Shenelle Salcido is a composer, lyricist, and librettist whose work has been developed across the United States and internationally. She was a finalist for the DreamWorks Emerging Writers Program in 2023 and for the Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize in 2015 and 2016. She was also named a 2022 Performing Arts Fellow by the Utah Division of Arts and Museums.

Shenelle is co-writer of the musical For Tonight, for which she co-wrote the book, music, and lyrics. The piece has received multiple developmental presentations and was most recently performed in concert at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End. It has also been released as a concept album.

With roots as a classical pianist and a background in indie music, Shenelle writes songs that move a story forward while standing on their own outside of it. She gravitates toward musical theatre that is alive in the moment, whether improvised or immersive, and has written songs for immersive productions including The Centennial Project and The Plummer Project. While living in Boston, she developed work with Company One Theatre through its PlayLab program and expanded her compositional voice as an improvising pianist with Catalyst Comedy, creating fully improvised musical theatre, including productions such as B.U.M.P. (Boston’s Unscripted Musical Project). She is also a former K–12 music educator, having taught everything from musical theatre to mariachi.

She is currently developing The Good Earth Turned, a new musical inspired by the classic novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, reimagined with a gender-reversed lens and set against the backdrop of the American Dust Bowl and early Hollywood, as well as The Castillo Challenge, a dramedy Christmas musical.

In addition to her theatre work, Shenelle writes for and leads her indie band Nellie & The Yardswillers, a genre-bending project that moves through pop, folk, and rock. She is a member of ASCAP.