Real Women Have Curves: The Musical  | 

Born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and an American mother, composer/lyricist Joy Huerta was surrounded by music. She was always aware of the privileges and responsibilities growing up in a bilingual and bicultural household afforded her. Joy and her brother, Jesse, began to compose songs at a very young age and in 2005, at the ages of 19 and 21, they released their first single, “Espacio Sideral.” Since then they have become an award-winning band. In 2007, Jesse & Joy were awarded the Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In 2012, they won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards for “¡Corre!” The same year they won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video for “Me Voy” and Best Contemporary Pop Album for ¿Con Quién se Queda el Perro?. In 2016, their fourth studio album, Un Besito Más, won them their sixth Latin Grammy Award and a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album. In 2018 they traveled to Washington, DC to be recognized by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, which awarded them the Vision Award for their social and humanitarian efforts. In 2021 they received the GLAAD Media Award for Special Recognition (Spanish Language) for their video “Love (Es Nuestro Idioma),” which spoke out against violence towards the LGBTQI+ community. Joy has been recognized by the Latin Recording Academy as a Leading Lady of Entertainment. She also continuously works with organizations including the Red Cross, PETA, Animal Heroes, Rock the Vote, Voto Latino, Grammys on the Hill, and Unidos US. Most recently, Jesse & Joy were awarded best pop duo/group at the 2023 Latin American Music Awards.

Regional: Borderline, 2019 O’Neill Conference; Kiss My Aztec, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage; The Tempest, Public Works at the Delacorte Theater. Awards: 2018-2019 Dramatist Guild Foundation Fellow, the 2019 Fred Ebb Award Winner, a 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient, and winner of the 2023 Stephen Schwartz Award. Training: Member of the Advanced BMI Workshop (Harrington Award).

Off-Broadway: The Waiting Room, Vineyard Theatre; Living Out, Second Stage; Distracted, Roundabout. Regional: Roe, Homefree, Expecting Isabel, ¡Bocón!, Café Vida, Two Things You Don’t Talk About; Arena Stage, Goodman Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep, Denver Center, Berkeley Rep, Williamstown, Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, LATC, and in Mexico and Europe. Film credits include Girl, Interrupted. Awards include the American Theatre Critics Award twice, Pen Award, Jane Chambers Award twice, Imagen Award, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, Lurie Award, Ovation Award, and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Broadway: Mean Girls: The Musical (Lyrics, Tony nomination), Legally Blonde: The Musical (Co-writer, Olivier Award, Tony nomination). Off-Broadway: The Explorers Club (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Drama Desk nomination, Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant). Book/Lyrics: Come Fall in Love: The DDLJ Musical; Dave; Because of Winn Dixie; Cam Jansen (Drama Desk nomination); Half Time; Pirates! (or, Gilbert & Sullivan Plunder’d); Sarah, Plain and Tall; The Mice (from 3hree); I Want My Hat Back; How I Became a Pirate; The New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve Celebration and Young People’s concerts. Film/TV: The Sea Beast (Co-writer, Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination, Annie Award nomination), “Unhappily Ever After,” “Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca,” “The Electric Company,” “Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris,” “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway,” “Julie’s Greenroom.” Currently: Nancy Drew: The Musical, Huzzah!, and Fado. Awards: Jonathan Larson award, Kleban Foundation grant. Member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.

Josefina López is the creator of the autobiographical award-winning play and 2002 Sundance Film Festival Audience and Jury Award-winning film Real Women Have Curves, written with George LaVoo. Born in Mexico, López was undocumented for 13 years. She is the founding artistic director of CASA 0101 Theater. Josefinalopez.biz, CASA0101.org @JosefinaL.opezRWHC @thejosefinalopez @20PoundstoHappiness

Laurie Woolery is an OBIE Award-winning director, playwright, cultural organizer and citizen artist who works at the intersection of theater and civic engagement. She has worked in theaters nationally and internationally such as The Public Theater, National Theatre (London), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory, Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Taiwan), Trinity Repertory, Goodman Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, and South Coast Repertory. 

Selected projects include the rolling world premiere of Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Manahatta, Somewhere by Matthew Lopez at Denver Center, Come From Away at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Laurie has a long history of working on new plays with notable playwrights like Tanya Saracho (The Tenth Muse/OSF), Charise Castro Smith (El Huracan/Yale Rep), Marisela Trevino Orta (The River Bride/OSF), Aditi Brennan Kapil (Imogen Says Nothing/Yale Rep), Maria Irene Fornes (Promenade/NY City Center Encores), Julia Cho (The Language Archive/OSF), etc.  Her musical adaptations of Shakespeare plays As You Like It co-created with Shaina Taub and The Tempest with Benjamin Velez received world premieres at The Public’s Delacorte Theater. 

In 2020, Laurie produced the documentary Under The Greenwood Tree and curated the public art installation The Seed Project on the façade of The Public Theater that featured hundreds of New Yorkers. Laurie’s long history developing new work ranges from incarcerated women, veterans, domestic workers, immigrants, intergenerational communities to residents of a Kansas town devastated by a tornado. She creates site-specific work rangingfrom as working sawmill in Eureka to the banks of the Los Angeles River. 

For over a decade, Laurie served as Director of Public Works at The Public Theater, a program that seeks to engage the people of New York by making them creators and not just spectators.  Laurie is the former Associate Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater Company and Conservatory Director at South Coast Repertory. Laurie is the founding member of The Sol Project, 2020 United States Artist recipient, 2021 Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellow, Yale’s 2021 Beineke Fellow and named Person of the Year at the 2022 National Theatre Conference.