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NAMT News

New Work in Progress: Queensbury Theatre & Unlock'd

January 19, 2018

Next, we checked in with Marley Singletary, the Producing Executive Director at new NAMT member Queensbury Theatre in Houston, TX about their new works program. We also chatted about Queensbury’s upcoming regional premiere of Unlock’d, by Derek Gregor and Sam Carner.

What is Queensbury Theatre’s mission, and how does new works development fit into that mission?

Queensbury Theatre exists to serve the diverse community and culture of West Houston by providing exceptional theatrical entertainment and education while creating an environment where Houston artists and teachers can do meaningful work.

NAMT News

Festival Show Update: Darling Grenadine

January 18, 2018

This month, we chatted with Daniel Zaitchik, the writer of 2017 Festival Show Darling Grenadine to find out what work he’s been doing on the show since October and where the show’s going next. Darling Grenadine previously received a Production Grant from the National Fund for New Musicals for Goodspeed Musicals’ 2017 production.

NAMT News

New Work in Progress: Pittsburgh CLO & Up and Away

December 15, 2017

This month, we chatted with Mark Fleischer and Van Kaplan, respectively the Producing Director and Executive Producer at Pittsburgh CLO, about their new works program. We learned more about the program’s history, their upcoming festival of new works, and their spring world premiere musical, Up and Away, written by Kevin Hammonds and Kristin Bair. The PCLO new works festival will have its inaugural season this spring in conjunction with the NAMT Spring Conference.

NAMT News

New Work in Progress: The Woman in Question at AMTP

November 17, 2017

This month, we chatted with Brannon Bowers (Producing Director) and David H. Bell (Artistic Director) at the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University about their program as a whole, and the next musical they will present, The Woman in Question, written by Peter Eldridge and Festival Alumna Cheryl Coons (Fest ’94, Phantom of the Country Opera; Fest ’05, River’s End). Later, we check in with Cheryl to learn more about the process from her perspective.

NAMT News

Inside the 2017 Festival: Top 10 Signs Your Town Might Be Sinking into the Ground

October 4, 2017

Learn more about the world of 2017 Festival Show, Fall Springs, written by Niko Tsakalakos and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb!

10. Mud. Also know as wet dirt. Ground that is getting increasingly saturated may be losing it’s capability of supporting structures or people. Check your shoes.

NAMT News

Festival Show Update: 5 Things You Should Know

September 15, 2017

Do you want to know more about the shows in the 29th Annual Festival of New Musicals? See the Five Things each show’s writing team wants you to know before you come to the Festival!

NAMT News

Festival Show Update: The Mad Ones

August 29, 2017

This month we caught up with Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk, the writers of 2016 Festival show The Mad Ones (formerly known as The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown). This November The Mad Ones will receive an off-Broadway run with new NAMT member The Prospect Theater Company, preceded by a concert with NAMT member Philadelphia Theatre Company. We talked with Kait and Brian about what’s been happening with the show since the Festival and how they’re preparing for this next exciting step.

What was the post Festival response to The Mad Ones like?
We had a powerful response to the piece. It’s a show that people in the industry have heard songs from for a long time so I think there was a lot of interest in seeing what the show was about. It was exciting for us to have the songs seen in context and have the piece feel like more than the sum of its parts. We were able to make connections with lots of theaters that might be interested in doing the show down the line as well as develop a few new relationships with champions of the piece.

NAMT News

Announcing the 29th Annual Festival of New Musicals

June 28, 2017

We are thrilled to announce the line-up of new musicals for the 29th Annual Festival of New Musicals, which takes place on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20, 2017 in New York.
Now in its 29th year, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals attracts theatre producers from around the world for this industry-only event to discover eight new musicals presented in 45-minute concert presentations over two days. All production costs are underwritten by NAMT, at no cost to the writing teams. As a non-profit organization, NAMT funds the Festival entirely through donations, sponsorships and contributions.

