Meet the Co-Adapters
Juliet Mazer-Schmidt Jr. & Jonathan Wagner
JULIET MAZER-SCHMIDT JR. (Book and Lyrics) is a Detroit-born, NYC-based artist whose stage debut preceded her second birthday – cast as “Baby” in a children’s theater production of Cheaper By The Dozen, her maternal grandmother (“Grandma Mazer”) behind the keys. Growing up in and around both community and professional theater, as well as a competitive (ballet/jazz-rooted) dance company and (church-based) choir, she believes in the collaborative power of music to create and cultivate community and friendship across diverse populations. An award-winning writer since childhood, her work now spans several industries and mediums (and decades – oh my!).
Juliet is a graduate of The Second City (Chicago)’s Music Conservatory as well as long-form improv programs through iO Theater (Chicago) and Washington Improv Theater, improvising countless songs and full-length musicals — meeting Jon along the way!
She completed The Theatre Lab’s Life Stories Institute in 2018, training to serve marginalized populations in storytelling through theater arts, and worked with Broadway Advocacy Coalition’s Theater of Change, in partnership with Columbia Law School, in 2020. She volunteers with college access initiative The Posse Foundation and serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in New York Family Court.
SARAH AND THE SEED is Juliet’s first *scripted* musical.
JONATHAN WAGNER (Music, Book, and Lyrics) is a Sacramento-born, NYC-based musician and entertainer who serves presently as a Music Director and instructor at The Second City New York. A graduate of Northwestern University, his work as head writer of The Waa-Mu Show, NU’s annual student-written musical revue, earned him the Paynter Award for Excellence in Musical Composition.
As an actor, Jonathan made his Broadway debut in 2015 as a member of the Original Broadway Company of School of Rock: The Musical, performing its leading role over 140 times. Favorite Off-Broadway and Regional acting credits include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Wonka - First Regional/Tuacahn), 25th Annual…Spelling Bee (TATC), High Fidelity (Route 66), and The People vs. Friar Laurence (Second City/Steppenwolf 2nd Stage).
Prior to Broadway, Jonathan spent 15 years with The Second City Chicago, as an instructor and Music Director of the Severn Darden Graduate Program, additionally creating original songs and sound designs for their famed Training Center and National Touring Companies. From the piano, he has improvised hundreds of original scores with musical improv artists as diverse as Baby Wants Candy (improvised rock opera with a full band), Storybox (legend-based long-form), and The Greatest Story Never Told (improvised fairytale).
SARAH AND THE SEED marks Jonathan’s fifth full-length scripted musical score.