I came to theatre first from the music side, having studied music composition. I wanted to take people on emotional journeys, and I know I could do that with the music. But there are also stories I wanted to tell. Music can stir the soul and is a universal language. But when you find the words that join the music as equal partners, and in service to the story, propelling it forward in both plot and emotional arc, nothing is more creatively fulfilling. (I just had to learn how to do that - which took me a few decades.)

While I am also a scientist, the kind of work that inspires me the most and which I want to write, is mostly material driven emotionally and intended to elicit an emotional response, more so than an intellectual one. Through my school years, I had a Beethoven poster on my wall, where I had appended to his famous quote "Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman. . . And visa versa." After seeing Massenet's Werther as a 12-year old, I developed a love for opera, even in languages I did not understand. It was Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar which inspired me and taught me that such an emotional musically-driven score could live in the contemporary world of musical theater. Later, I became equally inspired by Stephen Sondheim, his work and his discussions of the importance of the lyrics. On developing the "book" for a musical theatre piece, my inspiration came from Stephen Schwartz and his co-panelists at the ASCAP musical theatre workshops.

I needed to learn about the structure of musicals and the “rules”. Musicals are not simply plays with songs. It’s not that rules need to be followed, but understanding them helped me structure pieces that work. But most importantly, I choose or write stories that I am passionate about and that sing in my head and in my heart.