NAMT News

New Work in Progress: Deathless

June 14, 2017

Goodspeed Musicals is in rehearsal for their upcoming world premiere of Deathless, written by Zack Zadek. We chatted with Donna Lynn Hilton, the Line Producer at Goodspeed, to learn more about the musical’s history, current production and hopes for the future.
The Serling family is taking its annual road trip to Niagara Falls, but this time they’re saying goodbye to Mom. Along the way, memories of past trips, old wounds and family secrets are navigated in a not-too-distant future where no one dies of disease. For daughter Hayley, the journey means facing the big questions of life and death.
How did Goodspeed’s relationship with Zack Zadek first begin, and what about Deathless inspired you to produce the show?
We first became of aware of Zack and his work in the fall of 2015 when Zack was nominated to participate in the 2016 Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed. The Mercer Colony, created at Goodspeed five years ago with support from the Johnny Mercer Foundation nurtures the work of writers, composers and lyricists of all backgrounds and in all stages of their careers, by providing a safe haven for creative work and collaboration. Zack applied and was quickly invited to attend the Colony in February of 2016 with his project Deathless. Each day during their colony residence, writers are given the opportunity to gather for a communal breakfast and again each evening, to share their work and to exchange thoughts and ideas. Otherwise, they are free to spend each day in the manner that best suits their individual projects and writing styles. Along the way, we strive to provide each project with individual support that best suits their needs. On the final day of his residency, Zack requested that several other writers join him in a very casual read through of his completed script of Deathless. At the last minute, I was invited to sit in on the reading. My presence that day wasn’t a given. The Colony is very much by, and for, the writers participating and if Zack didn’t want to expose his work, we wouldn’t ask him to. But in this case, Zack was comfortable and invited me to stop by. So on a snowy Saturday morning in February, I wrapped up and trundled into town…and I am very glad that I did so. The reading—while completely cold, with five other writers reading scene and Zack performing the songs—was transformative. I left that reading and called Michael Gennaro…”You gotta read this piece.” He did and had a similar reaction to my own…we were off.

NAMT News

New Work in Progress: Onegin

May 4, 2017

The Musical Stage Company, formerly known as Acting Up Stage Company, is preparing to open a production of the new Canadian musical Onegin, written by Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille. We reached out to find out more about the production and The Musical Stage Company as a whole.
A thrilling, contemporary adaptation of Pushkin’s timeless poem and Tchaikovsky’s renowned opera, Onegin features a high-energy musical score to tell a sweeping tale of unrequited love, infatuation and intrigue. When the young and innocent Tatyana falls in love with the self-obsessed aristocrat Onegin, he firmly rejects her, arousing passionate love letters, noble duels and second chances.
What is The Musical Stage Company’s history with new works, and how does this new production of Onegin fit into your overall commitment to new works development?
On top of our regular season of programming which features contemporary musicals from around the world, we have commissioned nearly a dozen new Canadian musicals in the last five years, and produced six new Canadian musicals at home and abroad. Additionally, we have pioneered programs to support Canadian writers including training programs, commissioning programs and our new Crescendo Series which brings one writer into residence with our organization for three years alongside a commitment to produce one of their new musicals each year of their residency.
Giving Onegin its second production and bringing it to Toronto audiences for the first time helps advance our goal of sharing new Canadian works with local audiences. Our belief that we can subsequently champion Onegin across Canada and beyond through our production (we have already confirmed a tour to Canada’s National Arts Centre in Ottawa in September) reinforces our priority to shepherd new Canadian musicals around the world.

NAMT News

2017-2018 National Fund for New Musicals Grants Announced

April 28, 2017

We are thrilled to announce 16 awards granted from their National Fund for New Musicals, a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals. Now in its ninth year, the Fund will provide grants totaling $53,000 to organizations across the country.
NAMT Executive Director Betsy King Militello stated: “We are honored and excited to support our member theatres as they work with this inspiring group of writers to develop these innovative and provocative new musicals. With these grants, we have now awarded 104 grants totaling $411,500. These projects will join a growing list of important new musicals added to the canon with support from our National Fund for New Musicals.”

NAMT News

Fest Show Update: The Trouble With Doug

April 17, 2017

This month we chatted with Will Aronson and Daniel Maté, the writers of 2010 Festival Show The Trouble with Doug. Will and Daniel are now preparing for the show’s European Premiere with NAMT member Fredericia Teater in Denmark.
The last time we checked in with you both, you were getting ready for a 2014 Florida production of The Trouble with Doug. What work have you been doing on the show since that production?
In late 2015 we got a call from Victoria Clark, saying her schedule had an opening and would we like to reconvene and do some further work on the show together? Now, when Vicki Clark throws up the Bat-signal (Slug-signal?), you jump at the chance: we’d had such a great experience with her as our NAMT director and the timing felt right to revisit the project. Since then we’ve had a pair of readings with Vicki at the helm (a quickie and then a full 29-hour reading), with our main focus on refining the first twenty minutes of the show, and on really nailing the intended tone.

NAMT News

Broadway Stars Urge You To Help Protect The NEA

April 14, 2017

Go to Playbill.com to watch a video featuring Broadway stars (and past Festival of New Musicals and Songwriter Showcase alumni writers and performers) Sheldon Harnick (That Pig of a Molette, Festival ’89), Drew Gasparini (Songwriters Showcase 2009) Alex Brightman, Ann Harada, Kara Lindsay, and more speaking passionately about the need to support the arts and the NEA.

