Weston Playhouse Retreat, the Sequel

There’s nothing quite like returning to a home away from home away from home!

Julia and I were thrilled to be invited back for an artists retreat last week at the Weston Playhouse, one of our very favorite places in the world where Pregnancy Pact had its world premiere in 2012. Weston welcomed our friend Susanna Gellert as the new Executive Artistic Director in 2018, and we are so happy to continue to stay connected. We had a wonderful week getting some writing done on one of our newest projects, Choreomania, in between cheese samples at the Vermont Country Store.

Thanks to Susanna and the whole staff for welcoming us back again!

A Magnificent premiere!

I am so thrilled to share that The Magnificent Seven will have it’s first full production in May 2020 at Flint Repertory Theatre! Julia and I had our first full reading of the show there in January in their New Works Festival, and we’re so excited to be back in the wonderful and supportive community.

Over the last three years of writing this show we’ve been anxious to get it up on it’s feet to figure out how our gymnastics-musical-without-any-real-gymnastics might move through space, and I’m thrilled to have the chance! And we’re working once again with the wonderful director Michael Lluberes to figure it out for the first time.

More announcements about this production (casting, tickets, etc.) and some other Magnificent developments will be coming very soon… Check back here for updates!

REB+VoDKa+ME+STRINGS

The final piece of Julia’s Discovery Grant from OPERA America for REB+VoDKa+ME was the funding to record both the newest material written for the show and to record Julia’s beautiful new string orchestrations. I’m so excited to share this updated demo, especially on the fifth anniversary of the crazy day that inspired our show.

Thanks to engineer Chris Gilroy, violinist Saki Uetsuhara, cellist Brian Sanders and the phenomenal singers we’ve worked with over the past 3 years: Delaney Amatrudo, Matthew Berzon, Ally Bonino, Jack Brinsmaid, Jackie Colquitt, Jessica Fisher, Holly Gould, Hanako Greensmith, Sam Heldt, Angelina Kelly, Kelsey Lake, Adam Lawrence, Lily Lester, Allison Lian, Evan Maltby, Lauren Marcus, Elexis Morton, Matthew Oster, Sam Paley, Angela Pardini-Gomez, Jeanna Phillips, Allison Posner, Katie Rodgers, Daniel Saulle, Libby Servais, Rich Silverstein, and Emily Walton.

Pregnancy Pact @ Barrington Stage Company

Erin Danielle Krebs, who Julia and I first met at the 2017 Yale Institute and currently the Directing Fellow at Barrington Stage Company, presented excerpts from Pregnancy Pact on July 25 & 26. The scenes featured BSC Musical Theatre Conservatory actors Caitlin Alvarez, Solange Gosselin, Sonia Joffe, Carly Mazer, Jenna Meadows, Maya McQueen, and Liam Munn with music director Darren R. Cohen. We didn’t get to venture up to Pittsfield to see it, but our sources let us know they did an amazing job. (Our sources being the wonderful Sam Heldt, who’s currently starring in the world premiere of Fall Springs at Barrington!) We’re so excited that the show resurfaced for a moment in New England, and so glad that they had a meaningful experience with it!

The Magnificent Seven @ Urban Stages

I’m so excited to be sharing our draft of The Magnificent Seven in a free reading at Urban Stages next Monday, July 15 at 8pm. No reservations necessary, so come on up/down/over/in and hear what we’ve been working on!

Julia and I are so happy to be working once again with director Nikki DiLoreto (with whom we worked when we first developed the project with Fresh Ground Pepper and who has gone on to work on Kiss Me, Kate and the upcoming Soft Power), movement consultant Sunny Hitt (with whom we’re excited to work for the first time), stage manager Melissa Erickson (with whom we just worked on last month’s reading of REB+VoDKa+ME), and music director Rich Silverstein (with whom we work always)!

We’ve got a magnificent cast of new and returning faces, as well, including Kim Blanck (Octet, Alice By Heart), Ally Bonino (Elevator Heart), Nikita Burdein (UCB & The Magnet), Rachel Flynn (Ever After @ The Alliance, Heathers), Kendyl Ito (Soft Power, Wild Goose Dreams), Ellen Condon Macy (Elevator Heart), Madison Mullahey (Mary Poppins national tour), Allison Posner (The Last Song of Eddie Scourge), Lynne Marie Rosenberg (“Famous Cast Words” on All Arts), Ryan Speakman (Hunchback @ Argyle), and Tatiana Wechsler (Benny & Joon @ Paper Mill.)

If you can’t make it, the complete demo will be coming very soon to fulfill all your psycho-gymnastics fantasies!