BENJAMIN SCHEUER (Writer/ Original Performer) won a Drama Desk Award & an Off-West End Award for Best New Musical for THE LION, and released “Songs from THE LION,” alongside 4 animated music-videos by Academy Award-winner Peter Bayton. Scheuer is currently working on a sequel to THE LION, titled A MOUNTAIN FOR ELODIE. Other upcoming projects include TREASURE, with bookwriter Rick Elice, about Peter Roget, creator of Roget’s Thesaurus; THE DUNG BEETLE’S DELI (Little Angel Theatre, London, 2025); and HUNDRED FEET TALL (Old Vic, London, 2025). Scheuer is also the author of two children’s books: Hibernate With Me; and Hundred Feet Tall, and is the recipient of a Kleban Prize for Lyrics and a Cole Porter Award for Songwriting. Scheuer lives in London. @BenjaminScheuer

SEAN DANIELS (Director) is an internationally known theater director, writer, and Artistic Director, known for new work and innovative community-based leadership. He is a leading voice in using the arts to defeat addiction. As a director, his work has appeared at Manhattan Theatre Club and Lynn Redgrave Theatre (NYC) Southwark Playhouse and St. James (London), Club eX, Prince Hotel Shinagawa (Tokyo), Daegu Festival, Culture and Arts Theatre CT (Seoul) and many wonderful regional theatres around the US of A (Kennedy Center, Geffen, ACT, Arena, Old Globe, etc.). He is the former Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Dad’s Garage in Atlanta, Ga. He is the Director of the Recovery Project and serves as the Anti-Stigma Director for Live Tampa Bay, where his geotargeted anti-stigma campaign reached almost 14M people in 8 weeks. A USF analysis of the program found that it had “significant impacts in aspects of nearly every domain of addiction stigma.”

ASHLEE WASMUND (Associate Director) is excited to join OCT this season! She is the Founding Artistic Director of Calliope Stage in North Carolina, dedicated to developing and producing new regional works in the mountains. A Resident Artist with New Light Theater Project in NYC, Ashlee also serves as an Associate Professor at Western Carolina University’s School of Stage & Screen. Recent and current projects: The Lion (Boise Contemporary), Ride and Old Paint (Off-Broadway), Light Chasers (premiering January 2025 in NC in Collaboration w/Cloud Cult), My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend (Arizona Theatre Company, et. al.), and Hitler’s Tasters (Off-Broadway, LA, Chicago, EdFringe, et. al.). Many thanks to Sean for his continued trust.

JAKE ALLEN (Performer) crafts a kaleidoscopic sound that plunges the curious listener into a world of endless sonic possibilities, including prog-pop, waves of ambient instrumentals, and complex musical layers. Steeped in years of live performance and well-versed in an array of instruments, Allen’s dexterity both on-record and live is only amplified when he wields a single guitar in an almost hypnotic display. A documentarian of sorts, Allen’s immersive storytelling and emotional vocal performance offer a multi-timbral journey through time and space.