As well as being a MG and YA writer, John Mercurio is a musical theatre writer whose work has been performed around the country. His musical "Academy" (for which he wrote book, music and lyrics) played at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre where it received a Carbonell Nomination for Best Musical and was named one of the top ten best shows of 2010 by South Florida Theatre Review. It also played at the Aurora Theatre and the Daegue International Musical Theatre Festival in South Korea where it won the award for Best Musical and this summer at the Tuacahn Musical Theatre Festival. "Academy" also won the New York Musical Theatre Festival citation for Outstanding Music and Ensemble, Honorable Mention for lyrics, the Daegu International Musical Festival Award for Best Musical and the ASCAP Cole Porter Award (Music and Lyrics). Other awards: Jonathan Larson Foundation and the Gilman Gonzalez Foundation. With collaborator Andrew Kato, he also wrote "Through the Looking Glass", a contemporary version of the Lewis Carroll’s classic novel about a middle-grader who, fed up with being bullied and misunderstood, steps through the looking glass to better understand herself and how to deal with persecution. "Looking Glass" was produced at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre three times and the CD is available on ITunes. John also wrote the music to "Glimpses of the Moon" which premiered at the Algonquin Hotel in NYC and was subsequently produced at MetroStage and Georgia Ensemble Theatre and has been published by Samuel French. The Original Cast recording is available on Itunes. Other shows include: "Myth" at the O'Neill Theater Conference (Holof Award for Lyric Writing), "Diva Diaries": Tampa and Broward Center; Chicago and "1001 Nights". (Lyric Theatre) John has also composed the incidental music to plays and the scores to three ballets including one on which he collaborated with former New York City Ballet dancer and choreographer Miriam Mahdaviani. He received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and NYU and was a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop.