TRANSPORT GROUP’S HOME FOR BOLD NEW PLAYS AND MUSICALS
What began as a commitment to the future of American theatre has become a thriving artistic engine, supporting an expanding slate of original works through commissions, readings, writers’ retreats, demo recordings, workshops, and productions.
Unlike many new works programs, our commitment doesn’t end with development. We partner with playwrights, librettists, and composers from the earliest stages of creation through production, investing in the long artistic journey that transforms an idea into a fully realized work of theatre.
Transport Group is committed to carrying all commissions through to production in upcoming seasons after robust development via the Joanna & Steven Sanders New Works Program.
“We are proud to give Transport Group artists the foundation to realize wholly new world premieres by supporting the entire creative process from the playwrights to the librettists to the composers. Bold new works of American theatre require holistic creative development where the artists that shape a new theatrical piece are free to dream big together and collaborate across the disparate disciplines of performing arts. Transport Group has always and will continue to focus on the creation of new works that expand the American theatrical canon.”
— Joanna and Steven Sanders
“With the Sanders’ generous gift, Transport Group is able to keep its eye on the future by reliably providing the means for these artists to fully experiment in creating new work that will add to the American theatre canon.”
— Jack Cummings III, Transport Group Artistic Director & Co-Founder
A DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY TAILORED TO THE ARTIST
Because no two stories are alike, no two development journeys are alike. Every project is shaped by the unique needs of the artists creating it, allowing each work to evolve through a tailored, collaborative process.
Here are just two examples of what the creative process can look like at Transport Group:
BEAUTIFUL JOLIE GABOR, HER GLAMOROUS THREE DAUGHTERS, AND ALWAYS THE HAPPINESS IS LIFE
A new musical by Michael John LaChiusa
SPLIT
A new musical by Michele Lowe & Zoe Sarnak
EXPLORE CURRENT COMMISSIONS & WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT
MEET THE ARTISTS
Adam Bock
Adam Bock is an Obie Award–winning playwright whose works include The Thugs, A Small Fire, The Receptionist, The Drunken City, Swimming in the Shallows, and Five Flights. His plays have been produced by Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Soho Rep, Second Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Shotgun Players, and others. He also wrote the book for We Have Always Lived in the Castle, with music by Todd Almond. Bock has received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations, an NEA grant, and residencies at Yaddo. He is a New Dramatists member, NYTW Usual Suspect, and Shotgun Players Artistic Associate.
In development at Transport Group:
The Flowers
John Cariani
John Cariani is an actor and a playwright. As an actor, he has been nominated for a Tony Award and a couple of Grammy Awards for his work on Broadway, and is probably best known for his roles on TV’s Law & Order, and The Onion News Network. He will be starring in Transport Group’s upcoming 1939, which he is co-creating with Jack Cummings III and Kelly McAndrew. As a playwright, John is best known for his plays Almost, Maine (Transport Group 2014), and LOVE/SICK, which have received thousands of productions worldwide and have been translated into nearly twenty languages.
In development at Transport Group:
1939
Laurie Graff
Laurie Graff wrote the book for The Pet Project (music and lyrics, Nancy Shayne) currently in development with Transport Group. Plays At the Hotel Texas, The Incredible Egg, and All My Problems have been published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays, with works presented at Lincoln Center, HERE Arts Center, Ivoryton Playhouse, and Workshop Theater. Graff, a longtime actor, appeared on Broadway as “Frenchy” in Grease. A published author known for You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, her 4th novel, Til Dog Do Us Part, releases March 30, 2027. She’s also the founder of ShopTalk, a creative community for theatre professionals.
In development at Transport Group:
The Pet Project
Kirsten Guenther
Kirsten Guenther began her career as a travel correspondent in Paris, writing for USATODAY.com and the dating column Frenched. Her romantic life wasn’t all that interesting, so she made most of it up.
A Richard Rodgers Award–winning writer, Kirsten is adapting Elin Hilderbrand’s The Summer of ’69 for Sony/3000 Pictures (Co-EP), recently sold an original romantic comedy series to Netflix (Co-EP), and wrote Lionsgate’s Puppy Love, now streaming on Amazon. Her stage work includes MGM’s Benny & Joon, Paramount’s Roman Holiday, and Mrs. Sharp, starring Jane Krakowski. Upcoming projects include The Real Housewives of New York City: An Unauthorized Opera and Fairytale Ending, produced by The Carlson Company and Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door, with MacFarlane set to star.
In development at Transport Group:
Our Table
Michael John LaChiusa
Michael John LaChiusa‘s 23-year association with Transport Group includes Queen of the Mist (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical,) the acclaimed revivals of Hello Again and First Lady Suite, and the scores for Summer and Smoke, Picnic, and Come Back, Little Sheba. He is a five-time Tony Award-nominated composer, lyricist, and librettist whose Broadway works include The Wild Party, Marie Christine, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and whose Off-Broadway musicals include First Lady Suite, Hello Again, See What I Wanna See, Bernarda Alba, Giant, and First Daughter Suite. He is the recipient of an Obie, the Kleban, and two Daytime Emmy Awards. Mr. LaChiusa currently teaches at NYU and lives in New York City.
In development at Transport Group:
Beautiful Jolie Gabor, Her Glamorous Three Daughters, and Always the Happiness is Life
Ryan Langer
Ryan Langer is an LA-based composer/lyricist whose work leans toward the darker side of musical comedy. As a composer/lyricist for the stage, he’s written Mourning Songs, The 40th Year, Everything is Fine, and Bow & Arrow (co–music/lyrics). He also recently wrote the book/music/lyrics for the animated musical short, Role Reversal for Toonstar. He was awarded the Jerry Harrington Award for Creative Excellence by the BMI Foundation, was selected for the Dramatists Guild Fellowship and ASCAP/Disney Workshop, and his songs have been heard at several esteemed venues in New York City, from Joe’s Pub to Lincoln Center.
In development at Transport Group:
Mourning Songs
Michele Lowe
Michele Lowe (Book Writer, Conceiver) is currently at work on her play Before We Knew Anything (1963-1964). She made her Broadway debut with The Smell of the Kill which will be produced in Greece and Norway in 2027 and has had over 500 productions around the world. Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, winner of the Francesca Primus Prize, two Edgerton New Play Awards and the Richard Frankel Award. She is the only playwright to be a finalist with two plays in one season for the ATCA Steinberg/New Play Award. Other plays include: String of Pearls (Outer Critics nom for best play), Moses (solo show) Inana, Victoria Musica, Backsliding in the Promised Land. Michele is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She lives in New York and coaches writers and rabbis across the country. www.michelelowe.net
In development at Transport Group:
Split
Kelly McAndrew
Kelly McAndrew stars in and is co-creating 1939 at Transport Group with Jack Cummings III and John Cariani. She appeared on Broadway as Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Her Off-Broadway credits include Blood of the Lamb, Coach Coach, Stargazers, Men on Boats, The Thin Place, Novenas for a Lost Hospital, and Almost, Maine. Screen credits include Peas and Carrots, Appropriate Behavior, In the Family, The Beast in Me, The Night Agent, New Amsterdam, Daredevil, and Orange Is the New Black. https://www.
In development at Transport Group:
1939
Joey Merlo
Joey Merlo is a Brooklyn-based playwright, theater maker, and educator whose work blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy, using camp, melodrama, and the surreal to explore gender, sexuality, and the instability of identity. His recent work includes the Obie Award-winning Off-Broadway production of On Set with Theda Bara, produced by Transport Group and named one of Vulture’s Best Plays of 2024, and Midnight Coleslaw’s Tales from Beyond The Closet!!!, which The New York Times called “the year’s most twisted psychosexual melodrama.” Merlo is a two-time New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellow and teaches at Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU, Tisch and CUNY Hunter College, where he co-produced We The People: A Forum on Working Class Artists in America. joeymerlo.com | @joejoemerlo
Brand new commission in the works!
Mona Pirnot
Mona Pirnot is an award-winning playwright whose work includes I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan, I Love You So Much I Could Die, and Private. Her honors include an Obie, a Lortel, the Berwin Lee Brown Playwrights Award, and nominations for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Helen Hayes Awards. Her plays have been produced by Atlantic Theater Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Mosaic Theater Company, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company, and Mirrorbox Theatre. Pirnot is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and an alum of EST/Youngblood. In 2019, she was Playwright in Residence at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Upcoming: I Became We at The Atlantic.
Brand new commission in the works!
