A composer, music director and orchestrator, Deborah Wicks La Puma is one of the most produced Theatre for Young Audiences artists working today. Some of her most popular musicals include ELLA ENCHANTED (based on the book by Gail Carson Levine), OLIVERIO: A BRAZILIAN TWIST, and EINSTEIN IS A DUMMY with playwright Karen Zacarías, and the off-broadway hit SHE PERSISTED (based on the book by Chelsea Clinton) with playwright Adam Tobin.
Deborah has created three musicals with bestselling children's author Mo Willems: ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE'S WE ARE IN A PLAY; NAKED MOLE RAT GETS DRESSED: THE ROCK EXPERIENCE and DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS: THE MUSICAL. On the small screen, she has worked with Willems on the adaptation of NAKED MOLE RAT GETS DRESSED: THE UNDERGROUND ROCK EXPERIENCE (released 2022 on HBOmax), and the upcoming animated series UNLIMITED SQUIRRELS.
As a music director and orchestrator she has worked with major regional theatre companies across the country, including the Guthrie, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
She received her MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and her bachelor's degree from Stanford University. Her honors include the Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA, an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Musical, the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, an NEA New American Works Grant, two Parents' Choice Awards, and a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical Adaptation.
A proud Mexican-American and "Navy brat" who grew up in Brazil, Portugal and California, La Puma is a member of TYA/USA, ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild. Mother to three daughters and Mimi the Cat, La Puma lives in Southern California with her PR agent and loving husband, Chris.
