Artist Residencies

Legacy Theatre is committed to giving voice to New Works and nurturing emerging artists. Tom and Jana Shea generously named the George Victor Artist Cottage to provide residence for visiting artists to write and retreat in Stony Creek, next door to the theater. Visiting Artists may get the opportunity to connect with students in the community and present pieces in a Song Salon at the conclusion of their stay.

If you’re interested in a Legacy Theatre Artist Residency, you may apply HERE.

Past Residents

Sonya Hayden

Sonya Hayden is a composer, lyricist, bookwriter, and playwright based in New York City. She is the recipient of the MAC John Wallowitch Songwriting Award, Kurt Weill Foundation Songbook Award, Across a Crowded Room Fellowship, ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition Mentorship Prize, and Marble House Project Residency. Her work has also been recognized by the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) Fellows Program (Finalist), the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference (Semi-Finalist), Manhattan School of Music’s Musical Theatre Lab Series (Finalist), Michigan State University’s New Musical Laboratory (Top 6), and the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Festival Play Contest (Finalist). Her work has been performed at the Lincoln Center Festival, New Perspectives Theatre, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Little Fish Theatre, NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, Urban Stages, Edinburgh International Festival, and more. Member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, the Dramatists Guild, and ASCAP and previously the Recording Academy’s Musical Theater Mentorship Program, Maestra Music’s Mentorship Program, and New Perspectives Theatre’s Full-Length Play LAB. She is the Co-Director of Maestra Music's Mentorship Program and has been a Script Supervisor at Audible. Master’s in Playwriting with Distinction, University of Edinburgh; B.A. Music, Princeton University. sonyahayden.com @sonyahayden11

David Christensen and Benjamin Doolittle

“We are so very grateful for the generous encouragement from everyone at the Legacy Theatre.  Our time as artists-in-residence allowed for deep reflection and rich collaboration, resulting in transformative progress of our musical.”

David is a writer and performer who grew up in North Branford, CT. After graduating from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, he attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop in NYC, and was admitted into the advanced workshop in 2012. Since then, David has had multiple concerts featuring his work at venues throughout NYC, including 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, and Don’t Tell Mama. David’s shows include: Santa Claus: The Musical! (available through Broadway Licensing Group), Echo, Just Between the All of Us (available through Broadway International), The Town that Sucked at Christmas, and Marie of the Stars. In 2022, David began writing and co-hosting the musical theater variety/talk show, The Between Broadway Variety Hour with Sarah Ziegler Blair.

Ben is a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Yale Medical School and Professor of Religion and Health at the Yale Divinity School.  He has written over 200 scholarly articles and several books.  This is his first musical.  

D'Archangelis and Horneff

Amanda D'Archangelis (Music and Book) and Sami Horneff (Lyrics and Book) met in the world-renowned BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. After being paired for the final project of their first year course, D'Archangelis and Horneff quickly realized they had found a life-long partnership. 

That class assignment later developed into their first full-length musical together (and their Off-Broadway debut as a team). Single Rider ran at the Players Theatre in Greenwich Village for five weeks in the summer of 2018 and was subsequently presented at the University of Alabama. Single Rider has since been optioned by David Treatman Creative.

Amanda and Sami's other recent work includes The Radium Girls: A Jaw-Dropping New Musical (in collaboration with Lisa Mongillo), which was a 2022 NAMT semi-finalist, a five-time winner at The 2021 National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival after a virtual production at Western Connecticut State University, and most recently had its first NYC industry presentation directed by Tony Winner Marissa Jaret Winokur and starring Tony Nominees Andy Karl and Orfeh; The Break, which had its premiere reading in 2018 through the Omaha Creative Institute and has since been showcased at Lied Center for Performing Arts; and Coming Attraction, a new musical about the life of Hollywood icon Greta Garbo, which premiered at the Wilbury Theatre Group in Providence, RI. They are currently developing Bandit Queen, a small-cast folk-pop musical centering on Pearl Hart, the Wild West’s most notorious female bandit, as well as Pandora in Blue Jeans with book by Adam Fox Morrison, which explores the life of controversial “Peyton Place” author Grace Metalious.

Their work has also been performed at famed concert venues across New York City, including The Green Room 42, The Duplex, Prohibition NYC, Lincoln Center, Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End, The Metropolitan Room, and Feinstein's/54 Below. D'Archangelis and Horneff also wrote two songs for the feature film A Ring for Christmas, which played on the UPtv network throughout the 2020 holiday season and is now available on Prime Video. In 2019, they were named York Theatre Company’s New/Emerging/Outstanding (NEO) Writers, and in 2023, they were Artists in Residence at The Legacy Theatre in Branford, CT. 

To learn more, follow Amanda and Sami on Instagram at @darchangelisandhorneff or visit their websites: www.amandadarchangelis.com and www.samihorneff.com

Zoe Sarnak

“My artistic residency with Legacy Theatre was both serene and generative. Hours were wonderfully balanced between the space and time to spread notecards across the residence floor and events to create connection with an engaged local community.”

Zoe is a New York City-based composer, lyricist, and writer. She is a Jonathan Larson Award winner, a finalist for the Ebb, Kleban, and Billie Burke Ziegfeld Awards, and composer/lyricist and co-creator of the recent award-winning World Premiere productions of A Crossing at Barrington Stage Company and The Lonely Few at The Geffen Playhouse. Her work has been developed with and presented by Second Stage, New York Stage & Film, The Public, Roundabout Theatre Company, MCC, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Guggenheim, New York Theatre Workshop, WP Theatre, and many others. Upcoming: The Lonely Few (with Rachel Bonds) Spring 2023 at MCC and Galileo (with Danny Strong and Michael Weiner) Spring 2023 at Berkeley Rep. Additional theatrical projects in development include: Empire Records (with Carol Heikkinen), Particle Fever (with David Henry Hwang and Bear McCreary), Afloat (with Emily Kaczmarek), Split (with Michele Lowe), Afterwords (with Emily Kaczmarek), and others soon to be announced. Her music has been featured by the NY Times Live, The Shannara Chronicles (Spike), Silent Witness (BBC) and in benefit concerts and albums for Everytown. @zoesarnak https://www.zoesarnak.com