Stacey Luftig writes lyrics and book for musical theater. She also writes plays, operettas, and the occasional television show. She is the recipient of the Kleban Prize for lyrics and is the co-recipient of the Fred Ebb Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre with composer Phillip Palmer, her long-time collaborator.
Her current project with Phillip is Amelia and Me, inspired by the little-known story of the friendship and conflict between Amelia Earhart and pilot Jackie Cochran. Amelia and Me is based on Stacey’s play Jinxed, which was an O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist as well as Winner and Audience Favorite at Dayton Playhouse FutureFest. Stacey and Phillip, with bookwriter Jennie Redling, also created My Heart Is the Drum. Set in modern Ghana, My Heart is the Drum had its world premiere at Village Theatre near Seattle, directed by Schele Williams (Broadway: The Wiz, The Notebook). Originated at the BMI Workshop, Drum was presented by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) and further developed at the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals and Kent State University.
Stacey likes to work (and play) with many collaborators…most lately, with Mark Sonnenblick (The Devil Wears Prada, West End; K-Pop Demon Hunters, Netflix) and journalist/novelist Keah Brown. Their musical, based on the novel Invincible, follows twin princesses Lena and Meg—one, a fearless wheelchair user; the other, quietly battling anxiety—as they break free from palace life to explore their kingdom, only to discover that it’s up to them to save it. Stacey is also writing a song cycle with composer Kim Sherman called Objet Trouvé, inspired by odd items found on the streets of Manhattan.
Other projects include her operetta, Story of an Hour, composed by Michael Valenti and performed by the Portland Chamber Orchestra in Portland, Oregon and in by Gramercy Opera in New York City. The Christmas carol from the operetta was performed by the choir at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at Christmas mass. With composers Mary Feinsinger and Robert Elhai, she wrote Understood Betsy, based on a classic children’s novel and produced at Actors Playhouse in Coral Gables, Florida, Understood Betsy was the winner of the National Children’s Theatre Festival Award and the Jackie White National Children’s Playwriting Award.
As one of the lyricists for That’s Life, an off-Broadway revue about contemporary Jewish life, Stacey was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. Her work on the show was singled out by The New York Times and the New York Post.
Other writing includes episodes of the animated TV show Pinky Dinky Doo, produced by the Sesame Workshop and Noggin Network. Stacey is also the editor of The Joni Mitchell Companion and The Paul Simon Companion, anthologies published by Schirmer Books.
Stacey lives in New York City, hails from New Jersey (exit 10!), and is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She is a five-time fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), and a proud member of Maestra, the BMI Workshop, the Dramatists Guild, and ASCAP.
She also happens to be a great-niece of Irving Cohn, who wrote the music for the 1923 hit song "Yes, We Have No Bananas."