Thelen’s comedy Pie in the Sky premiered on stage at the Victory Theatre in Los Angeles where it was an L.A. Times Critics Choice production. The piece was subsequently made into a multi-award-winning independent feature film starring K Callan and Laurie O’Brien. Other works include the comedies Higgins in Harlem (which premiered at Playhouse on Park), and Eating Rhode Island (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), both of which are published by Dramatic; the musical Star of Freedom (Ivoryton Playhouse); the Noël Coward musical comedy Mad Dogs and Englishmen; and the WWI Christmas Day truce musical Khaki Chums. His one-man comic play Ichabod Crane Tells All is featured in the anthologies Best American Short Plays, 2011-2012 and Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays (both published by...
Thelen’s comedy Pie in the Sky premiered on stage at the Victory Theatre in Los Angeles where it was an L.A. Times Critics Choice production. The piece was subsequently made into a multi-award-winning independent feature film starring K Callan and Laurie O’Brien. Other works include the comedies Higgins in Harlem (which premiered at Playhouse on Park), and Eating Rhode Island (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), both of which are published by Dramatic; the musical Star of Freedom (Ivoryton Playhouse); the Noël Coward musical comedy Mad Dogs and Englishmen; and the WWI Christmas Day truce musical Khaki Chums. His one-man comic play Ichabod Crane Tells All is featured in the anthologies Best American Short Plays, 2011-2012 and Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays (both published by Applause). His comic opera Pyramus and Thisbe premiered in New York at the 92ND Street Y, and his musical The Third Wave premiered at the Columbia Entertainment Company where it received the Jackie White Memorial Playwriting Award. In addition to numerous articles on the musical theatre, he is the author of the book The Show Makers: Great Directors of the American Musical Theatre (published by Routledge). He is the former Literary Manager and Producing Associate for Goodspeed Musicals and was most recently the Playwright-in-Residence at the Ivoryton Playhouse.