Composer Deborah Wicks LaPuma has collaborated on the creation of several theater works for young audiences, including adapting author Mo Willems'  Elephant & Piggie's 'We Are in a Play' (which Salt Lake Acting  Company staged in 2021 and 2023) and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (opening at SLAC this weekend). City Weekly spoke to LaPuma via email.

Theater for young audiences is a pretty unique creative form; what has led you to gravitate towards it?
When I first started my professional career, fresh out of grad school in Washington, D.C., TYA theaters were the first ones to give me opportunities. I loved the people I met, saw the passion with which they worked, and especially after I had children of my own, was completely hooked. What I love about TYA the most is its impact. Any musical can create joy in a shared communal experience, but a TYA show plays directly to children questioning who they’re going to be, where they’re going, and how they fit into the world. A great musical for kids can build dreams, inspire empathy, and make the vulnerable feel seen.

When and how did you first connect with Mo Willems? How has that artistic partnership been for you?
In 2010, I was brought in to work as the musical arranger for Willems’ first musical, Knuffle Bunny, at the Kennedy Center. Mo comes from a place of improv and comedy—with lots of laughing and goofing around—and often improvises in quick visual sketches. It was a joy to work with him and respond to such a dynamic collaborator, and I was delighted when he asked me to write Elephant and Piggie with him! We followed that success with Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience at Seattle Children’s Theatre in 2018, and then Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus at the Kennedy Center in 2019.

Are there a unique set of songwriting “tools” that you apply to shows like this that are different from other kinds of composing?
If I am writing a musical for adult or for kids, I use the same “tools" to create a world and tell a story through music. Working with my collaborator, be that a playwright, lyricist or both, we always start with the story—who are the characters and what is their world? Then it’s a deep dive of research into what that world could sound like, and we work together to create a playlist that serves as a touchstone: “Does it have this kind of groove? What instruments do you hear? How complex or simple do we want to go with?” It’s a fun way to dream a bit together before starting to write, and what we use to reference whenever we get stuck. Then the actual writing process is different with every playwright—some work from outlines, sketches, some hand me finished lyrics—and we usually work back and forth through various drafts until we are ready for our first workshop with actors.

Do you have a favorite anecdote or story about watching kids experience one of your productions, and how you responded to it?
Feeling the reaction of an audience to a story you have spent so much time building for them is incredibly rewarding. In the first preview of Elephant and Piggie’s ‘We Are in a Play!’, when we got to the audience participation moment of the show and hundreds of kids and adults starting singing, clapping and dancing the “Flippy Floppy Floory,” writer Mo Willems turned to me with wide eyes and a huge grin—the energy in the room was like a tidal wave of happiness. I’ll never forget it!