WILLIAM STRAUSS (playwright/lyricist) is co-founder and director of the Capitol Steps, for which he occasionally performs. Now in their twentieth year, the Capitol Steps have performed over 7,000 shows and have released 22 albums, most recently When Bush Comes to Shove. He has written eight books, including Generations, The Fourth Turning, and Millennials Rising (about today's teenage generation). He has written book and lyrics for the musicals MaKiddo, a full parody of The Mikado about trophy teens, and Free-the-Music.com. In 1999, Strauss founded the Cappies, the high school "Critics and Awards" program through which students in Washington, D.C, Ohio, Texas, and other states review each others' plays and musicals for publication in The Washington Post, Cincinnati Enquirer, Dallas Morning News, and other papers. Strauss has advised numerous public and private organizations about generational trends, including MTV, Paramount Pictures, Hearst Magazines, Time, Inc., Pepsi, Disney Imagineering, and the U.S. Armed Forces, among many others. See capsteps.com, fourthturning.com, millennialsrising.com, cappies.com, and lifecourse.biz.
BO AYARS (composer) has conducted orchestras and performed as a pianist with noted entertainers in major concert halls around the world, and has played at the White House for Presidents Reagan and Bush. His television credits include The Tonight Show, Good Morning America, and the original Ed Sullivan show. In a career that spans four decades, he has accompanied Elvis Presley, Liberace, Barbra Streisand, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Jim Nabors, Raquel Welch, Robert Goulet, Diahann Carroll, Judy Collins, and the Capitol Steps. He arranged the music for MaKiddo, and is now composing music for two other musicals.
STEVEN L. ROSENHAUS (composer, additional dialogue) is a composer, lyricist, arranger, and conductor, whose songs were praised "clever, deftly constructed, and likeable," by The New York Times, and whose music and
lyrics for the off-Broadway show Critic were hailed by Back Stage magazine
as "spritely, upbeat, and in the ballad repertory, simply lovely." He has
written for the stage and film, and his concert works have been heard
throughout North America and Europe. Rosenhaus is the recipient of awards
and grants from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and other organizations. Over 100
of his original compositions and arrangements are currently in print, and
several works are recorded on the Capstone and Music for a G'Day labels. He
currently serves on New York University's music composition faculty and
teaches songwriting at Nassau (County) Community College.
