New York by the Book: Matching Minds with Sondheim with Barry Joseph

Stephen Sondheim was more than one of the greatest musical theater composers, celebrated for shows from West Side Story and Merrily We Roll Along to Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods. Sondheim also used his creative genius to design and construct intricate puzzles and games, such as treasure hunts, parlor and board games, and crossword puzzles. In his new book, Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend, Barry Joseph journeys into this rich but largely unmapped aspect of the composer's creative life, illuminating how Sondheim's playful designs delivered moments of clarity and connection to his friends and colleagues. 

About the Speaker: 

Barry Joseph is a games-based educator, game designer, and founder of the Games For Change Festival. After learning that famed composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim once considered leaving the world of musical theater for video game design, Barry began research to uncover this wholly original way to use games and puzzles design to understand the mind that transformed musical theater. Barry worked at the American Museum of Natural History and the Girl Scouts of the USA. He is now the founder of Barry Joseph Consulting, dedicated to innovating solutions for learning in a digital age, and the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum. He teaches Digital Design for Museum-based Learning at New York University, based on his book Dancing with Dinosaurs: A Toolkit for Digital Design in Museums. His latest book is Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Games and Puzzles of the Broadway Legend. 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.