Willy Welch

My first book, "Playing Right Field," began its life as a song that I wrote that was recorded first by Peter, Paul & Mary (and countless others since). It's fun to see all the different versions on YouTube and on Spotify that folks have done over the years. (My original version from 1986 at a night club in NYC is on YouTube.)

My other published books are based on experiences with my two kids, who are now grown-up performers themselves. Grady is doing comedy in L.A. at Second City, Improv Olympics and other like venues, while Molly has been starring in musicals in Dallas before she heads to the Big Apple next year.

If you'd like to read what I've been writing lately, I've been posting my new work on my website at www.misterwilly.com/blog. Check it out!

Much of my writing has been in the music world, with some of it crossing over to books. My most recent work was contributing to a new musical called "Death, The Musical, Part II," which was mounted first at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre in Dallas, Tx. I've also written a country music musical for the Dallas Shakespeare Festival, "Two Gentlemen of Verona (Texas)." I was a staff writer for the "Barney & Friends" television show on PBS for ten years, and specialize in entertaining children at libraries, schools and childcare centers.

Born in Wisconsin, raised there and in Massachusetts, I spent my adult life in New York City until marrying a Texan and moving to Dallas, where I have been for twenty-five years. I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Acting - I have appeared in about fifty plays over the years and am a proud member of Actors Equity Association. I last appeared in New York in an Off-Broadway show called "Flipside, the Patti Page Story," in 2012. In Dallas my most recent shows were in the musicals "Bonnie & Clyde," and "The Cotton Patch Gospel."