Trial By Triceratops
From left: Dalton Maltz ’16, Laura Colleluori ’14, Eliza Flood ’15 and Sam Neagley ’14 inside Players Theatre.
Alumni Team Up to Bring Off-Broadway Musical to Life
By MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
Dinosaurs. Dynamite. Espionage. Sabotage. And a spectacular abundance of ego.
These are the ingredients of Bone Wars, a new musical comedy premiering June 18 at New York City’s Players Theatre. The off-Broadway production blends history, science, satire and music to dramatize a fiery feud between Othniel Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, the fathers of paleontology.
Ironically, this saga of toxic competition is told by steadfast friends who relish collaboration and delight in cheering one another on.
Friends and collaborators
The book and music were written by Samuel Neagley ’14, who also stars as a young Cope. Laura Colleluori ’14 is the director and a lead producer, and three fellow alumni join the creative team.
As Dickinson theatre majors and classmates, Neagley and Colleluori took four years of classes and curtain calls together. They also co-produced Mermaid Players productions during their senior year.
“The theatre department is small, so you get to know each other well,” Colleluori says. “You also get a solid background in acting, writing, direction, set and lighting design, and dance and theatre history at Dickinson—just about everything you need to know to mount your own shows after graduation.”
And, during the past 11 years, Neagley and Colleluori have put that varied skill set to the test. Neagley’s an actor and an author and producer of musicals, plays and short pieces, and he recently made his off-Broadway acting debut. Soon after founding Blue Otter Theatre in 2019, he produced a show that needed to be staged outdoors, because of the pandemic. Undeterred, Neagley got out his toolbox and constructed an open-air stage. He’s since produced more plays and musicals through Blue Otter, including Bone Wars.
Colleluori’s versatility likewise shines through in her work as production manager at Market Road Films in NYC. She’s contributed to Oscar-, Emmy- and Peabody-short-listed TV films, shows and podcasts, partnering with National Geographic, the New York Times Op-Docs and other major creative organizations. Her off-Broadway production debut earned an Audience Favorite Award and a residency at The Players Theatre—the same venue hosting Bone Wars.
The two friends remained in touch after Dickinson, and occasionally they collaborate. A few years back, Neagley called Colleluori to talk through his ideas for a new musical about Marsh and Cope’s infamous rivalry.
Striking narrative gold
The story is narrative gold: Collectively, Cope and Marsh discovered thousands of fossils and helped place the United States on the scientific-contribution map in the 19th century. But their escalating competition was marked by insults, hate mail and even professional spies. At one point, one dynamited a fossil bed to prevent the other from accessing it.
“They absolutely hated each other—and they had petty instincts,” Neagley says. “Were they scientists or showmen? Probably a bit of both.”
Early conversations with Colleluori helped refine the musical’s structure and scope. It opens in the afterlife, where Cope and Marsh, still fighting, stand trial for their outlandish antics. A jury of dinosaurs determines their legacies.
When Bone Wars was ready for prime time, Neagley secured a self-produced residency at the 175-seat Players Theatre. The residency provides institutional support, shared marketing and revenue, and reduced up-front costs to support emerging artists.
The next challenge: casting. Bone Wars’ 38 characters, played by a cast of 18, include Marsh and Cope at different points of their lives, some of their famous Gilded Age contemporaries and a gaggle of prehistoric creatures. Colleluori, as director, looked first to her fellow alums.
Dickinsonians in the house!
Dalton Maltz ’16 (history) plays a young Marsh, opposite Neagley’s young Cope. Frederick Schlick ’14 (music) portrays Buffalo Bill. Eliza Flood ’15 (history, film studies) channels her inner dinosaur.
As a student, Maltz sharpened his comedic timing, alongside Neagley, through Dickinson’s Run With It! improv group and was a familiar face in Mermaid Players productions. In 2014, he starred opposite Neagley in Colleluori’s senior-thesis production. He’s now a folk musician and actor, based in Los Angeles.
Dalton Maltz ’16 (left) and Sam Neagley ’14 perform the Bone Wars song “Femurs of Lemurs” for a promotional video.
Schlick’s Dickinson performance credits include a starring role, alongside his sister Isabelle ’15, in Maltz’s 24-hour play. After graduation, he earned a master’s in vocal performance at Boston Conservatory, Berklee, and now he performs opera nationally. In 2019, he appeared in Neagley’s show, Cigar Lounge, and last year he and Neagley formed a band with classmate Sam Mandl.
Flood is a creative in Warner Bros. Discovery’s marketing department, producing graphics and trailers that air on Science Discovery, Animal Planet, Motor Trend and other networks—including the splashy Shark Week campaigns. Active in Mermaid Players as a student, she’s thrilled to return to the stage for this production.
“History is a form of gossip—and the Bone Wars story is like reality TV on steroids. As a former history major, I’m hooked,” she says.
Ready for prime time
Winter was busy for Colleluori and Neagley. Six months out from opening night, she collaborated with former Dickinson theatre instructor S. Benjamin Farrar on set designs and dove into fundraising and rehearsal scheduling. He made last-minute adjustments and recorded musical tracks with Schlick. They hashed out what the dinosaurs would look like. (Flood, meanwhile, began to think about how lizards move and what a sassy dinosaur might sound like.)
By spring, rehearsals were in full force. As opening night neared, they met the moment with confidence.
The Bone Wars cast and creative team during their first table read in April.
“We’ve spent a lot of time dedicated to creative projects outside of our full time, bills-paying jobs,” Colleluori says. “That comes from a sense of freedom to follow our interests and take a more winding path, and from understanding work, learning and passion as their own rewards. I think those sensibilities were developed at Dickinson.”
The artists look forward to celebrating their successes with fellow Dickinsonians. As Schlick notes, it would be only fitting for a show built on an enduring alumni community.
“I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate our artistic growth than putting up an original musical with some of my closest friends,” he says.
Bone Wars runs from June 18 to July 26 at The Players Theatre in New York City. Learn more about the show and purchase tickets at bonewarsthemusical.com.
Read more from the spring 2026 issue of Dickinson Magazine.
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published June 10, 2026