The Department of Theatre and Dance will host a panel discussion on “New Voices in Musical Theater” on May 4 at 5 p.m. The free event will take place in Arena Theatre, Wright Hall.

Moderated by Professor Mindy Cooper, the panel features Anna DeNoia, creator and composer of Open, Stay, alumnus Kyle Holmes (B.A., English, ‘10; M.A., education, ‘12), writer of RANKED the Musical, and Nathan Sheffield, entertainment lawyer and co-founder of Uproar Theatrics with Holmes. 

Anna DeNoia is a New York based theatre creator as well as a passionate performer, composer, and prankster. Anna grew up in the Chicago suburbs, where she interned in the offices of the city’s top theater companies, including Lookingglass and Steppenwolf. Her songwriting training includes the 2022 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter’s Project at Northwestern University, as well as the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop in NYC. She is a 2021 graduate of James Madison University with degrees in Theatre as well as Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication. In addition to Open, Stay, her original musical theatre work includes Grace and the Ghost, a new musical she will be starring in alongside Beetlejuice’s Elizabeth Teeter at 54 Below this April. 

Holmes, educator, director and playwright, spent almost a decade as the director of theatre arts at Granite Bay High School and currently works with school districts receiving Title I funding to create equitable opportunities in California schools. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and a proud alumni of artEquity’s first National Board Training cohort. His musical, RANKED, has been produced at over 50 universities and high schools across the United States, Canada, England and China since 2019 and is the subject of the new HBO Documentary My So-Called High School Rank, now showing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.

Sheffield is the co-founder of Herzog + Sheffield, P.C. With over two decades of experience in nearly every facet of the entertainment industry, Nathan plays a vital role in the continued success of the firm. His legal practice centers on the “business” side of show business. He primarily focuses on the development, financing and production of book, film, television, theatre and music projects. Clients include producers, talent, creative team members and other affiliated parties involved with hit television series, Broadway productions, award-winning independent films, and have included the negotiation promotional and endorsement deals for actors, directors and celebrity chefs. Nathan’s works have been published in NYSBA’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal; The Vault; and Huffington Post.

The Department of Theatre and Dance is part of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. For information about other department productions, visit theatredance.ucdavis.edu.