Dylan Schifrin (he/him) is a playwright, composer, lyricist, librettist and TV writer specializing in new musical storytelling for the stage and screen.

Born and raised in LA, attending undergrad at Yale, and now living bicoastally between LA and NYC, his writing style is equally informed by the modern theatre, musical theatre, and television landscapes. As a biracial Latinx, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ artist, he seeks to blend satire, spectacle, and music to tell often-political, often-queer outsider narratives.

Dylan received his B.A. in Musical Theater Composition through Yale College's Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater. He studied dramatic writing under Donald Margulies, Michael Korie and Marsha Norman, as well as composition under Scott Frankel and Jeanine Tesori.

As a theater writer and composer, Dylan has been distinguished by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (2022 NMTC Semifinalist), New Musicals Inc. (2021 New Voices Project Finalist), IAMA Theatre Company (2021-2022 Under 30 Playwrights Lab Member), the Civilians (NYC), the Blank Theatre Company, the National YoungArts Foundation (Finalist in Playwriting), ASCAP, and the Foundation for New American Musicals. He is a six-time published author at YouthPLAYS, through which his work has been licensed and performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia. Dylan is a member of ASCAP, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Librettists Workshop and a new, currently untitled writers group for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ writers based in NYC.

In the film/TV space, Dylan's writing has been distinguished by ScreenCraft, Stage 32, Scriptation and the Filmmatic Awards. Additionally, Dylan has held numerous creative production internships (Marc Platt Productions, Jason Bateman's Aggregate Films, Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions), works as a script reader at Slamdance, and serves as music assistant to EGOT-winning composer/lyricist duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Dylan is a founding member and in-house composer/lyricist at the LA-based social media production company Pixel Playhouse, which has garnered 500k total followers across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

At Yale, Dylan served as managing editor and director of online content for the Yale Record, Yale's humor and satire publication (and oldest publication overall). He music directed several undergraduate musicals, including the first ever collegiate production of Broadway's A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. He also sang in and arranged music for the Yale Spizzwinks(?) a cappella group, in which he managed tours to Los Angeles & Iceland and organized a free public concert and musical exchange with his family in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

PROJECTS & WRITING SAMPLES

Y2K | Immersive Stage Musical | 120 min, 3f 4m (optional ensemble of 3+)

Book, Music and Lyrics by Dylan Schifrin

This immersive musical about echo chambers, conspiracy, "us" vs. "them" mentality, and the danger of misinformation follows a young doomsday prepper's escape from a Y2K-era survivalist colony as she grapples with uncertainty in a new world increasingly resistant to the truth.

Immersive Workshop at After Hours Theatre Company, 2022 (Upcoming)
The 2022 Eugene O'Neill National Music Theater Conference, Semifinalist, 2021
Concert in the Tin Pan Alley 2 Concert Series, 2021
New Voices Project, New Musicals Inc. | Disney Imagineering, Finalist & Virtual Workshop Recipient, 2021
Creative and Performing Arts Award Recipient, Yale College, 2020
Developmental Thesis Reading at Yale College within the Shen Curriculum for Musical Theatre, 2019
Concert at MUSI-CAL, The Foundation for New American Musicals @ The Rockwell Table and Stage, 2019

Y2K at MUSI-CAL, Foundation for New American Musicals (feat. Cami Árboles)

KEY CHANGE | One-Act Play (with Music) | 30min, 1f 7m or 1f 7 non-males

A college junior comes out as trans to her all-male a cappella group, prompting discussions of history, tradition and masculinity. An interrogation of the all-male space based on my own experiences in collegiate all-male a cappella.

Commissioned by YouthPLAYS, 2021

More at NPX and youthplays.com

In Development

UPPIES | Stage Musical

Inspired by the exposé documentary film Smile Till It Hurts, UPPIES tells the story of the reactionary, political performance organization Up With People and its LGBTQ+ members during the late 1960s as they struggle to reconcile mission with identity amidst a democracy in crisis. In development in the BMI Musical Theatre Librettists Workshop.

Semifinalist (Pitch), The Civilians R&D Group, 2021

UNTITLED CORPORATE PLAY | Play with Music

Six new hires are onboarded to an occult corporation in Antarctica in this fevered meditation on hustle culture, burnout and the growing anti-work movement. In development in the IAMA Under 30 Playwrights Lab.

Staged Reading through the IAMA Theatre Company Under 30 Playwrights Lab, 2022 (Upcoming)

TV Samples

THE BRIS WHISPERER | Half-Hour Original Comedy Pilot (Top 15% on Coverfly)

When a freak accident at a bris grants Benzi Frumkin, Jewish medical school dropout, the ability to talk to babies, he must seek their guidance in order to put his life back together.

Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship, 2022
Quarterfinalist, Scriptation Showcase, 2022
Semifinalist, Stage 32 1st Annual TV Comedy Screenwriting Contest, 2021
Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards Season 6, 2021

IN PIECES | Half-Hour Original Comedy Pilot

In this highly visual world of sculpture and sabotage, a first year student must overcome paranoia, a traumatic upbringing, and rivals’ attempts break her as she and her misfit friends survive a cutthroat fine arts conservatory. Based on true events.

More at Coverfly

Social Media Samples

Pixel Playhouse Commissions (TikTok & YouTube Shorts)