Harrison David Rivers
Harrison David Rivers is an award-winning playwright, librettist and television writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. His plays include This Bitter Earth, we are continuous, The Salvagers, the bandaged place, Where Storms are Born, and an adaptation of A Christmas Carol. He is a recipient of McKnight, Jerome and Van Lier Fellowships; residencies with the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Berkeley Rep, Siena Art Institute, Geva, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown and Duke University; and is currently under commission from Yale Rep, Penumbra and Minnesota Opera. harrisondavidrivers.com
In development at Transport Group:
The Sea & the Stars
Zoe Sarnak
Zoe Sarnak is a Drama Desk–nominated and Larson Award–winning composer, lyricist, writer, and orchestrator, as well as a finalist for the Ebb and Kleban Awards. Upcoming and recent works include: Galileo (with Danny Strong and Michael Weiner) opening on Broadway in 2026; NY Times Critic’s Pick The Lonely Few (with Rachel Bonds) at MCC and Geffen Playhouse; Empire Records (with Carol Heikkinen) at McCarter Theatre; Particle Fever (with David Henry Hwang and Bear McCreary) premiering at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2027; A Beautiful Mind (with Sarah Treem); Shook (with Mike Lew) co-commissioned by the Goodman and Northern Stage; The Invisible Line (with Christopher Oscar Peña and Mark St. Germain); and others soon to be announced. Her work has been developed and produced at Second Stage, The Public, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, and MCC, among others. Her music has been featured by NY Times Live and the Guggenheim.
In development at Transport Group:
Split
Nancy Shayne
Nancy Shayne: The Pet Project (music and lyrics Nancy Shayne; book by Laurie Graff) had its World Premiere at the New London Theatre in NH last September directed by Francesca James. Credits include Marcy in the Galaxy (Book, Music & Lyrics) produced by Transport Group; the Drama Desk nominated The Audience (Composer/Lyricist), both directed by Jack Cummings III; HBO Aspen Comedy Festival: Two Bitter Women in a Coffee Shop directed by Michael Patrick King. Composer: Sex and the City (Seasons 4 & 5), Musical Director: The Second City Touring Company (Chicago) and a proud founder of The Attic Theatre in Detroit, MI. Currently working on a new musical with Michael Patrick King.
In development at Transport Group:
The Pet Project
BUILDING ON A FOUNDATION
The Joanna and Steven Sanders New Works Program solidifies Transport Group’s ability to support artists during development and with an eye toward full productions. Prior to the institution of this program, Transport Group has a long history of new works; from the ambitious, 46-actor, 30-author The Audience (2005), to a commission of one of the most celebrated modern composers: Michael John LaChiusa’s Queen of the Mist (2011), to an exploration of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay through the perspective of six young artists with a soaring score from Carmel Dean in her NYC debut, Renascence (2018). Transport Group also has an acclaimed track record of adapting existing scripts; a compendium of William Inge one-acts with Requiem for William, (2003) to a 10-veteran-actress adaption of I Remember Mama (2014) to a searing, timely deconstruction of the docu-drama The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (2019). With the generous support of the Sanders’, Transport Group will bolster our artistic development, ensuring we’re able to produce one-of-a-kind theatrical experiences for our audiences season after season.
Explore Past WORLD PREMIERES and ADAPTATIONS
ABOUT JOANNA & STEVEN SANDERS
Joanna and Steven Sanders are proud to give Transport Group artists the foundation to realize wholly new world premieres by supporting the entire creative process from the playwrights to the librettists to the composers. Bold new works of American theatre require holistic creative development where the artists that shape a new theatrical piece are free to dream big together and collaborate across the disparate disciplines of performing arts. Transport Group has always and will continue to focus on the creation of new works that expand the American theatrical canon.
Joanna and Steven Sanders have a shared passion for theatre. To them, there are few moments more inspiring than when playwrights, librettists, composers, musicians, choreographers, and actors work in unison to breath life into a unique live performance in front of an audience. Joanna Sanders is a New York-based actress, singer, and producer. She wrote, produced, and starred in Femmes Fatales, Midnight Storybook, and Sooner or Later cabaret shows at The Triad and Laurie Beechman Theatres. She was an Associate Producer for Transport Group’s world premiere of Renascence with book by Dick Scanlan and Music by Carmel Dean. Ms. Sanders serves on the Board of Directors and is a Member of the Executive Committee of Transport Group. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a BA in French & Francophone Studies in 2006. Steven Sanders founded transparent personal protective equipment pioneer BendShape Mask and sensing innovator Tactual Labs Co. (“Tactual”). Mr. Sanders serves as BendShape’s and Tactual’s CEO. He is an inventor on 32 US patents spanning capacitive, optical, RF sensing hardware and software as well as applied materials products. He is a frequent publisher of academic research in human interaction technologies and a founder of the TUX HCI speaker series. From 2009-16, he helped to found and served as a Senior Research Analyst & Principal at Sanders Capital, a value-oriented institutional asset manager with over $50B in assets under management as a senior semiconductor and software analyst. From 2006-09, Mr. Sanders worked as a principal banker and strategist for Merrill Lynch Global Wealth management and Bank of America.
