Welcome To

Vinnie The Musical

1 middle schooler, 1 very famous ghost, and a world learning to embrace
neurodiversity! Buckle up for one bumpy ride

What Is Vinnie The Musical About

This story follows Vinnie, a middle schooler who’s recently been diagnosed with ADHD as he struggles to cope in a school, family and society not built for his success. Along the way he finds confidence in his love for the arts and learns the importance of using his voice with the help of a very famous ghostly friend, Vincent Van Gogh. Accompanied by a pop-rock contemporary score, this is a journey of finding identity and self-acceptance that challenges others to look beyond the surface of everyone they meet.

This story reflects the multi-generational impacts of a world designed with a neurotypical mindset. The restless spirit of Vincent Van Gogh is drawn to an emerging artist only to find that – despite it being over a century later – not a lot of progress has been made since his time. Mentoring Vinnie in pursuit of a better outcome than he had, they both find self-healing and the chance to spark a change for minds of all kinds. The Dream is creating a World where neurodiverse individuals are fully integrated so they can truly thrive, and the Arts are championed as essential.

Media

Vincent Effect

We subscribe to the view Gandhi articulated, to ‘be the change that you want to see in the World’. The story of Vinnie reflects the opportunity for us as a Society to do better when it comes to embracing minds of all kinds. The story does not place blame, but instead highlights the opportunities we have to ‘be better’. The ‘Vincent Effect’ will be the actions taken to advance these opportunities and drive the changes that will allow us to realize the World we desire to live in. It honors the memory of Vincent Van Gogh, who was a creative whose life prematurely ended after struggling to fit in society, missing out on what should have been the best years of his life when his artistic genius received accolades after his death.

We view a sense of belonging as a human right that we as a society have a moral duty to provide and protect for all our members.

Be a part of the “Vincent Effect”

Join the Change – Donate to “Access 2 the Arts: Creativity, Success & Heart”

Initiatives Planned to progress through the donations received include:

v Develop Vinnie the Musical to tell the story in communities everywhere to effect a more inclusive world for minds of all kinds.

v Free Lesson Plans leveraging all learning styles,

v Nurturing “Arts” in Schools and Communities

v Character Development tools to promote Empathy and Inclusion/Belonging.

These are just a few ideas, and we look forward to discovering more as TOGETHER we change our World and promote inclusion and belonging and all the POSITIVITY it will bring.

Federal Tax Exempt 501(c)(3) organization

Why “minds of all kinds” inclusion matters.

The foundation of the story reflects that our World is designed with a neurotypical mindset which sets up a less than optimal even toxic environment for neurodiverse individuals. Being measured against standards that make them feel “less than” or “defective” undermines their identity, confidence, and sense of belonging. Humans are tribal by nature so being a valued member of our community is essential to our wellbeing. Many symptoms we see in our society today can be linked to a lack of belonging and not feeling “seen, valued and heard” so there is a significant benefit to society to actively seek to make changes. Imagine a world with less anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, homelessness, substance abuse and under achievement that comes from us creating awareness, acceptance, inclusion and ultimately belonging for “minds of all kinds” when we take them into account when we design our World rather than require them to identify themselves and ask for adaptations.

Initiatives

Classrooms that teach through “all channels” or in ways that reflect all learning styles are more inclusive and effective for the diverse group of students in them. Given this one goal we want to explore is working with experts in education to create and openly share lesson plans that leverage all learning styles. Making them freely available and nurturing their uptake will change the classroom environment to be more inclusive and effective for “minds of all kinds”.

Nurture the support of the “Arts” in both our schools and communities. The “Arts” are the “oxygen in the room” for our creatives who tend to be neurodiverse so when they are cut from budgets and disappear from our schools and communities it further diminishes their opportunity to thrive rather than just survive. The Arts are key to the development of all children as they teach key skills and attributes such as: Creativity (which is dropping in our World), Confidence, Problem Solving, Perseverance, Focus, Non-verbal communication, Receiving Constructive feedback, Collaboration, Dedication, Accountability, Cultural awareness and a Global perspective. All are essential to success in today’s Knowledge Age VUCHA world.

Leverage existing programs that further empathy and belonging such as providing “buddy benches” to school playgrounds. Teaching children to be aware of those feeling “left out” and engaging with empathy to include them is a life skill that has huge potential to change our World

Current Team Behind Vinnie The Musical

Gabi (Librettist/Conceived By)

Gabi Ammirato (she/her) is a singer-songwriter, lyricist, top-liner, dancer/choreographer, producer, and photographer. Gabi’s unique sound came from her exposure to music through dance since the age of 3. Being a Dancer for most of her life Gabi is driven to create music that seeks to “move people to their soul”. She is a born “storyteller” and humanitarian committed to creating a world where everyone knows they are a unique and important member of our society. Gabi has recently completed her undergraduate at Berklee College of Music receiving a dual degree in Songwriting and Professional Music with concentrations in music business and music production. Gabi is now A Master from the Berklee NYC graduate program in Musical theater writing and design. Gabi has released 2 EPs. The first one entitled “Dramatic” which was recorded and released when she was 16 years old collaborating with professionals in Nashville in an artist development deal. This launched her musical journey leading her to Berklee. Last year Gabi released her Senior EP “Metamorphosis”, that holds 4 tracks which lead to being placed on the Americana charts for 16 weeks. Gabi has also completed through her studies the first Act of a new musical entitled “Have You Seen” as well as a first draft of a film musical entitled “Dissonance” which was a collaboration with a filmmaker in the Emerson Film Program. Gabi has been immersed in musical theater since a young age performing in local theaters and shows. Gabi is so excited to be coming back to her roots and bringing her contemporary sound to musical theater and share messages that she is passionate about to create change and start the conversation.

Yen Nien (Composer and Lyricist)

Yen-Nien Hsu graduated from BerkleeNYC Writing and Design for Musical Theater in 2023. She is a composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger. She also has outstanding achievements in recording, mixing, producing, singing, and guitar.
She’s writing the new musical “Vincent” and finished the first showcase in June. Other experiences in musical production: Xanadu – Guitarist; West Side Story – Maria, Vocal trainer; ANATAHAN – Music director assistant; The Night with a Ghost – Composer.
She produced various genres of pop songs, including pop-rock, ACG, and ballads, and released her original music on StreetVoice in 2020 and did some live shows in various performance spaces.

Yen Nien (Composer and Lyricist)

Past Team Members

Rona Moriah is a playwright, librettist, lyricist, and screenwriter. Her first short plays, Political Cartoon and Parental Guidance, were chosen as finalists for the Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights’ Festival. Several of her works have been featured at ThinkBIG Theatre Arts’ one-act play festival. She was a finalist for Write Out Loud Volume Six and a finalist for the New Musical Project. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English literature from Boston University/Kilachand Honors College and is the 2020 recipient of Boston University’s Humanities Scholars Award.

Rona also holds a Master of Arts in Writing and Design for Musical Theater from Berklee NYC.

Currently, Rona is an artist in residence at Vox Feminarum and is excited to develop musicals with them in 2025.

Rona’s lyrics remain in Vinnie the Musical, but she left the project in August 2023.