In the wake of the Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal, which calls for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and additional domestic programs, several Broadway stars and luminaries have joined forces with Playbill to express their concern and to say “no” to these cuts.

See all of Playbill’s NEA news at playbill.com/nea, and get a script for calling your representatives to tell them you support the arts here.

NAMT News

Defining Success: NAMT's 2017 Survey Results

April 10, 2017

Every two years, NAMT conducts a survey of our member theatres about what shows they produced, which of those shows they considered risky, and how they performed both at the box office and in audience response. The survey is primarily a tool for our members to see what other theatres are doing and look at factors that might help them plan their own seasons. Here in the office we also like to look at larger trends in what the NAMT membership is working on. While the complete survey results are only made available to members who participate in the survey, we wanted to share some general findings here.

NAMT News

Festival Show Update: Come From Away

March 1, 2017

In honor of Come From Away‘s upcoming Broadway opening, this month we checked in with Irene Sankoff and David Hein to see how the piece has changed since we last spoke to them after the 2013 Festival, and what’s different about preparing for a Broadway opening. We also took a look back at the show’s beginnings in a interview with Michael Rubinoff.
The last time we checked in with you both, you were preparing for Come From Away’s world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. The show has had a whirlwind journey since then! What have been some of your favorite moments along the way?
David: La Jolla was incredible! It was our first production, our first reviews, and our first time working with most of our team.
Irene: We went from being this unknown show to people lining up for 3 hours in the hopes of getting tickets. I was walking around in a daze. Then at Seattle Rep, the theatre was much bigger and I remember the look on the cast’s faces after the blackout when the audience responded. They said after it was like being hit by a wall of sound.
David: The phone lines crashed there because of people looking for tickets. And they flew the Mayor of Gander, Newfoundland out—they declared it “Gander Day” and gave him a key to the city. Seattle was very good to us.
Irene: Ford’s Theatre in DC was surreal because there were so many politicians in the audience, from both sides of the aisle. And they reacted the same way to this story of kindness—with laughter and tears. We also had a lot of repeat visitors—some who were survivors of the attack in D.C. and some who had lost loved ones.

NAMT News

New Work in Progress: Millikin University's New Musical Workshop

February 1, 2017

This month we chatted with Lori Bales, an Associate Professor at Millikin University and the director of the school’s New Musical Workshop. Millikin is currently in rehearsal for their 10th Annual New Musical Workshop, featuring works by Sam Carner and Derek Gregor, as well as songs by Festival alumni Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond (Fest ’11, Dani Girl; Fest ’14, The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes).
This year Millikin University is celebrating its 10-year anniversary of producing new works—can you tell us about the history of your program?
We’d like to send out a big thank you to Scott Guy, Elise Dewsberry, and John Sparks for their support in our start-up year. In 2007 we piloted our program in collaboration with New Musicals Inc. (formerly ANMT) followed by a collaboration with Theatre Building Chicago in 2008. My initial inspiration for this program was in a breakout group at the 2004 NAMT Conference, moderated by John Sparks. In 2009 we began working with solo writing teams Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond, and Jeff Thompson and Jordan Mann. We’ve had the privilege of collaborating with many other truly gifted writers: Adam Gwon and Sarah Hammond, Andrew Lippa, Marissa Michaelson, Amy Engelhardt and Marc Acito, Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham, and Millikin alums Derek Hassler and his partner Landon Braverman, and Joshua Streeter and his partner Ryan Laney. We are currently workshopping two shows with Sam Carner and Derek Gregor. In celebration of our ten-year anniversary, Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond will join us for a retrospective cabaret celebrating their canon of work. In addition to developmental workshops/residencies we also provide fully realized developmental productions on our mainstage season. To date we’ve produced Golden Gate by Kooman and Dimond and String by Gwon and Hammond.

NAMT News

Festival Show Update: Beatsville

January 31, 2017

Beatsville, written by Wendy Wilf and Glenn Slater, appeared in the 2008 NAMT Festival. The show is now preparing for its world premiere in a co-production with NAMT member the 5th Avenue Theatre and Asolo Rep Theatre. This month, we caught up with the writers to hear about the work they’ve done on the piece since the Festival leading up to this premiere.

What was the response to Beatsville like after the 2008 Festival?
We had a great Festival—our cast was spectacular, and made the show look fantastic—and we received a hugely gratifying outpouring of interest from various theatres and organizations who wanted to help us take the next step forward. We sort of fumbled the ball a little—we felt that we still had some writing to do, and weren’t sure what that next step should be, and then we got swept up in other projects. Luckily for us, when we were finally ready to move forward, there was still a lot of goodwill in the community from people who remembered it from the Festival, and they proved instrumental in helping us get the show back on track.