Gina Gallego, Book

Gina Gallego, a second-generation Angeleno, has appeared in over one hundred feature films and television shows, recently completing four seasons as Mrs. Hernandez on the CW Channel’s groundbreaking musical comedy, Crazy Ex Girlfriend. América Tropical is her first musical theatre writing project with her husband of forty years, Joel S. Bailey.  América Tropical was a semi-finalist at the O’Neil Theatre Center’s prestigious NAMT Conference, and was selected by McCoy Rigby Entertainment as winner of the Raise Your Voice new works competition sponsored by Inclusion Media Group. Gina has been honored with the prestigious Golden Eagle Award from Nosotros’ the oldest Latino arts advocacy organization in the United States founded by Hollywood legend Ricardo Montalbán. IMDb > Gina Gallego (I)

Jan Roper, Music

Jan Roper is a SoCal native composer and music director. Her original works: Jerusalem A.D (produced 2002-06), City of Light (ASCAP Workshop 2016 & sheNYC Festival 2017, where it won Best Score), América Tropical (Raise Your Voice Award 2020 and 2 staged readings produced by McCoy-Rigby at La Mirada Theatre and Musical Theatre West’s New Works Festival in 2022. Also a finalist for the 2022 Jonathan Larson Grant and a semifinalist for O’Neill Theater’s NMTC), and finally The Path to Catherine (produced by Write Act Repertory in 2022 at LA’s Brick House Theater and received regional Best Musical nomination for Broadway World, 2023 participant in Theatre Accelerator program). Jan stays busy as a faculty teacher at AMDA College of the Performing Arts, and a vocal and music director in the local theater community of LA. She is currently co-producing a concept album for The Path to Catherine, to be released on all digital platforms. She also won the L.A. Scenie Award in the 2019-20 & 2022-23 seasons for Best Music Director. www.janroper.com

Joel S. Bailey, Book & Lyrics

Joel S. Bailey works as a writer, producer, director, and actor in the entertainment industry. América Tropical is his second collaboration with composer Jan Roper. Their first musical, Photo Finish (Eve Weston lyrics), was produced on Theatre Row in Hollywood by Studio C Artists. His full-length musical, New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (book, with music by Jake Anthony, lyrics Patricia Zehentmayr), was awarded a series of concert readings at NMI. Big Noise (book & lyrics) co-written with composer Ron Barnett was also awarded a concert reading at NMI. His latest (book & lyrics), with Jan Roper and Gina Gallego, is América Tropical, which was a semi-finalist at the O’Neil Theatre Center’s prestigious NAMT Conference and was selected by McCoy Rigby Entertainment as winner of the Raise Your Voice new works competition for inclusion and diversity sponsored by Inclusion Media Group. América Tropical was honored to be selected and featured in Musical Theatre West’s New Works New Voices festival in November of 2022. Joel is a member of the Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, a graduate of Florida State University, and a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio. Joel is married to actor Gina Gallego co-book writer of América Tropical.Film & TV credits: IMDb > Joel Bailey (I)