News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

North Texas Teen Gets A Shot At Broadway

Chelsea Mayo
18-year-old Chelsea Mayo will compete this weekend for a chance to win $5000 and have her song published.

Chelsea Mayo of Farmers Branch has never been to New York City before. And that’s not her only first this weekend: she’s never been on a plane either.

The 18-year-old R. L. Turner High School grad heads to Broadway this weekend as one of three finalists for the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts. There, she’ll workshop her original song, “Say Goodbye,” with professional musicians.

Mayo wrote the music and lyrics for “Say Goodbye,” but it isn’t the first song she’s written. She grew up playing violin and taught herself guitar and piano. She’s written songs for church and for herself, but she found it hard to express her passion, especially when everyone around her was skeptical.

Read more about her road to New York City – and how she didn't tell her mom what she was doing until after she won – on Art&Seek.