Scott Warrender is a professional musician and lyricist specializing in musical theater. “My Lullaby,” which Warrender co-wrote with Joss Whedon for Disney’s The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, was nominated for the International Animated Film Society’s coveted “Annie” achievement award.
Warrender’s musical, Das Barbecu!—a Texan retelling of Wagner’s ring cycle—premiered Off-Broadway in 1994 and continues to be produced internationally. Recently, Busload of Blonds was work-shopped in New York City, starring Jane Krakowski and Cheyenne Jackson. The Lantern Room, Scott’s newest show, was work-shopped with Tony Award-winning actress Faith Prince in the leading role. Warrender’s musical compositions have been published by Samuel French, Disney, and Aberdeen Press. He teaches at Cornish College for the Arts in Seattle and can be seen on video leading his comedic choir, The Washingtonians.
I edited Warrender’s short stories “The Boy With the Newsprint Kite,” published in Foundling Review; “To the Place of the Ashes,” published in Devilfish Review; “Chicken God,” published in Stanley the Whale; “The Littleness of Susan Brauer,” published in in the printed collection, Spark: A Creative Anthology, Issue One; and “The Stereoscope,” published in A Cappella Zoo, Fall 2013 Issue.
In addition, Warrender’s literary flash fiction, “The Birthday,” was published in Larks Fiction Magazine, and his poem, “Myrtle Beach,” was published in The Montucky Review.
I continue to work with Warrender to develop his debut novel, Putaway, in which a dying young man who accidentally calls up a genie out of a bottle under New York City’s Washington Bridge must face his own ambivalence about truth, lies, storytelling, and the definition of reality.
Warrender says:
“Sweet! Your changes and observations are perfect, as usual. Thank you so much for all your help and wisdom, Victoria. I’m just delighted that you ‘get’ my style of prose and like the piece! [backflip] Everything makes complete sense—now I’ll do anything you tell me to do!”