ELLA GRACE
WRITER & SONGWRITER
ABOUT
Ella Grace is an award-winning musical theatre writer & songwriter, whose work bridges powerful historical narratives, folk mythology and original children's storytelling. With formal training from the London School of Musical Theatre and a background fronting alt-rock band Hitchcock Blonde, Ella brings a distinctive musical voice to her theatrical compositions.
She is currently developing THE WILDWOOD, a sonic universe rooted in the intersection of Finnish and Scottish/Celtic forest mythology. Built on the science of natural soundscapes and healing frequencies, each story moves through the seasons, allowing the listener to not just hear about the forest, but to inhabit it.
Her musical SCHOLL, a folk-pop musical about anti-Nazi resistance fighters Hans and Sophie Scholl, received a full production at Chichester Conservatoire in 2024, having been showcased at BEAM 2023 at the Oxford Playhouse. This work continues her commitment to creating theatre that examines moral courage in historical contexts, previously explored in NETHERGATE (BEAM/Scottish Youth Theatre/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).
As founder of The Handmade Story Company, Ella has created, composed and produced five original musical audio stories for children, each containing original songs rooted in adventure, imagination and the natural world. These works form the foundation of her growing children's audio universe, distributed via Yoto.
Ella's compositions have been commissioned and presented by organisations including New York Theatre Workshop, China Plate, Serenbe Playhouse and Viborg Theatre, Denmark. Her work has been selected for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Midtown International Theatre Festival and Finger Lakes Festival.
She was composer, lyricist and musical director for British Youth Music Theatre's production of HOT WHEELS, and musical director for Harlow Playhouse's 2017 production of BEAUTY & THE BEAST.
As a television writer, Ella co-developed and co-wrote the pilot FARM GIRLS, optioned by Avalon Entertainment and sold to ITV in 2023.
A recipient of the Michael Grandage Futures Award and a finalist for both the Perfect Pitch Award and the RSC's Song for Shakespeare Competition, Ella has been shortlisted for both the National Theatre of Scotland and The Lowry's Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer positions. She was selected for China Plate's Musical Theatre Darkroom, where she developed BLACKOUT, a headphone binaural sound musical, and Tim Johanson and Mark Cartwright's musical theatre writer's residency.