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About Us
#ComeWhatMay grew out of an online writer's room created by Gus Gowland during the pandemic.
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In 2020, when everyone was stuck in their homes, afraid and climbing the walls, Gus wanted to find a way to connect with fellow musical thatre writers. He created a free, weekly, zoom room where anyone who wanted to write musicals could come along and spend time working alongside their peers.
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Quickly a small band of regulars formed and it was through their conversations and discussions that the idea for the Musical Theatre Writing Challenge was born!
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Credit to the original crew who co-created the challenge: Uri Agnon, Franziska Beck, Julian Brett, Geraint Owen, Jack Reitman
Gus Gowland
Gus is an award-winning writer/composer, and Resident Artist at York Theatre Royal. He is currently writing English book and lyrics for Youand It for EG Musical Company Korean & ChapmanDixonMcgill.
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His second full length musical Mayflies premiered at York Theatre in May 2023, and an EP of 4 songs from the show was released in summer of '23.
His first musical, Pieces of String, was The Stage’s Best Regional Musical of the year and was nominated for the UK Theatre Best Musical Production award. Gus won The Stage Debut Award for Best Composer/Lyricist, and was nominated for the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting. The show is currently optioned by Global Musicals/Alchemation and will premiere in South Korea in 2025.
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Other work includes Subway, an audio short musical and In Motion, an EP of original songs written with Craig Mather.
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Alongside his writing, Gus has a PhD in musical theatre and is PostGraduate Musical Theatre Coordinator at Leeds Conservatoire. His first academic book Contemporary British Musicals: Out of the Darkness, co-edited with Clare Chandler, is published by Bloomsbury Metheun and out now!
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You can find Gus on gusgowland.com or @GusGowland
Lauren Hendricks
Lauren is one half of writing duo Carey-Hills & Hendricks.
In 2023, their show Tinker Bell the Musical enjoyed a successful workshop performance, with Alice Fearn, Tosh Wanogho-Maud & Courtney Bowman. Their first musical, Nursery Crimes, was listed by the Evening Standard as one of the Top 10 New Musicals, and reached the semi-finals of the West End Producer competition.
Despite being far too old for such things, Carey-Hills & Hendricks have inexplicably seen viral success on TikTok, and have been featured on news channels such as BBC Breakfast.
You can find Lauren on careyhillsandhendricks.com or @lauren_h088