The Writers

JAN ROPER (Composer)

Jan brings more than 30 years of experience in Los Angeles as a music director, singer, songwriter, and arranger. She has music directed numerous shows, including her own original rock opera, Jerusalem A.D., which enjoyed four full-scale productions during the years of 2002 to 2006. In 2010 the L.A. Weekly Theater Awards nominated her for Best Musical Director for her work in Godspell at the Knightsbridge Theatre in Los Angeles. Jan joined the community of the Academy of New Musical Theatre (ANMT) in 2011, writing a 15-minute musical called “Photo Finish” that was produced at the Colony Theatre in 2012. She composed and music directed a second one-woman show on the Broadway career of Lane Bradbury (the original Dainty Rose in Gypsy). Jan has been the featured singer at the Governor’s Ball for the Oscars and the Emmys multiple times during the years of 2000-2006. Jan has worked with many artists, such as Thelma Houston, Mario Lopez, Toni Basil, Charisse, and music directed for Helen Reddy. Jan released her second CD in 2012 under her band name, The Horizons, called The Sweetest Refrain available on iTunes. She is on the teaching faculty of Coast Conservatory of Music in Hermosa Beach and is Director of Music at Church for the Nations in Glendale. www.janroper.com

GABRIELLE WAGNER MANN (Bookwriter)

Gabi comes from a professional background of acting and singing. As a writer, she came through the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s Core Curriculum program, where she co-wrote the one act musical “iWish” which has since been produced (and published) by ANMT at the Colony Theatre in June 2012, as well as at UC Irvine in March 2013 and a 6 week run in Hollywood in August 2014. Since presenting the first draft of “City of Light” at ANMT 2013, it has seen a staged concert reading at the Colony and a slot at PlayFest Santa Barbara and chosen for Stephen Schwartz’s 2015 ASCAP Dreamworks Musical Theatre Workshop. She is honored to be working with such talented and hardworking collaborators as Jan and Julie. As an actress, she starred in the acclaimed “Divorce! The musical” for which she was nominated for an Ovation Award 2010. She was most recently seen on AMC’s Mad Men, FX’s Wilfred, film Stonerville (with the late Leslie Nielsen) and in several world premier’s of new musicals, including “A Ring in Brooklyn” and “Children of the Night,” and US tour of “Through a Child’s Eyes.” She also received a Garland nom for Best Lead in a Musical as Polly Peachum in “The Threepenny Opera.” She also co-owns and sings with Christmas Matters Holiday Carolers and lives in Summit, NJ with her wonderful family. Oh yeah, and in her spare time (ha!) she works as a Eden Energy Medicine Practitioner, and teaches a weekly class at a local yoga studio. www.gabriellewagner.com

JULIE WEINER (Lyricist)

Julie studied musical theater at The Einhorn School for the Performing Arts in New York City with Adam Gwon and Kait Kerrigan, and at the Academy for New Musical Theatre (ANMT) in Los Angeles.  At ANMT she honed her craft and co-wrote the original 15 minute musical, Bank Shot, which has since been produced at the Colony Theater in 2012 and at the Digital Natives Festival at UC Irvine in 2013.  Bank Shot is published and available for licensing. Julie was selected to participate in the ASCAP NYMF workshop with Anna Jacobs in 2015, and has enjoyed every minute of the development of City of Light with her collaborators Jan Roper and Gabrielle Mann.  Julie spent many years living in France and Italy, and is pleased that she can express her love of France and the French people in this musical. Julie would like to give a special thanks to Adam Gwon and Anthony Asaro for being her lyrical guiding lights.  When Julie is not working on City of Light, she raises money for the University of California, Santa Barbara.