Steve Parsons

Steve is the Resident Musical Director at the Players Guild of Canton, having served in the same capacity at Carousel Dinner Theatre from 2004-2009, where his work received the 2006 Cleveland area Times Newspapers “Outstanding Musical Direction” award. Other credits include The Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Florida, The Ohio Shakespeare Company, Carnation City Players, and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Additionally, he provided new arrangements for Dean Pitchford’s official revised version of FOOTLOOSE, created new versions of the NUNSENSE scores for creator Dan Goggin, wrote original music and fight song arrangements for the hit video game COLLEGE SLAM, and performed in the “Tickestra” for the FOX animated television series THE TICK. Steve was also the arranger for the Grateful Dead musical CUMBERLAND BLUES, which was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and orchestrated the regional musical IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. An active composer, Steve has a Master’s degree in composition and numerous published symphonic pieces and choral works. His original musical version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is published by Steele Spring Stage Rights, and has received an NYC Off-Off Broadway production, a fully staged production in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, numerous regional theatre performances across the United States, and is presented annually at The Players Guild. Steve arranged and orchestrated the hit LA musical LIFE COULD BE A DREAM and is a consultant and contributor to Defying Gravity, the biography of legendary songwriter Stephen Schwartz. He presently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Kent State University – Stark Campus in the areas of Musicology, Piano, Ensemble Direction and Conducting, and is a proud member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild of America.