Books and Journalism
Books as Author.
THE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS SURVIVAL GUIDE
On Productive Longevity in the Craft, chapters on art, business, presentation and politics. (Heinemann, 2005; 5th Printing, 2010). For more info & endorsements by Richard Maltby, Jr., Larry Gelbart, Alan Menken and Gerard Alessandrini: www.aislesay.com/GUIDE.html. For excerpts: www.aislesay.com/GUIDE-Glimpses.html. 6th Printing and a sequel forthcoming.
WEIRD ROMANCE (See Credits in “Theatre”)
Published by Samuel French, Pub. date, June 1993.
ALIEN NATION: “PASSING FANCY” (An original novel)
By David Spencer, from a story by David Spencer & Bruce Peyton, based on the 20th Century Fox TV series (developed by Kenneth Johnson from the screenplay of the film by Rockne S. O’Bannon). Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, 1994, Most popular title of the eight-book series. Digital copy on request.
Books as Contributor.
THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MUSIC
The Dance Merchants and The Big Question
TIED IN: The Business, History and Craft of Media Tie-In Writing
Author of book’s most popular essay: TV Tie-Ins of the 1950s through the Early 70s
(An expanded and revised version of this essay appears as Chapter 7 in The Novelizers)
Author of Afterword: Judge Not His Genre: The Knowable Yet Mysterious Stuart James
(An expanded version of this essay appears as Chapter 4 in The Novelizers)
Author of Afterword: MAIN MISSION: TV Tie-Ins, Powys Media, and the Creation of the Space: 1999 Powysverse
(A revised and updated version of this essay appears as Chapter 9 in The Novelizers)
Teaching, Journalism & Awards.
Teaching.
BMI-LEHMAN ENGEL MUSICAL THEATRE WORKSHOP (2001–2021)
Workshop member since 1978, Steering Committee member since 1987.
Co-moderator:
Second Year Songwriter’s Workshop
Rotation and Summer moderator:
Advanced Songwriter’s Workshop
Moderator & Producer:
Master Class Program
in which authors of selected projects present longer excerpts of work in development
for an invited panel of theatre notables. Guests have included:
Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, David Yazbeck, Thomas Meehan, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander,
Richard Maltby Jr & David Shire, Tom Jones, Joe Mantello, Jonathan Tunick, Terrence McNally,
Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Stephen Schwartz and Austin Pendleton
Journalism.
1996-present, webmaster & principal NYC critic for:
AISLE SAY: The Internet Magazine of Stage Reviews and Opinion (www.aislesay.com)
Free-lance articles and drama criticism in various publications, most recently (2021) features and interviews for:
ENCORE MONTHLY.
2016-2017, associate NYC critic for: