About

  • 10 words (and one emoji):

    Writer. Mainly musical theatre.

    Inspired by William McGonagall.

    Misses motherland (🇬🇧).

  • Haiku:

    A Renaissance Man:

    Equally incompetent

    At many pursuits.

Prose:

I’m Sam, a British-born rhymester who bounces between the US & UK.

I write musical theatre, light verse and lightweight translations.

I love popular science, unpopular shirts, online chess, Greek myths and clever rhymes.

You might have seen my work produced and/or developed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, off-West End Turbine Theatre, off-Broadway Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Alleyway Theatre, Irvington Theatre, Hackney Empire, Edinburgh Fringe, Guildford School of Acting, Keble O’Reilly Theatre, Burton Taylor Studio, as well as on a range of podcasts.

I’ve won the national Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation, the OUFF Short Screenplay competition, a couple of poetry prizes, and been a finalist for the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize, the Mazumdar Short Play Prize, and the Mercury Songwriting Competition.

I’ve failed at lots of things! I’d like to create a CV of Failures at some point, but only when I have enough successes to justify it.

Fun Fact: All crustaceans are possibly trying to become crabs.

Fun Fact About Me: I think podcast musicals are massively underrated.

News

  • Winner of ScreenCraft TV Pilot Fellowship

    My TV Pilot GAMESTOP is selected out of 2000 entries and will receive further development.

    Read more

  • HAIRPIECE premieres at Kennedy Center

    Chamber opera, written with composer Joy Redmond, is performed in Washington DC.

    Learn more

  • Finalist for 2023 Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize

    “Time Slows Down”, from Black Holes Like Donuts, will be performed at The Other Palace, November 13th

    Learn more

  • Selected for Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project

    Eliza Randall and I are chosen for an intensive weeklong songwriting program

    Read more

  • Featured in Mini-Musical Festival

    “Black Holes Like Donuts” is selected for Sound Bites X, produced by Theatre Now New York

    Get tickets

  • Selected as AOI Fellow

    Three writing teams are commissioned to write short operas for the Kennedy Center

    Learn more

  • Profiled on The Crush Bar

    Aaron and I are interviewed by Fergus Morgan about “Come Dine With Me: The Musical”

    Read more

  • Off-West End Presentation

    “Come Dine With Me: The Musical” receives its debut at The Turbine Theatre as part of MTFest 2023

    Learn more

  • Mini-Musical Premiere in NYC

    Prospect Theater Company produces “Black Holes like Donuts” as part of its CAPTION THIS concert

    Buy tickets

  • Song Premiere at Catastrophe Concert

    ALP Musicals produces an evening of new musical theatre at The Golden Goose Theatre, London

    Read more

  • Workshop at Off-Broadway Theatre

    Vongai Shava and I host a free workshop on “The Audio Explosion” in Rattlestick Theater’s Global Forms Theatre Festival, NYC

    Watch it

  • Short Opera Receives Premiere

    “Three Penelopes”, written with Richie Johnsen, receives its premiere at the Royal College of Music, London

    Get tickets

  • The Yellow Wallpaper Goes to New Mexico

    Blank Conversations Theatre Company performs our short musical in Las Cruces, NM

    Read more

  • Interviewed on Follow Spot Radio

    Eliza Randall and I are interviewed about our upcoming podcast musical Echolocation

    Listen here

  • Finalist for Stiles + Drewe Prize

    Our song “A Letter at a Time” is a finalist in the Best New Song prize, and performed in the Hackney Empire

    Read more

  • The Yellow Wallpaper Live at Alleyway Theatre

    Our short musical The Yellow Wallpaper receives its stage debut in Buffalo, NY

    Read more

  • Broadway World Announces Tin Pan Alley 2 Concert

    I’m featured in the “International Artists” edition of the Tin Pan Alley 2 Concert Series

    Read more

  • Featured in Broadway Future Songbook

    Our song “Play” opens the final concert of the “Broadway Future Songbook” season at the Lincoln Center

    Read more

  • Rattlestick Theatre Presents Village Song Series

    Our song “Play” opens the Village Song Series at Off-Broadway Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre

    Read more

  • NYU News Features the “Chaos House”

    NYU News profiles the 14-strong house of musical theatre writers where I lived during the pandemic

    Read more

  • Broadway World Announces The Yellow Wallpaper

    Our short musical The Yellow Wallpaper receives its virtual debut courtesy of HARP Theatricals

    Read more

  • Interview with Frank DiLella

    3x Emmy Award winner Frank DiLella profiles our house on NY1 News

    Watch here

 @SamCreatesDrama

Equal parts thrilled and terrified that @elizarandallmusic and I will be part of this insanely talented cohort at the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project this year!! 🎶🔥
I’d make another black holes pun but I’m spacing out BLACK HOLES LIKE DONUTS, the tiny musical on supermassive themes I wrote with @elizarandallmusic, is going to be performed in two weeks! 💫🍩 It’s been selected as a finalist fo
Life update - I'm absolutely chuffed to have been commissioned by the Washington National Opera as part of the American Opera Initiative!! Over the next several months, Joy Redmond and I will be developing a short original opera, which will be perfo
I am not throwing away my (head)shot 📸 @stevebestpics
Newlyweds no longer! First wedding anniversary today — here’s to another sixty or seventy 🥂
Some more pics of our fabulous diners! 🥂🎶 Ft. @alexcardall @richymich @kimismay @stevenserlin @eleanor_kane @houseofomarijames @shaneoriordan23 @aaronmarkking42 @amyamyhsuhsu and Sorelle Marsh 📸 @stevebestpics @turbinetheatre @mtfestuk
WE CAME, WE SANG, WE DINED 🍽🎶💕 A whirlwind of a week! Even though I was stuck in the States (and had the joy of 5am zoom rehearsals), I’m ridiculously proud that Come Dine With Me: The Musical took its first steps at the @turbinetheatre ✅
🍽🎶💕 Come feast your eyes on this beautiful cast! Ft. @alexcardall @eleanor_kane @richymich @houseofomarijames @kimismay @stevenserlin @shaneoriordan23 and Sorelle Marsh Not pictured: the dazzling directing duo of @msrobyngrant and @amyamyhsuhsu!
Big announcement!! For the last two years, @aaronmarkking42 and I have been working on Come Dine With Me: The Musical. It’s the official stage adaptation of the TV show I’ve known and loved for years. And at last, our baby is taking its
It’s been an honour to work with this fabulous team and create an improbable new mini-musical about black holes!! Join us at Symphony Space at 7:30, Nov 17th, to have your socks blown off by the extraordinary @lydaajadeee @andreaprestinario a
STOKED to share the mini-musical about black holes that I’ve been cooking up with @elizarandallmusic!! The cast @andreaprestinario @lydaajadeee and Michael Deleget are phenomenal, as are director @devbondarin and MD @missniss. So grateful to @