My Lipgloss is Poppin
Jay Adana’s first foray into writing musicals was providing lyrics and melodies for The Woodsman, which became a TimeOut Critics’ Pick and took New York City by storm after its world premiere transferred to New World Stages. The inventive devised piece, based on The Wizard of Oz, is now available on Broadway HD. Adana’s next project, a short musical live film adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Beloved for #BARS at the Public Theater, was directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada and featured on PBS as part of their series on enduring literature, The Great American Read.
Adana went on to become the inaugural residency writer for #BARS at the Public with her next piece, The Loophole, an epic Black musical retelling of the Civil War with a dash of magic. The Loophole won the Richard Rodgers Award and was developed at The Public Theater in Public Studio, at Playwrights Horizons, and as the headliner for the Pass the Mic Hip Hop Festival—previous headliners included Janelle Monáe and Chinaka Hodge. Her original song, featured alongside Stephen Schwartz in the collection Notes From Now, was described by TheaterMania as “simultaneously the most hilarious and revolting part of the evening.”
Adana’s next piece, a tonal departure from her signature swampy soundscapes, is a two-hander contemporary comedy called The Jordan & Avery Show that premiered at the Eugene O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference. Exploring the tension between grief and fame, it will debut in New York in collaboration with Theater Latté Da.
A proud member of Maestra, Jay Adana has been honored with the Jonathan Larson Grant, a Vivace Award for innovative ideas, a NextGen Award, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, and a commission from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Her original music can be found on Spotify or YouTube. Adana is represented by Gersh Theatrical. When she’s not composing original music for stage or film, she enjoys spending time with her husband Sean Rogers (The Flash), daughter Freddie, and dog Charles Barkley.
