Sam Carner
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Sam Carner won the $100,000 Kleban Prize for librettists. Sam and composer Derek Gregor won the John Wallowitch Award for songwriters under 40 and the Richard Rodgers Award. They were among Playbill.com’s 12 “Contemporary Musical Theatre Songwriters You Should Know.” 13 of their songs have been nominated for MAC Awards, and their work is performed in hundreds of venues around the world every year and has been sung on all 7 continents.

Carner & Gregor’s musical UNLOCK’D played an extended Off-Broadway run at the Duke Theater in 2013, having previously won “Best of the Fest” at NYMF, and went on to be produced at Houston’s Queensbury Theatre in 2018 and the University of Southern Maine mainstage in 2019.

Their musical ISLAND SONG has been produced at dozens of theaters and universities around the world since its release in 2017, including the Adirondack Theatre Festival, London’s Stratford Circus Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre, Bologna’s Tweet Charity (in Italian), Tokyo’s Crawfish (in Japanese), Oakland University, Song and Dance Players of Singapore, Vanderbilt University, Measure For Measure Theater, and many more.

Other projects in development include TECHIES, which had a workshop production at Rockford University in 2019 and is slated for licensed productions in 2021; a TBA musical adaptation of an ABC television show; and SECOND LINE, an adaptation of Rex Rose’s novella TOAST, which had a workshop production at the Bloomington Playwrights Project and developmental readings at Coastal Carolina University, NC State University, Pace New Musicals, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Carner and Gregor have written numerous songs for revues and web series, including MY GAY ROOMMATE, REDHEADS ANONYMOUS (2016 Indie Series Award nomination for “Best Song”), and more.

Sam’s children’s musical BARNYARD FOLLIES has been produced by youth theatres around the world and won the Moonlit Wings International Playwriting Competition.

Sam has taught at Temple University, NYU, and Yale University. He recently started and directs a two-year training program for musical theater writing at the Institute for American Musical Theatre in New York City, IAMT Creators.
Our shows by Sam Carner