashford, Billy Ray Cyrus, and introduces Angelica Hale (“America’s Got Talent”). The film debuted at festivals in fall 2020 where it garnered multiple honors including Best Narrative Feature -BendFilm Festival, Best of Fest – Adirondack Film Festival, Best International Feature – Cyrus International Festival of Toronto, and the Rising Star Award (Angelica Hale) – New Orleans Film Festival. Marlo is currently helming the new musical, Ever After (NYC workshop in November 2021). The show is produced by Tony Award-winner, Kevin McCollum (In the Heights, Rent, Avenue Q), with Music by Zina Goldrich (Dear Edwina, Breathe), Lyrics by Marcy Heisler (Dear Edwina, Williamsburg), and Book by Marcy Heisler & Kate Wetherhead (The Devil Wears Prada, “Submissions Only”). Marlo is attached to direct the feature film, Dedication, which she developed with screenwriter Nicola Kraus (“The Nanny Diaries” novel), based on her NY Times bestselling novel by the same name.
Through Marlo’s 20-year theatrical career she has become a prolific developer of new plays and musicals, at times shepherding projects from inception to full production. She is often noted for her kinetic staging and facility with comedy.
She recently directed a workshop of the Saved by the Bell musical. The show features book by the legendary TV series’ creator, writer and Executive Producer, Peter Engel. Brad Ellis (“Glee”) served as Music Director. Marlo directed the first 9 episode podcast musical, Little Did I Know, released on Apple Podcasts in March 2020. The series is scored by Tony Award winning composer, Doug Besterman, with lyrics by Marcy Heisler & Dean Pitchford. The series was #2 on Apple Podcast’s performing arts charts within 4 days of release.
Marlo has directed, choreographed and developed new work at Second Stage, Long Wharf, Williamstown, Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons, EST, Pittsburgh CLO, Bay Street, TUTS Underground, NJ Rep, Bloomington Playwrights Project, NYMF, The Lark at NY Stage & Film, The Orchard Project, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others. She is an alumna of the Sundance Theatre Lab, a Drama League residency recipient, an alumna of the Williamstown Theatre Festival Directing Corp, a 2016 National Directors Fellowship Finalist. Marlo was the winner of the 2013 Callaway Award for Excellence in Choreography for Unlock’d, which she directed & choreographed Off-Broadway. She is the Co-Creator & Director of The Theatrical Culinary Project – an immersive theater and dining experience in development putting Top Chef finalist & The Chew Co-Host, Carla Hall, into collaboration with playwrights Martyna Majok (Pulitzer Prize Winner), Jeff Augustin, Daniel Pearle, Harrison David Rivers and Julian Sheppard. Marlo was the Associate Director of the Off-Broadway Clueless musical starring Dove Cameron, and adapted by Amy Heckerling herself for the stage.
In 2008 Marlo founded Eating Their Words, putting playwrights and chefs into collaboration for immersive experiences in New York’s finest restaurants, resulting in World Premiere plays coupled with the menu they inspired. Through ETW Marlo commissioned & directed new plays by Neil LaBute, Beau Willimon, Douglas Carter Beane, Sarah Treem, Theresa Rebeck, David Grimm, Annie Baker, Brooke Berman, Amy Herzog, Keith Reddin, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Sam Forman, Rob Ackerman, Steven Levenson, Zakiyyah Alexander, Liz Flahive, Aurin Squire, Aziza Barnes and Eisa Davis.
Marlo teaches a workshop, “The Freelance Artist’s Manifesto Boot Camp” in NYC, at universities, and through private coaching, empowering creative freelancers with mental and practical tools to survive and thrive as an artist. She holds a B.A. in English/Dramatic Literature from Princeton University, and a Classical Diploma (study of Latin & Greek) from Phillips Exeter Academy. Marlo is a proud member of the SDC, and is represented by Jamie Kaye-Phillips at UTA. She lives in New York with her husband and two children.
Contact Us
Please direct rights inquiries and script requests to:
Amy Wagner
A3 Artists Agency
350 Fifth Avenue, 38th Floor
New York, NY 10118
T 646.486.4600