About Teresa

Teresa Lotz (she/they) is an award-winning playwright and composer-lyricist, originally from Baltimore, MD. After studying music composition at Bowling Green State University under Distinguished Artist Professor Dr. Marilyn Shrude, she moved to New York City to attend New York University's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Cycle  22).

Photo by Tom Kordenbrock

Photo by Tom Kordenbrock

Their work includes:

  • She Calls Me Firefly (2019 New York Innovative Theater Award Winner Best Original Short Script, World Premiere: Soho Playhouse, dir. Ludovica Villar-Hauser);

  • Akira & The Merpeople (music) with bookwriter/lyricist Claire Tran (Polyphone Festival 2020, dir Rebecca Wright, THEatre ACCelerator 2019)

  • Red Emma & the Mad Monk (music) with writer Alexis Roblan (NY Times Critic’s Pick, 6 NYIT Nominations, LadyFest 2018 at The Tank, Ars Nova ANT Fest 2017, dir. Katie Lindsay)

  • ThreeTimesFast (book and music) with bookwriter/lyricist Naomi Matlow (Industry Showcase 2020, dir. Michael Bello, Florida Festival of New Musicals 2019, O'Neill Theater Festival Semi-Finalist, Pallas Theater Table Read Series Winner 2017, The Scriptat Stage 74, New York Film Academy New Works Series 2016 dir. Robert Longbottom)

  • Anna Karenina: a riff (music) with songs by Will Turner, Christie Baughter, Yan Li (BroadwayWorld Off/Off-Off Broadway Award for Best New Score Of A Musical, World Premiere, The Flea, dir. Ashley Teague) (

  • Corona Island (music) with words by Rachel Kunstadt and Briana Harris (THE INSIDERS: Musicals from the Quarantine, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Youtube Short Film 2020, dir. Kristin Kelly)

  • Toy Box (words) with composer Will Buck, (Radio Play, IndieWorks’ Bite-sized Broadway, dir. Christopher Michaels; Reading, New York University, dir. Kent Nicholson)

  • Mommy’s Little Princess: A Craigslist Love Story (The Barbour Award Finalist, The Episcopal Actor's Guild, March 2018, dir. Daniella Caggiano)

  • The Awakening (music) with bookwriter/ lyricist Sarah Rebell (O'Neill Theater Festival Semi-Finalist, Reading, Musical Theatre Factory Developmental Series at Playwright’s Horizons, 2016 dir. Celine Rosenthal).

Her work has been heard at Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, Cooper Union, Playwright's Horizons, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Dixon Place, Metropolitan Room the Duplex, and more. She has had residencies with Goodspeed Opera House, Two River Theater Company, and Musical Theatre Factory.

Teresa is the former Director of Operations with Parity Productions and they were a co-founder of the premiere lesbian cabaret company LezCab. Teresa is an alumni of New Perspectives Theatre Company Women's Work Lab (2012-2017) and the New Dramatists Composer-Librettists Studio (2019). She was a 2020 Finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant. She’s a current member of Dramatist’s Guild, ASCAP, and the Playwright’s Circle at Speranza Theatre.

Teresa currently resides in the East Village with her beautiful psychotherapist wife Jessica, a pain-in-the-ass Frenchie named Lucifer, and two black cats – Bellatrix and Phoebe. She works full time as an Administrative Coordinator at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and does freelance event-planning and cool witch shit (see MAGIC page). In Teresa’s very small amount of free time she enjoys watching reality TV, playing 90s video games, and kicking ass at karaoke.