Married couple blends talents to create collaborative musical theater works

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging

Artist Michael Biello and composer Dan Martin have built a creative haven at Biello Martin Studio. However, it was dance that led to their chance meeting at a college workshop in 1975.

"I was dancing with Group Motion," says Biello. "And Dan was there playing the flute and we kind of connected."

"He would write poems in his journal, and he would show me his poems, and I would start to set them to music," says Martin. "That was a very intimate, sort of beautiful, personal, unusual way for us to bond and fall in love."

"And 50 years later we're here, doing our work," says Biello.

"Here" is Old City, where Martin composes music and Biello creates with clay.

Biello says art saved his life. He says he was bullied as a child, but his loving family made sure there was space in their home for him to create, which gave him strength.

His latest exhibition, called "holy.body," is on view at The Clay Studio.

He says he's created male figures that he kind of looks at as "icons" or "warriors."

Biello also uses his clay as a canvas. On one of his works in progress, he makes a paper collage featuring a photograph of himself and Edie Windsor.

"One of the first people to challenge DOMA," says Martin. "That led to the legalization of same-sex marriage."

Biello says his work has "some storytelling in it," which is also part of theater for him too.

"And Michael started incorporating pieces of his ceramic work into the performances, like he would work with masks or helmets," says Martin.

"We had a company called Two Men Dancing," says Biello.

The couple also collaborates to create original musical theater works, with Biello writing the lyrics and Martin making the music.

Martin says "Xposed" was the first musical they wrote together. They also created "Breathe," along with "In My Body," which is a concept musical about body image.

Their latest stage collaboration is called "Elderland," which was inspired by real people in a Florida retirement community.

"We interviewed 30 residents, an hour each, filmed every one of them," says Biello.

"And we looked for little lines and stories that inspired us," says Martin. "There's a piece we wrote called 'Until You Get Here.'"

"There's a chapter of life as you grow older that is just as valuable, and vibrant, and full of possibility as there was then," says Biello. "And there's more, it's not over."

For more information:

Biello Martin Studio online
holy.body exhibition at The Clay Studio

Biello Martin Studio
148 N. 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106