According to the most recent NYC Musician’s Union membership survey (Local 802), AAPI representation accounted for only 4% of its members. Join us for a discussion with industry leaders and professionals as we discuss issues, challenges and opportunities for change that impact the AAPI community.

Meet our panelists:

AMANDA MORTON is a Music Director based out of the NYC region. She sits on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Access Committee of Maestra. She serves as Music Supervisor for adaptations of Diary of A Wimpy Kid and Anne of Green Gables. She is also the Associate Music Director/Lyric Dramaturg for KPOP: The Broadway Musical. Pre-pandemic, she was the Music Director/Conductor/Keys 1 for the first national tour of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. She has collaborated with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Lightning Rod Special, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Wilma Theater, Ars Nova, Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Bearded Ladies Cabaret (among others). Amanda also served as the Director of Drama School at the Arden Theatre Company from the 2014 through 2016 season, designing curriculum and professional development practices for teaching artists. At University of the Arts, she taught a Music Skills course for Freshman musical theatre majors, fostering development in music theory and musical theatre history. She has a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre Performance from Ithaca College.

ADAM GWON is a composer and lyricist whose musicals have been produced on six continents, in more than half-a-dozen languages. Off-Broadway: Scotland, PA (Roundabout Theatre – Drama Desk nomination, NYT Critic’s Pick), Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre, Keen Company revival – Drama League Award nomination), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre, NYT Critic’s Pick); Regional: String (Village Theatre), Cake Off (Signature Theatre – Helen Hayes Award nomination, Bucks County Playhouse), Cloudlands (South Coast Rep), The Boy Detective Fails (Signature Theatre), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); West End: Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios). His songs have been heard at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and more, performed by such luminaries as Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Brian d’Arcy James. Honors include the Kleban, Ebb, Loewe, and Richard Rodgers Awards, Second Stage Theatre’s Donna Perret Rosen Award, Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, ASCAP Harold Adamson Award, and MAC John Wallowitch Award. Recordings include: Ordinary Days (Ghostlight Records), Audra McDonald’s Go Back Home (Nonesuch), The Essential Liz Callaway (Working Girl Records), Artists in Residence (Broadway Records), Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Album (Entertainment One). Adam has been a fellow at MacDowell, Hermitage Artist Retreat, the O’Neill Music Theater Conference, and the Dramatists Guild.

More to be announced soon!