TEAM
CELESTE MAKOFF
(Book, Music, Lyrics, Orchestrations)
Celeste Makoff graduated in the class of 2015 from the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU where she concentrated in playwriting, television, and documentary. She founded PeachPie Productions in her hometown of San Francisco in 2013, then relocated the company to Manhattan while she finished her degree. Celeste is a classically trained guitarist and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music during her early years. Although music composition was originally a passion of Celeste's independent from playwriting, the hundreds of powerful accounts of North Korean defectors inspired her to united her playwriting and music composition training to create an illustration of the defectors' fearless escape of a shadow-casted world to find freedom and truth.
HUNTER BIRD
(DIrector, Developer)
Hunter Bird (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based director, writer, and maker of new work. Directing credits include Ars Nova, Roundabout Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The McKittrick Hotel, Signature Theatre, Village Theatre, The Getty Villa, 59E59, NAMT Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Skylight Theater. Associate/assistant director credits include Broadway, Manhattan Theatre Club, Center Theater Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, and National Tours. Book writing credits: The Golden Record (Angela Sclafani), Lady Annabella (Peter and Pia Cincotti), She Reached for Heaven (Oliver Houser), and The Pansy Craze (Mason Alexander Park). Developed the new musicals Bronco Billy (Winner of 2 Ovation Awards), XY (Oliver Houser, Relentless Award Finalist, NAMT 2018, Village Theatre, Alhadeff Productions), Crashlight (Celeste Makoff, Relentless Award Honorary Mention), The Other Side of Paradise (Angela Sclafani), and Elsewhere (Nikko Benson).
MACY SCHMIDT
(MusiC Supervisor)
A first-generation Egyptian-American who recently became the first woman of color orchestrator in Broadway history, Macy Schmidt is an honoree of the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Music (alongside talents such as Olivia Rodrigo & Willow Smith) for her work as the Founder/CEO and Music Supervisor of The Broadway Sinfonietta, the acclaimed all-women and majority women-of-color orchestra. With an impressive resumé of high-profile international engagements spanning the globe — from Music Supervising entertainment pieces for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, to projects in the UK, the Middle East, and India — Macy has quickly risen to the top of her field as an artist, a businesswoman, and an advocate for women in entertainment. A Sony Music recording artist, her unique potpourri of creative entrepreneurship and esteemed musical reputation has also led her executive producing for TV/Media, creative music direction for pop & Broadway stars, speaking engagements, and more.