Photo by Kathryn Hayden
Sonya Hayden (she/her) is a composer, lyricist, librettist, and playwright originally from Virginia, now based in New York. In musical theater, her work includes Wanda Does the Water Cycle (book/music/lyrics, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival), Sing a Song of Six Pants and It Ain't Over 'Til the Bat Lady Sings (co-book/music, NY Public Library for the Performing Arts), Crazy But True (book/lyrics, CAIM Creative Co.), and The Luckiest Girl (book/music/lyrics, Princeton University). Her song “If I Didn’t Know Better” (music/lyrics) was selected for the Lotte Lenya Competition Songbook ($1,500 award),“Our Little Life” (lyrics) was recently performed by Tony nominee Karen Akers at Urban Stages, and “Snow One Else for Me” (music) was featured at Urban Stages and on Playdate Theatre's Holiday EP.
As a playwright, Sonya's recent work includes Cassie Goes to Congress (New Perspectives Theatre), There's Always Tomorrow (Piccolo Spoleto Festival; Finalist, Tennessee Williams Festival Play Contest), Just Like Magic (Little Fish Theatre), and The Clumps (Pittsburgh New Works Festival).
She is a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre & Librettists Workshops, New Perspectives Theatre’s Full-Length Play LAB, the NY Songwriters Alliance, the Dramatists Guild, and ASCAP. She was previously a member of Maestra Music’s Mentorship Program (mentor: Broadway Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell), the Recording Academy’s Musical Theater Mentorship Program (mentor: Grammy Award-winning Music Producer Kurt Deutsch), and the Princeton Triangle Club Writers Workshop (Milton Lyon Award for Outstanding Writing). She was the English Script Consultant on the Equity reading of Crazy Bread, a new South Korean musical by Hansol Kim and Boram Han, directed by Kenneth Ferrone. She is the Co-Director of Maestra Music's Mentorship Program.
She holds a Master’s in Playwriting with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh, a Bachelor's of Music (summa cum laude) from Princeton University, and the world record for cups of Earl Grey tea downed while writing.
