ABOUT
Chris is a first-generation American songwriter & playwright.
Also a first-generation college student, he graduated from Northwestern University, where he studied dramatic writing, directed a few shows, performed in a few shows, music directed and sang in an a cappella group and wrote for the annual Waa-Mu Show.
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He has served as associate to
Jeanine Tesori on her projects,
most recently the Tony Award-winning Kimberly Akimbo, and Pulitzer finalist Soft Power.
He is a proud member of ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild, and the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Writing Workshop.
His musicals include the New York Times Critic's Pick adaptation of the best-selling children's series The Pout-Pout Fish (New Victory), Fable (NYMF), and Atlantic: America & The Great War, a commission from the American Musical Theatre Project and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival.
He is currently developing Discovery of Fire and Fountain, which was selected for the O'Neill Theater Center' 2023 National Musical Theater Conference and NAMT's 2023 Festival of New Musicals.
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Along with co-writer Jared Corak, Anselmo was a finalist for the 2023 Jonathan Larson Grant and 2023 Kleban Prize.