Theater
Librettist, Lyricist, and Playwright
My musicals and plays ignite stories of defiance; characters who shatter societal expectations to claim their truth and carve out a place of their own.
MARLISE! THE (UNAUTHORIZED) STORY
When a fading 1950’s Hollywood star Marlise Mattox is framed for murder, she must join forces with her obsessive fan, to clear her name and solve the crime.
Book & Lyrics: Jesse Ayala | Lyrics & Music: Justino Tesoro
Developed at Berklee, under Adam Gwon.
MADAME X
When a famed painter John Singer Sargent’s hidden romance with his male muse becomes the talk of Paris, he must cover up the scandal in a way only a painter could, or so he thinks…
Book & Lyrics: Jesse Ayala | Lyrics & Music: Brandon Scott Grayson
Developed at Berklee, under Julianne Wick-Davis, and the BMI Lehman-Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
BATTLE OF VERSAILLES
When Didi, an hustling aspiring actress, fakes her way into the cutthroat world of high-stakes New York fashion, she must decide to keep up the act, or be herself in a revolutionary show at the Palace of Versailles.
Book & Lyrics: Jesse Ayala
A CURIOUS SPECTACLE
When Marie, an unassuming young physics student, makes an earth shattering discovery, her suspicious mentor places the spotlight on her gender, not her ideas, causing her to go to war to prove herself.
Book: Jesse Ayala
A BIGGER BLOW
When Damien takes shelter in the lavish crypto-mansion of an estranged friend as a hurricane bears down, he finds himself trapped in a moral tempest, caught between effective altruism, digital wealth, and the cold calculus of who deserves to be saved.
Book: Jesse Ayala
Developed at Harvard University, under Bryan Delaney.