Next, we chatted with Cara Reichel, the Producing Artistic Director at NAMT member Prospect Theater Company in New York, NY about the company’s world premiere of The Hello Girls, written by Reichel and Peter Mills. Both Reichel and Mills are Festival Alumni for Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge (Fest ’11) and Mills is also an alumnus for Onanov Broadway (fka Iron Curtain, Fest ’09). The Hello Girls is running now through December 22nd.
This month, we caught up with Kent Staines, Akiva Romer-Segal and Colleen Dauncey, the writers of 2017 Festival show Prom Queen, to check in with them and see where the show has been since its Festival presentation, and where it’s going next.
This week we finalized out New Musical Month! In case you missed it, here’s our week in review!
This morning, Playbill published an article highlighting the impact of the NAMT Festival over the past 30 years, featuring excerpts of an interview with NAMT executive director Betsy King Militello. The article includes a brief overview of what the Festival does for our members, and the industry at large, along with a list of musicals that got their start at the Festival.
We continued our New Musicals Month this week by showcasing Prospect Theater Company, CPA Theatricals, San Diego State University, Millikin University, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Goodspeed Musicals, the Fulton Theatre, the writing teams of Row and XY, and many more. Check out our week in review!
This week we continued our New Musicals Month by highlighting Village Theatre, Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, The Musical Stage Company, the writing teams of The Wicker Husband and Monstersongs, and many more. In case you missed it, here’s our week in review!
This week we kicked off our New Musicals Month with Pittsburgh CLO, Theater Latte Da, Barrington Stage Company and the writing teams of two of our festival shows this year – The River is Me & 17 Again. In case you missed it, here’s our week in review!
Our upcoming 30th Annual Festival of New Musicals gives us a great opportunity to celebrate and honor the groundbreaking work our members do year-round to develop new work. This month, NAMT will host a New Musicals celebration to feature the new works development happening across the membership. Before we dive into New Musicals Month, check out our infographic below to see the role that NAMT and our members play in the world of new musical development!
Next, we chatted with Lori Fineman and Jack Cummings III, respectively the Executive Director and the Artistic Director at NAMT member Transport Group Theatre Company in New York, NY about the company’s upcoming world premiere of Renascence. We also spoke with the piece’s writers, Dick Scanlan (Fest ’96, Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Carmel Dean about their experience working on the piece with Transport Group. The musical’s world premiere, funded in part by a grant from the National Fund for New Musicals, will open in October, just in time for NAMT members arriving for the Fall Events to see the show while they’re in town!
This month, we caught up with Scotty Arnold and Alana Jacoby, the writers of 2016 Festival show When We’re Gone (fka Mortality Play), to check in with them before the show’s world premiere at NAMT member Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma this fall. The production is funded in part by a grant from the National Fund for New Musicals. You can also check out a video fo Scotty and Alana talking about what they love about NAMT on YouTube!
This month, we caught up with David Darrow, the writer of 2017 Festival show The Passage, to check in with him before the show is featured at Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals this summer.
Next, we chatted with Brad Kenney, the Executive Artistic Director, and Cheryl Farley, the Director of Marketing, Communications and Patron Services, at NAMT member Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, ME, about the theatre’s New Works Program and their upcoming production of Grumpy Old Men by Dan Remmes, Neil Berg and Nick Meglin.
We are thrilled to announce the line-up of new musicals for the 30th Annual Festival of New Musicals, which takes place on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26, 2018 in New York. The Festival events will kick off on Monday, October 22 with Thank You, 30!, a gala event to celebrate the 30th Annual Festival.
Now in its 30th 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.
We chatted with Brett Smock, the Producing Artistic Director at NAMT member Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival in Auburn, NY, about the theatre’s upcoming world premiere production of Anne of Green Gables by Matte O’Brien and Matt Vinson. Anne of Green Gables was featured in NAMT’s Other Shows You Should Know jukebox last year.
How did Anne of Green Gables first find its way to Finger Lakes?
