Ellen Maddow was born in Los Angeles to a screenwriter and a modern dancer. She attended Hollywood High and received a BA in theatre from Antioch College. She has been working in the theatre in New York as a writer, composer, and performer for thirty-five years. Most of that time has been spent with theater companies that create new works. A former member of the Open Theatre, she is a founding member of the Talking Band. Works she has written include, Flip Side, Delicious Rivers, Painted Snake in a Painted Chair, The Necklace, (Episodes 3 And 7), Tilt, Brown Dog Is Dead, Fern And Rose, and five pieces about the avant-garde housewife, Betty Suffer. In addition to writing music for most of the works above, she wrote the scores for the Talking Band’s production of Imminence (with Peter Gordon), Belize, The Parrot, Black Milk, The Plumbers Helper, New Cities, and Star Messengers. Ellen is the recipient of an OBIE Award, a McKnight Playwriting Fellowship, the Frederick Loewe Award in Musical Theatre, and a NYFA Playwriting Fellowship. She was a participant in the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights, and received a NYTheatre.com People of the Year Award.