Ronvé O’Daniel is an award-winning songwriter, playwright, actor, director, hip-hop
recording artist, and proud alumnus and Professor at Wright State University. His work
has been produced Off-Broadway and developed at leading institutions including
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the Eugene O’Neill National Music Theater Conference,
the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, and NYU Tisch School of
the Arts.
He is the recipient of the Georgia Bogardus Holof Lyricist Award from the Eugene
O’Neill National Music Theater Conference, presented annually to a lyricist
demonstrating exceptional promise in musical theatre writing. Ronvé has collaborated
with Tony-nominated, Drama Desk Award–winning director Tina Landau on The Big Mix,
a three-week celebration of Juneteenth and LGBTQIA+ Pride, and with Tony-nominated
actor, poet, and lyricist Daniel J. Watts on his acclaimed solo show Only Child.
Most recently, Ronvé premiered his original musical Only in New York at Wright State
University. The show follows Kenya, a struggling screenwriter-turned-bartender
navigating motherhood, marriage, and an unforgiving city determined to test her
resilience. He also served as composer for the Off-Broadway production of Duke &
Roya by Charles Randolph-Wright, directed by Warren Adams and starring Jay Ellis.
Ronvé is currently collaborating with concert composer Gilad Cohen on Here We Stand,
a classical/hip-hop fusion inspired by singer and activist Paul Robeson. He is also
developing Greenwood: The Black Wall Street Musical, based on the 1921 Tulsa Race
Massacre, with collaborators Jevares Myrick and J. Kyle Manzay in partnership with
Bristol Riverside Theatre.
His albums include Motivation Music and He Speaks So Well, and he is a co-writer for
the children’s hip-hop series Uncle Apple. His composer/lyricist credits include
Superhero (Off-Broadway), The Earth Remembers (Virginia Stage Company), What’s
Going On – Songs of Change (92NY Lyrics & Lyricists), Once Upon a Rhyme (NYU
Tisch, Uproar Theatrics), The Hippest Wizard of Oz, Beautiful Hair (City Springs Theatre
Company), Letters to the President, and The New Girl (Concord Theatricals).
As an educator and teaching artist, Ronvé teaches acting, musical theatre performance,
movement and songwriting at Wright State University and has led masterclasses at
Ramapo College of New Jersey and Auburn University.
Learn more at ronveodaniel.com.
