David Nehls (Music & Lyrics) In addition to providing the music and lyrics for The Great American Trailer Park Musical and The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical David has supplied music and lyrics for many shows including: Broadway Bares 19 and 20 (opening numbers for both years), as well as the 2016 opening number for Broadway Bares Fire Island, I’ll BeHome For Christmas (World Premiere 2016 at the Arvada Center For The Arts And Humanities); Killer Wigs From Outer Space (NYMF 2017, CU Boulder workshop production in 2016, GenCon Selection in 2013 for Short Animation Project, Terror Film Festival, Philadelphia 2013), and a musical version of Mommie Dearest, on which he collaborated with Christina Crawford.
As a musical director and conductor, David has worked on 50 productions at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Colorado, winning nine Henry Awards, four for Musical Direction and five for Best Musical Production of the Year. David also acted as Musical Director, Composer, Arranger and Musical Supervisor for Carols for a Cure, a holiday CD benefiting Broadway Cares/EquityFights AIDS. An actor for 16 years, David appeared in the national toursof ME AND MY GIRL as Sir Jasper Tring, Ziegfeld, A Night at the Follies as Eddie Cantor, City of Angels as Sonny-the-Gangster, and Little Shop of Horrors as Seymour and originated the role of Riff Raff on the European Tour of The Rocky Horror Show.
David was Vice President of the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre Foundation from 2014 to 2016, helping to lead the effort to restore the 125 year old Elitch Theatre in Denver. He has served as Co-Chairman of the Elitch Theatre New Works Festival, and is a member of BMI. Website: dnehlsmusic.com
Betsy Kelso (Libretto) Betsy has most recently written and produced for WWE’s TV shows and pay-per-view events. She has also created and developed TV series for Warner Bros., ABC Family, MTV, Disney Channel and Universal Music Group. She wrote and directed the short film Church & State starring Martin Starr, and wrote/performed for Behind the Music That Sucks, ananimated parody series that aired on FUSE Network in which she can be heard as the voices of Courtney Love, Jennifer Lopez, Cher and all three Dixie Chicks. She can also be seen in the first season of Hannah Montana. In addition to providing the book for The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Betsy adapted the British musicals Girls’ Night and Girl Talk for their U.S. tours and Off Broadway runs, and provided librettos for the new musical project Popera and The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical, for which she also served as choreographer of the original Houston production.
As a founding member of the popular all-female sketch-comedy team Shirley Chickenpants, she won praise from publications such as Talk, Stuff, Paper, Bust, Time Out New York, Playboy and The Village Voice, and played to sold-out crowds in New York and Los Angeles at HERE Arts Center, Joe’s Pub, HBO Workspace, ACME Comedy Theatre and others. She toured the United States with the comedy Just For Laughs, A Day With Gates & Mills, starring Tim Conway and Tom Poston, and Europe with The Rocky Horror Show, for which she also assisted the Director and Choreographer in subsequent productions. Other performances include Grand Hotel, City of Angels, Man of La Mancha, Annie, Sugar Babies and The Sound of Music.
In the book world, Betsy is published alongside Andy Borowitz, Cynthia Heimel, Craig Bierko and many others in 101 Damnations: A Humorist’s Tour of Personal Hells. She is a member of the WGA-West.