Before you can understand me as an artist, you must understand me as a human.

I am autistic.

The subtleties and subtext of social interaction can be challenging for me, but it gives me a unique lens to view the world.

I am queer.

This label was not easy for me to accept, but the community has taught me how to understand and comprehend love.

I am a collaborator.

The understanding of working together was instilled in me from a young age, even though I didn't see it at the time.

During my childhood every Wednesday night my Dad had band practice. If you had asked 10-year-old Joe his thoughts on this, he would have complained about how loud it was, while a middle-aged man sang Neil Diamond like his family's life was at stake. Between these rehearsals and the experience of high school choir my love of collaborative art-making was fully formed. But Before I began to explore the relationship between music and theatre, I decided to study music composition in Chicago.

Concert music is a solitary pursuit, and this solitude felt like a dream come true. This education greatly impacted my writing, being asked to music direct a production of Mary Poppins opened my eyes to the world of theatrical collaboration. My experiences as a music director, and later as a sound designer, and technical director allow me to view collaboration through many vantage points and have given me a holistic approach to theater-making.

The shows I create are intimate. My work explores mental health issues, family trauma, living as a neurodivergent human, and my own experience in the queer community. Musically, I am influenced by everything from 21st-century chamber music like that of Niko Muhly and Caroline Shaw, Renaissance vocal music from Bryd and Gesualdo, and folk music from bands like The Great Big Sea and Nickle Creek.

I learned that having a dramaturgical approach to composition creates music that supports the world of the show rather than just presenting it. This dramaturgical-informed composition is now how I approach all of my music from incidental music for plays to theme songs for podcasts and everything in between.

At the end of the day, I love creating music that highlights and supports those around me. This collaboration is the reason I write.