Robert John Ford (RJF) is an award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist, and theatre producer. Since 2005, his plays and musicals have been seen by more than 35,000 people in the United States as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.  His songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall and 54 Below in New York and at cabaret clubs from Chicago to Toronto by notable Broadway performers including Jeremy Jordan and Laura Benanti.   

RJF and his work first gained national attention in 2007 when the premiere production of "Caucus! The Musical" was featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, US News & World Report, and on NPR, CNN, ABC, and CBS News, among others.  Called “the hottest new musical in the country” in a Washington Post review, the musical has since been produced numerous times throughout the country, most recently in 2016.​

In 2012, RJF was selected to participate as a lyricist in the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York and continues his involvement today in the Advanced Workshop.  In June 2014, he was one of five artists selected to be an Iowa Arts Council Fellow in the inaugural year of the program.  He is the recipient of BroadwayWorld's Best of the Decade "Best Original Script" Regional Award, The Vittum Award, The Cloris Leachman Award for Outstanding Achievement, and more than $45,000 in grants from the Iowa Arts Council and The National Endowment for the Arts.  His musicals have been nominated for seven Cloris Leachman Awards and five BroadwayWorld Awards and selected as the winner of several national new play competitions, including The Ashland New Play Festival, The Iowa Playwright's Workshop, and Cygnet Theatre's Playwrights in Process.  ​

As a theatre administrator, RJF has held management positions at numerous theatre companies including the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego (15 years), the Theatre In Old Town in San Diego (2 years), and the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in Center Valley.  In addition, he was the original Entertainment Supervisor for LegoLand California when it opened in 1998.  

A native of Iowa, RJF splits his time between New York and Des Moines, where he is the Founder & Operator of both Custom Songs & Scripts, a creative writing service, and RJFCreative, an arts management company.  He is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild of America, ASCAP, and the Off-Broadway Alliance, and a former successful contestant on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."