Benjamin Weiner is a Brooklyn-based playwright, composer, and educator.  He is writer-in-residence at Upstream Artist Collective, with whom he presented his new play, The Noise, at Dixon Place. He is developing a new eco-play with Upstream and a new historical musical commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in partnership with Ensemble Studio Theater. He has been selected for a Core Apprentice fellowship from the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, the National Winters Playwrights Retreat from the HBMG Foundation, and developed original theater with the Onassis Foundation. He was recently the winner of Best Play at the Equity Library Winter Plays Festival. He also writes musicals with students from Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights. BenjaminWeiner.com. His music for children with his talking backpack is at PrincessBackpack.com.