R.L. Stine, Author
R.L. Stine is one of the best-selling children’s authors in history. In July 1992, Scholastic introduced his Goosebumps series with “Welcome to Dead House.” Nearly twenty-five years later, Goosebumps is now one of the best-selling children’s series of all time — with more than 350 million English language books in print, plus an additional 50+ million international copies in print in 32 languages. The Goosebumps series made R.L. Stine a worldwide publishing celebrity (and Jeopardy answer). His other popular children’s book series include Fear Street, (recently revived with all new books), Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Rotten School. Other titles include: “It’s the First Day of School Forever,” “A Midsummer Night’s Scream,” “Young Scrooge,” and his first picture book, with Marc Brown — “The Little Shop of Monsters.” Stine and Brown’s second picture book, “Mary McScary,” was published in September 2017.
The Goosebumps TV show was the number-one schildren’s show in America for three years. The episodes can still be seen on Netflix. More recently, R.L.’s anthology TV series, R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, won the Emmy Award three years in a row as Best Children’s Show. Goosebumps, a feature film starring Jack Black, based on the book series by R.L. Stine, was released in theaters on October 16, 2015, and opened at #1 at the box office.
R.L. Stine lives in New York City with his wife, Jane, an editor and publisher. You can connect with him on Twitter @RL_Stine. Also Facebook: http://facebook.com/rlstine. For more information, visit http://rlstine.com and www.scholastic.com/goosebumps.
Danny Abosch, Composer
Danny Abosch is a composer/lyricist whose musicals include Goosebumps The Musical (World Premiere at First Stage and Oregon Children’s Theatre), Fancy Nancy The Musical (Off-Broadway 2012-2014, National Tour 2013-2015, Cast Recording available on Ghostlight Records), Placebo (winner of the 2012 PMTP Development Award, fully produced at the Pasadena Playhouse directed by Ryan Scott Oliver, additional workshops at the University of Michigan, Oklahoma City University, Emerson College, and Pace University), Off The Wall (First Prize winner of NMI’s 2014 Search for New Musicals, 2015 workshop and concert in Los Angeles), and Miles & Me (2014 workshop at the Musical Theatre Factory in NYC). Originally from Deerfield, IL, Danny is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.M. in Music Education), and of NYU’s M.F.A. Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Danny studied musical theatre writing as one of twelve participants in the Johnny Mercer Songwriter’s Project at Northwestern University, where he worked closely with Broadway composers Lin-Manuel Miranda and Craig Carnelia. Three of Danny’s songs have been chosen by William Finn for his concert series “Songs By Ridiculously Talented Composers and Lyricists You Probably Don’t Know, But Should.” Danny was a founding member of the Musical Theatre Factory where he also served as its first Managing Director and co-created the acclaimed New Orchestrations series. Danny’s music has been featured on the TV shows “Dance Mom” and “Last Call With Carson Daly,” as well as in the films “Waiting in the Wings” and “Missed Connections.” Danny lives in New York City and is currently working on an exciting new musical adaptation, to be announced soon. www.dannyabosch.com
John Maclay, Playwright
John Maclay is a playwright who specializes in adaptations for Theatre for Young Audiences. His plays and musicals include Goosebumps: Phantom of the Auditorium (with Danny Abosch), Geronimo Stilton: Mouse in Space, Just a Little Critter Musical (with Brett Ryback), Nancy Drew and her Biggest Case Ever (with Jeff Frank), Anatole (with Lee Becker and James Valcq) and a new version of Robin Hood (with Joe Foust).
In addition to a busy schedule as a playwright and adapter of literature for the stage, Mr. Maclay proudly serves as Associate Director and Director of the Young Company at First Stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of America’s largest and most respected theatres for young audiences. Mr. Maclay has been working with First Stage in one form or another since 2000 and has directed or appeared in more than 25 First Stage productions (from classics to world premieres) as well as having produced more than 50 productions for the First Stage high school programs.
Mr. Maclay’s work as an actor or director has also been seen at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Milwaukee Shakespeare Company, Defiant Theatre, Bunny Gumbo, Bialystock and Bloom, Skylight Opera Theatre and more. When not doing all of that, he is busy teaching theatre at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI.
