About us
For over ten years, ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com hosted the largest online database of contemporary musical theatre writers and songs. Launched in 2012, the site quickly became an active platform for digital sheet music sales, circumventing normal publishing models by connecting consumers directly to writers and their previously unavailable, under-performed songs.
ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com has produced several concerts, including a Launch Concert at Second Stage hosted by Seth Rudtesky in January 2013, a concert at 54 Below entitled "Binders Full of Women's Songs" starring Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford (in conjunction with City Center's production of Cryer and Ford's I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it On the Road) in July 2013, and a Fifth Anniversary Concert at Green Room 42 in March 2018.
Co-owners David Sisco and Laura Josepher have also led many masterclasses and workshops at colleges and universities, both nationally and internationally, including: NYU Steinhardt, Rider University, University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, and Den Danske Scenekunstskole, among others. They also presented at the 2019 MTEA Conference and the 2020 NATS Virtual Conference.
Today, ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com hosts the online companions to Sisco & Josepher’s books: Mastering College Musical Theatre Auditions and Performing in Contemporary Musicals. You can also explore our podcast, “In Between the Lines” and read about the many masterclass and workshop offerings.
Our Team
David Sisco
Founder
David Sisco (he/him/his) has been on faculty at Northeastern University, Suffolk University, Marymount Manhattan College, and Wagner College and is currently adjunct voice faculty at NYU Steinhardt. David maintains a private studio in New York and leads masterclasses around the country and internationally. He has presented at the 2010 NMTA Conference, 2012, 2016, and 2020 NATS Conferences, and the 2013, 2017, and ICVT Conferences. In 2016, David led a 2-day workshop for the New South Wales Chapter of ANATS in Sydney and was a keynote speaker for the 2018 ANATS National Conference in Leura, Australia. An active musical theatre writer, David is an alumnus of the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop and New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio. He is the author of Here I Am: A Musical Personal Ad, Variations on a Theme of You, and the award-winning BAIT n’ SWISH. For over 13 years, David has written with book writer/lyricist Tom Gualtieri. Together, they wrote the musical Falling to Earth, scores of stand-alone songs, and a video series about the need for more equity in the theatre industry entitled Draw the Circle Wide. A winner of the 2010 NATS Composition Award, David is a prolific art song composer. His songs have been heard at concerts produced by Friends & Enemies of New Music, New Music New York, Joy in Singing, Lyricfest, Songfest, Songfusion, and at Carnegie Hall. Sisco has been commissioned by Manhattan Girls Chorus, Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, and twice by Minnesota State University Moorhead. He has music directed Hair, La Cage aux Folles, My One and Only, Small Town Stories, (Wagner College), Our Country’s Good, Spring Awakening (original score), Stage Door (Marymount Manhattan College), and Searching for Romeo (New York Musical Festival). With business partner Laura Josepher, David runs Contemporary Musical Theatre Corp. David and Laura have written two books together: Mastering College Musical Theatre Auditions (available on Amazon) and Performing in Contemporary Musicals (Routledge). David earned a BA in Vocal Performance with Composition Honors from Syracuse University and a MM in Vocal Performance from Boston University.
Laura Josepher
VP Business Development
Laura Josepher (she/her/hers) New York based theatre director, Laura Josepher, has been directing, teaching, and coaching professionally in New York City for the past thirty years. Her most recent directing credits include MURDER FOR TWO at Cape Fear Regional Theatre, GODSPELL, and THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at The American Musical Theatre Academy (AMTA); EDGES at Den Danske Scenekunstskole in Fredericia, Denmark; and the new musical SEARCHING FOR ROMEO at the NY Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). Along with partner, David Sisco, she runs Contemporary Musical Theatre Corp. Together they wrote the books, Mastering College Musical Theatre Auditions (available on Amazon) and Performing in Contemporary Musicals (Routledge). For the company she directed VOW at Marymount Manhattan College, as well as three concerts: CONTEMPORARY WRITER’S CIRCLE: FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT, BINDERS FULL OF WOMEN’S SONGS at 54 Below, and A CELEBRATION OF CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL THEATRE at Second Stage Theater. Other credits include a workshop of Tom Gualtieri and David Sisco’s musical FALLING TO EARTH at Syracuse University, David Sisco’s BAIT ‘n SWISH for the Left Out Festival, Garth Wingfield’s DATING GAMES at the Theatre Row Studio Theatre, NY and The Elephant Theatre in L.A., DIRTY BLONDE, THE TURN OF THE SCREW and I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE at Stages in Houston, ANNA CHRISTIE at Gallery Players, SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES for Lilli Theatreworks, and HUGHIE at Provincetown Rep. For Rattlestick Productions: WINNING and the award winning CAR POOL. Operas: LA BOHEME, COSI FAN TUTTE, HANSEL AND GRETEL, DIE FLEDERMAUS, and GIANNI SCHICCHI at Quisisana Resort. Assistant Director for Laurie Anderson’s, SONGS AND STORIES FROM MOBY DICK (co-directed by Ms. Anderson and Anne Bogart), Associate Director for BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS directed by Scott Schwartz. Upcoming projects include THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY at Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY. Laura has a Master of Arts in Educational Theatre, and a Bachelor of Music, both from New York University. She is an Equity stage manager, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a Member of SDC. She lives in New York City with her husband, two daughters and her dog, Lola.
www.laurajosepher.com