Anne of Green Gables, A New Folk Rock Musical was accepted to participate in our new works program, “The PiTCH.” Each year, we provide residency to five different creative teams and their emerging works. We offer them housing, transportation, marketing support, a dedicated venue, dramaturgical support and the beautiful backdrop of the Finger Lakes. They are able to immerse and work on their new musical and at the end of each week, the team is able to present or “pitch” their new material to audiences for three presentations. Basically, we create space and opportunity for musical theatre writers. To date, we have given 59 new new musicals development opportunity through “The PiTCH.” Last year, Anne was a big hit at “The PiTCH.” Matte O’Brien (Book/Lyrics) and Matt Vinson (Music) presented excerpts from the show to sold-out houses and during their week of residency it became clear that the show had incredible appeal across all demographics. We began discussions about the show’s needs, its development path and how we might help facilitate for the show and the team. That discussion led to us producing the premiere production this year as part of our 60th Anniversary season.
This month, we caught up with Matt Gould and Carson Kreitzer, the writers of 2016 Festival show Lempicka, to check in with them before the show receives its world premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer. The show is presented by special arrangement with NAMT member Seaview Productions.
What was the initial reaction to Lempicka after the 2016 Festival?
There was a lot of enthusiasm around the piece. NAMT’s Festival was our chance to get back on the map. Our show had been floundering for a while and our NAMT presentation helped to jump start our world premiere production.
Next, we chatted with Branden Huldeen, the Artistic Producer at NAMT member Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA about the theatre’s upcoming world premiere production of The Royal Family of Broadway by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin.
This month, we caught up with John Jiler and Georgia Stitt, the writers of 2010 Festival show Big Red Sun to check in with them before the show receives its world premiere at NAMT member 11th Hour Theatre Company. The show received a Writers Residency Grant from NAMT’s National Fund for New Musicals in our 2015-2016 Granting Cycle.
This month, we caught up with Gordon Leary and Julia Meinwald, the writers of 2016 Festival show The Loneliest Girl in the World to chat about the work they’ve done on the show since the Festival, and to learn more about the show’s upcoming world premiere with NAMT member Diversionary Theatre. The upcoming production received a Production Grant from NAMT’s National Fund for New Musicals. Leary and Meinwald are also Festival alumni for their 2011 show Pregnancy Pact.
Next, we chatted with Michael Ritchie, the Artistic Director of NAMT member Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, CA about the theatre’s upcoming world premiere production of Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori. Soft Power was recently awarded a production grant from the National Fund for New Musicals.
How did Soft Power first find its way to Center Theatre Group, and what makes it such a great fit for the theatre?
Soft Power was originally commissioned by Center Theatre Group about four years ago as a world premiere play to cap off the Mark Taper Forum’s 50th Anniversary Season. And as the play evolved into its current form, it became clear it needed to move to a bigger stage, and we had that in the Ahmanson. Plus, David—who happens to be an Angeleno—is no stranger to the company, having premiered works including Yellow Face and Flower Drum Song at the Taper.
We are thrilled to announce 18 awards granted from the National Fund for New Musicals, and five awards granted from the Innovation & Exploration Grant program. Now in its tenth year, this year the Fund is providing grants totaling $58,000 to organizations across the country. The Innovation & Exploration (I&E) Grant program, now in its second cycle, is providing grants totaling $7,000 to organizations nationwide.
NAMT Executive Director Betsy King Militello stated: “We are honored and excited to support our member theatres both as they work to develop innovative and provocative new musicals, and as they explore ideas to create new best practices in the field. With these grants, we have now awarded 135 grants totaling $481,000 to NAMT members across the country. These projects will join a growing list of important new musicals and initiatives supported by NAMT’s granting programs.”
This month, we caught up with Adam Gwon and Sarah Hammond, the writers of 2014 Festival show String to chat about the work they’ve done on the show in the past few years, and to learn more about the show’s upcoming world premiere with NAMT member Village Theatre. Gwon is also a Festival alum for his 2011 show Bernice Bobs Her Hair and his 2008 show Ordinary Days.
String has had quite the journey since it appeared in the 2014 Festival! What was the response to String like after the Festival?
