Vaheed Talebian
A Little About Me
(he/they)
Vaheed is a Musical Theatre Composer and Performer currently pursuing his M.F.A. at NYU Tisch's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Max Dreyfus Award). He is also a member of ASCAP, MUSE, and the Dramatists Guild.
He started performing in high school, and writing while attending the University of Virginia, from which he graduated with a B.A. in Arts Administration (Interdisciplinary Studies) and Economics. Under Professors Fred Maus, A.D. Carson, Ted Coffey, and Michael Slon, he learned music theory, lyrical and rap writing, classical and contemporary composition, and choral conducting. It's thanks to these lessons that he now has the opportunity to write for musical theatre.
In New York City, Vaheed has worked with off-Broadway composer Bree Lowdermilk on several of her projects, alongside Broadway playwright Kait Kerrigan. He has both performed copyist work and served as Assistant Music Director for Bree. He also music assisted at Concord Theatricals for their 29-hour licensing workshops.
Artist Statement
Vaheed is a queer Persian-Italian musical theatre writer and performer. These parts of his identity have greatly shaped the media he consumes and the stories he aspires to share with the world. We rarely see Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) stories told on the commercial stage, and those present often reduce all MENA persons to two stereotypes, three if we're lucky. And as for queer stories, we're plagued with the "Bury Your Gays" trope and reliving trauma to make production companies money. One of Vaheed's biggest goals in theatre is to highlight queer and MENA stories to show audiences we exist beyond the stereotypes audiences often see, we're complex and three-dimensional, and we're flawed, just like you.
Contact Me
721 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Tisch School of the Arts, MFA Graduate Musical Theatre Writing