Peter Filichia had some lovely things to say about the Festival in his column on Kritzerland.com last week:
Although the 2014 festival concluded two weeks ago, preparation for the 2015 festival will start in – yes – two weeks.
“We had 234 submissions this year, which are judged blindly and whittled down to about twenty and then eight,” says King Militello. “It’s exciting to see that volume of activity and that the writers explore every kind of topic.”
Some writers obviously become discouraged when they’re not part of the elite eight. “Well,” she says, “if you submit and aren’t accepted, submit again. A different committee may feel differently. We’re here to support the writers.”
Is she ever. “We pay for everything,” King Militello says, stressing the last word to ensure there’s no misunderstanding. “We have a $150,000 budget which averages out to be about $20,000 for each show.” And while NAMT’s footing the bills hits the spot, writers may profit just from networking with 650 industry attendees who travel from England to Hawaii.
Yes, NAMT is very proud that it helped THE DROWSY CHAPERONE and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE to achieve, but as Huldeen says, “Eighty-five percent of the shows we’ve done have led to other productions, or got the writers noticed enough to get a different show of theirs produced, OR got them a commission to write a new musical.”