Anne Nygren Doherty is the Artistic Director of New Musical Theater of San Francisco, one of a handful of companies in the US dedicated solely to the development of original musical theater.   She develops, directs, produces and stages original musical theater productions. She has conducted  workshops on musical theater – serving as many as 98 writers. She also directed a bi-annual cabaret of original songs by Bay Area writers and composers of musical theater.   Once the protegee of legendary Broadway lyricist and composer, Bob Merrill, she is the writer/composer of the long-running hit  Absolutely San Francisco,  which played over 140 performances at the Alcove Theater in San Francisco.   In a wide ranging career which began as an actress, appearing as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the first season of Shakespeare and Company in Massachusetts, she has worked as a writer, director, composer and dramaturg and has worked with luminaries such as John Belushi, William Petersen, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfus, Tony Award winning director Frank Galati, Tony Award winner Jayne Atkinson, and  Pulitzer Prize winner Milan Stitt,   Her plays – including the award winning  Lead Birds  – have been produced in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.