As well as presentations from 28 new musicals in development, BEAM2025 will also showcase 12 exciting new musical theatre writers in our Artist Spotlights sessions.
Annabelle Lee Revak
Annabelle is a composer, lyricist, bookwriter, orchestrator, and music assistant. Recent writing projects include: Windsong (in development, Croft & Dye… Read more
Annabelle Lee Revak
Annabelle is a composer, lyricist, bookwriter, orchestrator, and music assistant. Recent writing projects include: Windsong (in development, Croft & Dye Productions), 90 Seconds to Midnight (in development, Timelapse Theatre/New Diorama), Train on Fire (MTFest UK), Notes & Letters (Underscore Theatre Chicago). Other theatre credits include: Stranger Things: The First Shadow, The Devil Wears Prada, and Sylvia. Originally from Wisconsin, Annabelle is now based in London.
Evie Press
Evie Press (she/they) is a composer, lyricist, writer, dramaturg, and director. She was classically trained, beginning her professional career in… Read more
Evie Press
Evie Press (she/they) is a composer, lyricist, writer, dramaturg, and director. She was classically trained, beginning her professional career in opera before discovering her passion for creating musical theatre while at Durham University. She took her first musical to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 to 5-star reviews and graduated from Leeds Conservatoire with an MA in Musical Theatre Creation in 2024. Evie’s work explores themes of identity, community, and politics, through stories of medieval London mayors, rural English funeral homes, and supernatural American road trips. Their next co-written show premieres at the Birmingham Hippodrome in August 2025 for BYMT.
Hayley Canham
I'm a 22-year-old composer, lyricist and bookwriter with a professional acting background, having starred in Matilda The Musical aged 9.… Read more
Hayley Canham
I'm a 22-year-old composer, lyricist and bookwriter with a professional acting background, having starred in Matilda The Musical aged 9. As a singer-songwriter, I’ve garnered over a million streams on Spotify with multiple plays on BBC radio – this influences my work, blending contemporary styles (folk, rock, pop) with a traditional MT sound. Passionate about amplifying women’s voices (warts and all!), I wrote my first show, Medea the Musical, aged 16 - a rock concert adaptation of the Greek tragedy, licensed in two European countries. I’m currently developing The Poetess, a one-woman, actor-muso show about the greatest songwriter never heard: Sappho.
Leo Simpe-Asante
Leo is an actor, writer, composer, lyricist and multi-instrumentalist. He is 18 years old and studying Musical Theatre at the… Read more
Leo Simpe-Asante
Leo is an actor, writer, composer, lyricist and multi-instrumentalist. He is 18 years old and studying Musical Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. His work is best described as experimental, intricate and humorous, inspired by the likes of Sondheim, Finn, Minchin and Miranda. His play ‘Cock Ups!’ was shortlisted for the INK 2025 Festival, and his current musical project, ‘Penelope the Musical’ was shortlisted for BEAM2025. Leo is a member of the National Youth Theatre and Chineke! Junior Orchestra. He attended the Royal Academy of Music’s Junior Academy Musical Theatre Course, which he now assists on.
Lewis Cornay
Lewis is a very greedy creative who works as composer/ lyricist & book writer. He’s currently working on new musical… Read more
Lewis Cornay
Lewis is a very greedy creative who works as composer/ lyricist & book writer. He’s currently working on new musical ‘KIDNEY4U’ - supported by Birmingham Hippodrome. His musical ‘Harry & Greta’ was given the New Musical Theatre Award by British Youth Music Theatre in 2023 and was produced at New Wolsey, Ipswich. He also wrote music & lyrics for Nosy Crow/ Salisbury Playhouses children’s show ‘You’re Not the Boss of Me’. His play ‘Daddy Issues’ received a critically acclaimed run at SevenDials Playhouse in 2022. In the same year his solo show ’Curious Case of Lewis Cornay’ premiered at The Other Palace. His first musical, ‘Snowflake’ was developed at Lowry Theatre as part of ReWrites. He’s alumni from Soho Theatre Writers Lab and Criterion New Writers Group and enjoys writing with comedy at the heart of his work.
Mahlon Prince
Mahlon trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and on the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme. He… Read more
Mahlon Prince
Mahlon trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and on the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme. He was selected for BEAM2025 by Mercury Musical Developments and MTFest25 by The Other Palace Theatre. As Writer - Patient Vultures (VAULT Festival); The Best Years of Your Life (High Tide Festival); Bottom Line Accounting (Southwark Playhouse). As Director - Arden City (National Theatre).
