Creatives
James A. Goins
Music & Arrangements
James is a member of BMI, The Dramatist Guild of America, The American Composers Forum and The Playwrights Center. He is also the Executive Director of the Laity Institute of the Arts, a Private Arts Foundation. James has written four musicals, four plays, three screenplays and directed several plays and two films. He learned to hone his skills in musical theatre through The Academy of New Musical Theatre (now New Musicals Inc.).
James studied music under Emmy Award winning and Academy Award nominated composers such as Gerald Fried (Roots, Roots: The Next Generation, Star Trek, Napoleon and Josephine) Thom Sharp (When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, Aladdin, Little Mermaid) Jerry Grant (Quantum Leap, Hired to Kill, Hunter) and composition under Dr. Russell Steinberg one of America's leading Neo-Classical composers and performers. James has been directly or indirectly involved in the entertainment industry for over 30 years.
James holds BA in Theatre from California State University Dominguez Hills where he met his wife, Delayna Goins. Later he attended UCLA where he received his Teaching Credential and completed his training in Film Scoring from UCLA's Film Scoring program. He holds an Executive MBA from Grand Canyon University.
Barbara Dixon
Book & Lyrics
Barbara Dixon, who wrote the book and lyrics for “Bridget’s Girl”, worked for many years as an assistant film editor on features, movies for television, and TV series for major studios and networks. She took time off from the film industry to raise two daughters, and during that time enrolled in various genres of writing classes until she found her voice writing plays and musicals.
Her first play, “Ebenezer, A Christmas Carol”, was performed by a children’s theater group at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles. Her second project, “The Dancing Dogs of Dudley Court”, led her to the Academy of Musical Theatre (now called New Musicals Inc.). There she met James Goins, the composer of “Bridget’s Girl”, when they were selected to collaborate on the first assignment of the first year of a twoyear program for writers and composers. They began “Bridget’s Girl” as their second year project and, over the course of that year, there followed three workshop performances (the musical was originally titled “Passionwood”), which spurred many rewrites.
In 2008, “Bridget’s Girl” won the Chameleon Theatre Circle award for Best Musical, and in 2011, James produced and directed a community theater production through the Laity Theatre Company. Rewrites and changes ensued.
Barbara and her husband, Paul, live near Point Reyes Station, California, at the edge of Point Reyes National Seashore. Paul is retired, Barbara works at a Lodge, and their two daughters live in Los Angeles. Barbara still struggles daily to achieve balance between the demands of work and family and the satisfaction of the creative urge, the subject of “Bridget’s Girl”.