Jonathan Larson Grants Recipient Concert!

I was lucky enough to receive a Jonathan Larson Grant in the spring of 2020, just as everything shut down. On Monday, the American Theater Wing hosted a concert celebrating the last four years of winners who never got to have an awards concert. I was honored to have the talented Sarah Lynn Marion sing the title song from my musical BORDERLINE. Check out a few photos below from the event, courtesy of Broadway World!

Check out the full article about the concert here!

Benjamin Velez and Sarah Lynn Marion

Benjamin Velez and Rona Siddiqui

Stephen Schwartz Award

Stephen Schwartz is a living legend, and I had the incredible honor of receiving the Stephen Schwartz award from him last night at the Dramatist Guild Foundation’s annual gala. I’m still pinching myself. He is not only a huge inspiration on my work and of so many writers old and new, but also just the kindest man. My adrenaline was so high when I got onstage to thank him that I ripped my speech by accident!

I can’t thank him or the Dramatist Guild Foundation enough, as well as the incredible Margo Seibert, who masterfully performed my song “Borderline” from my musical of the same name with book writer Aryanna Garber.

Here’s a video of Stephen introducing me and my acceptance speech!

Photos 2-4 Credit: Rebecca J. Michelson / @rebeccajmichelson

BORDERLINE Industry Workshop Presentation!

After nearly two years since hearing this show out loud pre-pandemic, what a thrill to be in a room with a full company of actors, musicians, and crew to bring this piece to life in it’s latest form! (Check out the article in Broadway World) Thank you to everyone involved, including Director Sarna Lapine, Music Director David Gardos, Producer Josh Goodman, Choreographer Joann Hunter, Sound Designer Leon Rothenberg, Stage Manager Ryan Gohsman, and the ridiculous cast of Lincoln Clauss, Brandon Contreras, Matt Dallal, Micaela Diamond, Amina Faye, Jasmine Forsberg, Kerri George, Kennedy Kanagawa, Marissa Rosen, Andrew Samonsky, Jennifer Sanchez, Frank Viveros and Marisha Wallace. And of course my brilliant partner in crime, Book writer Aryanna Garber. Here’s to next steps and a production!

"Borderline" featured in the NY Theater Barn New Work Series

Aryanna and I were lucky to be able to share two songs from our musical BORDERLINE, along with our director Sarna Lapine, as part of the NY Theater Barn’s New Work series! They’ve already featured 50 new musicals in development and we were honored to get to join that line up. We chatted about the origin of the show, and what the process has been like thus far. Plus, we featured two kick ass performances from Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) and Bryonha Marie Parham (Prince of Broadway).

You can watch the full show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSBLoNYG5Gs

Our section begins at the 17:00 Minute mark! Thank you to the wonderful Joe Barros and Jen Sandler for having us on!!

"Borderline" at the Dramatist Guild Foundation Fellows Showcase

I had a blast presenting material from Borderline at the DGF Fellows Showcase at the Signature Theater! Aryanna and I had a wonderful experience developing Borderline in the Fellows Program over the last year under the guidance of Michael Korie, Larry O’Keefe, and Allison Gold. It was a thrill to see the work presented by our other fellows, such a phenomenal showcase of talent.

Special thanks to Associate Director Signe V. Harriday, Director Candis C. Jones and Music Director Josh Kight, not to mention Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty who created the program in the first place!

You can check out more pictures from the event on Lia Chang’s site or on BroadwayWorld!

1st Row: Michael Korie, Benjamin Velez, Jay Adana, Kit Yan. 2nd Row: Michael Korie, Charles Gershman, Melissa Li, Ericka Dickerson-Despenza, Aryanna Garber, Nambi E. Kelley, Zeniba Now, Rae Binstock, Zack Zadek, Mathilde Dratwa, Laurence O’Keefe. Photo by Lia Chang

"Borderline" featured in The Day - at the O'Neill National Musical Theater Conference

Aryanna and I are so thrilled to be able to workshop “Borderline” at the O’Neill this summer, and had a great feature done about us and the show in the local paper! Check it out on their site HERE.

Thank you to everyone who made this show possible! Including our fabulous director Jaki Bradley, our incomparable music director David Gardos, our brilliant dramaturg Carrie Chapter, our incredible stage manager Lizzy Lee, and the O’Neill’s Alexander Gemignani and Lexy Leuszler for giving us the opportunity in the first place!

"Borderline" heading to the O'Neill Musical Theater Conference!

I am SO thrilled to share that “Borderline,” my collaboration with book writer Aryanna Garber, will be at the O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference this summer!! We’ll have presentations June 22nd, 23rd, 26th, and 28th, and you can find more information on their official site. More info to come!!

"Borderline" Studio Tracks Live!

Our Studio Recording of "Borderline" demos have been featured by the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 AFM, along with a shout out to our Music Director Dan Green! Thanks again to the Weston Playhouse for producing this recording along with Grammy winner Kurt Deutsch of Sh-K-Boom Records and our sound engineer Angie Teo.

Check out the article on their website, and listen to the demos HERE where you can hear the incredible work of our performers Margo Seibert, Derrick Baskin, Stephen Bogardus, Leo Ash Evens and Katie Thompson. And of course thanks to our Director Michael Berresse and Steve Stettler of Weston who made it all possible!

Borderline selected for 2018 Weston New Musical Award!

I'm honored to share that Borderline has been selected as the 2018 recipient for the Weston Playhouse New Musical Award! Aryanna and I are incredibly excited to get to showcase music and book from the show at two concerts up in Weston and one in NYC.

We're lucky to have an incredible team helping us bring these concerts to life!

Weston Associate Artistic Director Michael Berresse will direct the project with Music Director Daniel Green. The cast includes Margo Seibert (Boardwalk Empire, Broadway’s ROCKY) as Anna, Derrick Baskin (25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, MEMPHIS), Stephen Bogardus (BRIGHT STAR, WHITE CHRISTMAS), Leo Ash Evens (SCHOOL OF ROCK), and Katie Thompson (City Center’s PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES).

Check out their website for details!