Matt Thorpe
Hi! I'm Matt. I've been a performer for 16 years working on shows in London and across the U.K. About… Read more
Matt Thorpe
Hi! I'm Matt. I've been a performer for 16 years working on shows in London and across the U.K. About 6 years ago I picked up a guitar with an aim to write some songs and over the last couple of years have been focusing on writing lyrics for musicals. My style is to write story driven lyrics using influences from the world of theatre and artists outside of theatre that inspire me. My interests are writing sung through pieces. I love being able to turn a soundtrack or album on and listen to a story from start to finish.
Max Welton
Max Welton (b. 1996) is a Glasgow based composer, writer, and performer. His credits as composer and lyricist include: Snakehead… Read more
Max Welton
Max Welton (b. 1996) is a Glasgow based composer, writer, and performer. His credits as composer and lyricist include: Snakehead (Hope Theatre Islington), 5 Little Ducks (Spinning Wheel Theatre), Tangles with the Angles (Spinning Wheel). His His pieces have been performed by the Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Broderick Quartet and the Glasgow New Music Expedition. As a writer of film music he has written scores for short educational films as well as several online filmed conferences for Google.
Michelle-Kim Vacciana
My life and artistic practice (same thing) are embedded within supporting the development and creative realisation of ideas – whether… Read more
Michelle-Kim Vacciana
My life and artistic practice (same thing) are embedded within supporting the development and creative realisation of ideas – whether the idea be my own, those extracted out of communal discussions or devising processes. I am a supporter by trade and by nature. I have previously written, produced and performed two short ‘One Woman’ shows (60-80 mins); I am a storyteller, a listener, and an organiser of parts into a sum, working across the disciplines of theatre-making, moving image, music and visual language. I believe in the transformative power of Art, sharing stories and exploring our own unique forms of expression.
Parisa Shahmir
Parisa is a British/Iranian singer, composer & established actor working in the theatre industry for 11 years. Her voice as… Read more
Parisa Shahmir
Parisa is a British/Iranian singer, composer & established actor working in the theatre industry for 11 years. Her voice as a writer is very much a blend of empowered, political feminism & raw, authentic storytelling through song. As an actor, she’s toured globally with theatre productions such as Mamma Mia, Sting's The Last Ship, & We Live In Cairo, an original musical debuted at the Tony Award winning ART in Boston, USA. Most recently, she starred in Fisherman's Friends The Musical which opened at Hall for Cornwall, during which an original song she’d written, The Tidal Pool, was heard by the creative team & added into the show for the UK Tour 2022-23. Parisa conceived her first musical, Medusa, in March 2023, a folk-inspired musical which seeks to reclaims the narrative, giving women a voice in their own stories. Medusa was a 2024 NAMT winner and was showcased in NYC at New World Stages in October 2024.
Rev Ben Cahill-Nicholls
Ben Cahill-Nicholls is a composer, lyricist, charity chief executive, and Church of England priest. He spent his childhood watching classic… Read more
Rev Ben Cahill-Nicholls
Ben Cahill-Nicholls is a composer, lyricist, charity chief executive, and Church of England priest. He spent his childhood watching classic musicals on repeat, then studied Music at Cambridge before working as a civil servant, Parliamentary adviser, communications manager, and teacher. Currently, he leads both a national wellbeing charity, and a small church in a Surrey village so achingly beautiful that he half-expects Miss Marple to pop out from behind a weeping willow and solve his own murder. He is married to Ellie; they have two children, and two cats. The latter are called Rodgers and Hammerstein; the former, thankfully, aren’t.
Tennick & Ramsay
Tennick & Ramsay are a Scottish writing duo who have been writing together for five years. Their previous works include… Read more
Tennick & Ramsay
Tennick & Ramsay are a Scottish writing duo who have been writing together for five years. Their previous works include Thread (One Ren, 2022), Land (Guilded Balloon Patter Hoose, 2022), Welcome to Serene (New Wolsey Theatre, 2024) and Hysterica, (Developed with Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Capital Theatres, 2024). They are currently commissioned to write a new Snappy Opera for Mahogany Opera and Dunedin Consort. In 2024, they were awarded the ‘New Music Theatre Writing Award’ by British Youth Music Theatre. As a duo, they aim to create politically engaged work that tells new and urgent stories.