Photo by Kathryn Hayden

About Me

Sonya Hayden (she/her) is a composer, lyricist, and playwright originally from Virginia, now based in New York. Her work includes the play THERE’S ALWAYS TOMORROW (Finalist, Tennessee Williams Festival 2020-2021 Play Contest); musical THE LUCKIEST GIRL (book/music/lyrics, production, Princeton University); one-act musicals CRAZY BUT TRUE (lyrics, virtual production, CAIM Creative Co.) and TAKING OFF! (lyrics, reading, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center); short plays JUST LIKE MAGIC (virtual production, Little Fish Theatre) and DEATH AT THE AIRPORT (Winner, Merlin Theatre Frome Short Play Contest); songs “Snow One Else for Me” (composer, Playdate Theatre Holiday EP 2020), “I’m Here” (lyricist, Empower Her Voice 2020 evening of new work), and “If I Didn’t Know Better” (First Stage: A Concert for Emerging Writers, NYC). She is a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop, the Dramatists Guild, and ASCAP and is being mentored by Broadway Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell in Maestra’s mentorship program. She was previously a member of The Workshop Theatre’s selective writers’ intensive in NYC, where she developed her play HERR DENTIST; the Princeton University Triangle Club Writers Workshop (Milton Lyon Award for Outstanding Writing) for which she contributed music and lyrics for three full-length musicals; and Traverse Theatre Young Writers in Scotland. Master's in Playwriting with Distinction, University of Edinburgh; A.B. Music, Princeton University.