The songs of “Chicago,” “The Lion King," and Billie Eilish fill the air. It's rehearsal night for the EPIC Players, a production company for actors with cognitive differences. They're preparing for a Halloween Villain Cabaret.

Musical Director Scott Evan Davis is at the piano.

"I think all of that is going through my head,” he said. “How can I best support them?"

Davis is a professional composer and vocal coach.

His first work with special needs artists was a musical he wrote with students on the autism spectrum back in 2012.

A few years later, Davis was workshopping a musical featuring a nonverbal character living with autism. His research led him to an EPIC Players performance that blew him away.

"I love talent, I love passion,” Davis said. “And when those things sort of combine with representation in the neurodiverse community, it was the perfect fit."

Davis has been volunteering with the company ever since. And he knows that it takes a special touch to work with actors who think differently.

"Sometimes I have to talk in a very literal sense,” Davis said. “Um, an abstract sense may be, may be a harder thing to comprehend or to understand. But it's just about whoever I'm working with at the time."

This quality is one his performers and stage crew appreciate.

"He help me, motivate me,” said Nada Smith, a neurodiverse actress. “He kept me positive and inspiring others to do their best, never give up."

"He is very patient, understanding, enthusiastic and has a really good way with the players," added Harrison Gottfried, a neurodiverse actor and stage manager.

Davis says working with the EPIC performers has reinvigorated his own passion for the craft.

"This is a great meld of everything I love,” he said. “Just theater, talent and just feeling really good about yourself."

For helping neurodiverse actors be more respected, saluted and seen for the wonders they are, Scott Evan Davis is our New Yorker of the Week.

Davis and The EPIC Players will perform Villains: A Wickedly Inclusive Cabaret at Joe’s Pub on Oct. 24 and 25. To learn more, head to EPICplayersnyc.org.