ARTIST BIOS:

Scott Free is a Chicago-based composer, lyricist, performer and live music event producer. He completed the Midwest New Musicals writer‘s workshop run by John Sparks through Light Opera Works in Evanston, Illinois in 2011. He has twice been named Outmusician of the Year by the OUTMusic Awards (OMA), in 2005 and 2009. He also won Out Song of The Year in 2005 at OMA. He received two Stonewall Society Pride in the Arts Awards in 2005 - Song of the Year and Producer of the Year in 2005, and Album of the Year in 2009 - and was inducted into the Stonewall Society's GLBT Hall Of Fame. His music videos have appeared on the national cable stations LOGO and BET. He has been interviewed on NPR‘s ‘All Things Considered‘, and Canada‘s MuchMusic station. He has appeared in the national magazines The Advocate and OUT magazine. All four of his CDs have reached the #1 position at Outvoice.net, and his 2008 release 'Pink Album (A Pop Opera)' was the #1 CD of 2009 at Outvoice.net. He hosts the bimonthly LGBT performance series ‘Homolatte‘, and the annual ‘ALT Q‘, an LGBT music festival, both in Chicago. In 2010 he was inducted into the City of Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.





Rick Karlin is a playwright (“Spin Cycle“, “As Time Goes By“, “Greece!“, “Scrapbook“, “Women at Large“, “Full of Beenes“ and “Seuss on the Loose“, “Fractured Fairy Tales“, “Which Witch Is Which?“, “Alice in Discoland“ and “Vampire Glee Club“), novelist (Show Biz Kids, Tales of the Second City, Death on the Rocks), free-lance journalist (Boi Magazine, Chicago Free Press, Bay Area Reporter, Windy City Times, Chicago Tribune“s Metromix and Out.com) and was the Entertainment Editor for Gay Chicago Magazine for 10 years. His musical “Spin Cycle“, produced in 1980, was the first gay themed musical to be reviewed by ChicagoÕs major mainstream press and the run was extended three times. It was revived for a 20th anniversary production by Phoenix Rising Theater in 2001 and again received glowing reviews. He participated in the Midwest New Musicals project with John Sparks (beginning and advanced levels). He has also taught drama and lyric writing in the Chicago Public Schools Arts in Education project and was recognized as Illinois‘ “Most Talented Teacher“ in 1993. A community activist, he was inducted in the City of Chicago‘s Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1997 for his charity work with Horizons Community Services, Equality Illinois, AIDS Foundation, Test Positive Aware Network, Stop AIDS, Names Project and Open Hand, among others. He founded Gay Chicago Magazine‘s “After Dark Awards“ for theater and performance.