Abby Millager

Book & Lyrics

Abby Millager is an award-winning playwright and poet from Delaware. In the footsteps of much-revered tango poets, she has found it both terrifying and exhilarating to write new lyrics for tangos she has been dancing to for fifteen years.

Millager’s other dramas include Palais K (Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship Awardee), presented as a staged reading at Chapel Street Theater in Newark; and Monkey Shines, produced at the George Cope 24-Hour Playwriting Festival and now the one-act, Shenanigans.

Her poems, reviews, interviews, essays and satire have appeared in publications such as: Agenda (UK), Barrow Street, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Flea (Australia), Fourteen Hills, The Journal, Prairie Schooner, Redactions, Southeast Review, Terminus, Verse and Verse Daily. After years of saying nice things about bispecific antibodies and directed evolution, in 2023, she quit scientific copywriting to focus on plays.

Millager’s globe-trotting childhood is reflected in her work. Typical themes include tragicomedy, psychology and the supernatural. She graduated with an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and belongs to the Dramatists Guild.

Emiliano Messiez

Musical Arranger

Emiliano Messiez is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer and pianist from Argentina, currently based in New York City. His music blends sophistication, lyricism, and rhythmic vitality, rooted in tango and enriched by classical, jazz, and Latin American traditions. Emiliano has composed several acclaimed musicals, including Bordello the Musical (2020), The Guava Tree (2021), Casa Alfonsa (2022), The City Dog and the Prairie Dog (2023), and Coyote and the Counting Game (2024), as well as numerous works for theater and dance. His compositions have been performed across the U.S. and internationally, celebrated for their emotional depth and strong narrative voice. As a performer, he is the founder and director of the tango orchestra Típica Messiez, a member of the Romo-Agri-Messiez Trio, and the pianist for the renowned show Forever Tango. His work continues to bridge cultures through a distinct and evocative musical language.