For the first couple days after the Festival, people would stop us in the street to tell us how much they liked the show. That was a thrill. It was the first time we really showed it off in New York to a big swath of industry folks so it was encouraging to see it get the laughs, and then learn how much it hooked people. In typical NAMT fashion, it also led to other professional opportunities for us—we were invited to places like McCarter Theatre and Feinstein’s/54 Below, and, of course, the Village Theatre in Seattle, which is how we wound up answering your questions while in tech for our world premiere!
This month, we chatted with John Simpkins, the Director of NAMT member Penn State Musical Theatre in University Park, PA about the school’s new commissioning program. The school just presented its first full production of a show developed through the program, and will be holding a concert reading of their most recent commissioned show next month.
Penn State Musical Theatre started a commissioning program for new musicals a few years ago. Can you tell us a little about Penn State’s history with new work and what inspired this program?
Penn State Musical Theatre has always been open to new work—and has done readings and workshops along the way inspired mostly by professional relationships and a desire to meaningfully connect the students to writers and process wherever possible. When I got to Penn State in 2015, one of the things I began was our New Musicals Initiative, whose key component is the commissioning program. The inspiration for this unique commissioning idea was driven by finding the intersection of multiple objectives. For the writer, we hope to give each team a safe and creative place to think write, collaborate, and experiment with talented young artists who hunger for opportunity and will apply the fullness of their artistic souls to everything they do. For the training process, there is no better way to teach character development and the ability to engage with new works than to have a new musical forming around and with the students every year. And for the collaborative engine of 21st century musical theatre, we are very proud to commission shows to add to the repertoire and even continue on as co-producers in the professional journey of some of the projects.
Next, we chatted with Mark Hoebee, the Producing Artistic Director at NAMT member Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ about the theatre’s upcoming world premiere of The Sting, by Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, Fest ’04), Mark Hollmann (The Girl, The Grouch, and The Goat; Fest ’91) and Greg Kotis. The musical is based on the 1973 film of the same name.
New musicals are the key focus of Paper Mill Playhouse’s mission; tell us a little more about that mission, and what makes Paper Mill such a special place to develop new work.
A key part of our mission is to foster a creative environment for advancing the art form. We strive to be as supportive and collaborative as possible during the arduous process of premiering a new work. That means committing all of the resources of our organization including a skilled and dedicated staff, a state-of-the-art facility, and the best stage crew in the business. It’s also an advantage to be so close to New York City, which enables the artists involved in our productions to maintain a “home base.” Our mission also stresses developing future theater lovers, and what better way to do that than to present new work. Our audience becomes part of that birthing process—they get to see it first!
This month, we caught up with the Sam’s Room writing team to find out what work the group has been doing on the show since October and to find out more about their reading at NAMT member Red Mountain Theatre Company’s inaugural Human Rights New Works Festival. Sam’s Room was featured in the 2017 Festival and the writing team is made up of Dale Sampson, Trey Coates-Mitchell, Caitlin Marie Bell and Marc Campbell.
What has the post Festival response to Sam’s Room been like?
The response has been extremely positive and broadly helpful and we were confident in the presentation. What we weren’t expecting were so many opportunities from different angles. The Sam’s Room story and the way we tell it happens to involve eclectic communities outside of the theatre, such as the pop music industry, the National Speech and Debate Association, and the special needs community. NAMT not only catapulted us into the business side of the project, but gave us wonderful introductions into these other worlds as well.
The National Endowment for the Arts has recently announced that it will award over $25 million in grants to fund artistic projects and research, with just over $3 million going to companies working in the field of Theater & Musical Theatre. Many NAMT members have been selected to receive grants in this cycle, including $60,000 to NAMT itself, in support of our Festival of New Musicals and Fall Conference. Congratulations to those members receiving grants in this round of NEA funding, including:
Ars Nova
Atlantic Theater Company
Dallas Theater Center
Diversionary Theatre
Goodspeed Musicals
Horizon Theatre Company
The Lark
Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma
MCC Theater
NAMT
The Old Globe
Playwrights Horizons
Prospect Theater Company
The Public Theater
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Village Theatre
ZACH Theatre
Congratulations to all, and thank you to the NEA for supporting arts organizations throughout the country! For a full list of the recipients, visit the NEA’s website.
