Scotty Arnold is a New York-based musical theater writer. His musical When We're Gone (words by Alana Jacoby) received its world premiere at the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in 2018 after development at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Joe's Pub, Emerson College, the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, and Ars Nova (all under the name Mortality Play). As a Founding Member of the Musical Theatre Factory, MTF has developed his shows That Time We Found A Sasquatch in the Woods (book by Nichole Jackson, lyrics by Brandon Michael Lowden; also developed at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse), Trivøya Gold (book and lyrics by Alana Jacoby; also developed at Wayne State University, The People's Improv Theater, Buck's Rock Summer Camp, and NYU Steinhardt), and Extended Stay (book and co-lyrics by Jenny Stafford; also developed at the Winter Park Playhouse, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and CAP21).
Tales from Shakespeare, his series of abridged, musical adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, has been developed at the Hudson Valley Performing Arts Lab and Wayne State University. He served for four seasons as the resident composer for the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, collaborating with actor-musicians to create songs and scores for A Midsummer Night's Deam, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and Love’s Labor’s Lost.
He was commissioned in 2014 by the Music Theatre Company of IL to write Oscar & Richard & Joe, a play inspired by the cult status of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Allegro. The play was presented in a sold-out concert at Ravinia in 2015. His short musicals include Tereshkova (commissioned and presented by The Music Theatre Company of IL), Lost & Found (workshopped at Nautilus Music Theater Company), and The Veteran’s Wife (presented at the Colony Theater, CA). He has completed residencies at Space at Ryder Farm and New York Stage and Film.
Scotty has taught classes and workshops at Santa Clara University, Wayne State University, Colorado Christian University, and Notre Dame University, as well as serving as a teaching artist with The Metropolitan Opera Guild and New York City Children’s Theatre. He has directed at Wayne State University and will soon at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. He has worked as a music copyist and assistant on over 30 new musicals including Fun Home, Here Lies Love, Murder Ballad, The Last Goodbye, Giant, The Total Bent, and The Band's Visit.
He received his BA from Santa Clara University in Theatre and Music (cum laude) and his MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Musical Theatre Writing. He has also studied at the Academy for New Musical Theater (CA), New Dramatists (NY), Berklee College of Music (MA), and Trinity College (Dublin). He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and ASCAP.