| Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces the TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series, on January 23 & 30 at 7pm at St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 W. 46th Street, NYC 10036. A “Dollars and Sense” talkback on the future development of the presented works will be held after each performance. Admission is free. Please RSVP at least a day in advance (or much sooner) by calling 212/714-7628, or e-mailing [email protected]
The purpose of the series is to help develop new musicals, help producers develop the skills needed to produce new works, and foster the producer-writer relationship for future development beyond our series. Each reading will be followed by a “Dollars and Sense” panel discussion with prominent New York producers, general managers and artistic directors focusing on potential venues, marketing and budgeting of the works presented. Shows that have been optioned for future development from this industry-focused series include My Life Is a Musical, Volleygirls, The Forgetting Curve, Echoes of Octavia, The Hummingbirds, Pied a Terre and The Great American Trailer Park Musical.
“The series is also a great opportunity for us to offer members of our Producer Development and Mentorship Program hands-on experience to complement their year-long educational training,” adds TRU president Bob Ost. “Producer Jesse B. Langston of Question 1 is a graduate of the program who brought on current member, Yoni Vendriger, as associate producer. Sam Strum of Dumb Luck brought on Dan Irwin, currently a member of the PDMP Master Class to assist.”
TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series finalists that are scheduled for readings are Question 1 by Chris Reza and Dumb Luck by RC Staab and Michael Sansonia.
Question 1 – January 23, 2017
Music, lyrics, and book by Chris Reza, Directed by Joe Barros, music director Eugene Gwozdz. presented by Jesse B. Langston in association with Yoni Vendriger. When a politician becomes the center of Maine’s Question 1 debate, he must choose between being honest with himself and the world, or risk losing his entire career and family. Question 1 explores how the choices we make determine whether each of us contributes either strife or kindness and honesty to humanity.
Question 1 is a new musical dramedy by up-and-coming writer Chris Reza (reed player for the 2016 Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Broadway’s Fun Home). Chris has also been heard as a multi-instrumentalist on Broadway in The Book of Mormon, Matilda, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, and How To Succeed… As a composer, Chris’s music has been performed on three different continents including a piece premiered by the 38-hear English Horn veteran of the New York Philharmonic, Thomas Stacy, and Grammy Award-Winning multi-instrumentalist, Paul McCandless and holds a Jazz Composition degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Director Joe Barros is an award-winning choreographer and director with an emphasis on new work development. Joe’s work has been seen on Broadway in Gigi (associate director) and many Off-Broadway shows including Cagney (currently running at the Westside Theatre), A Taste of Things to Come (associate director), I Married Wyatt Earp, Hard Times, and Charlotte’s Webb. Joe is also the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Barn. Music Director Eugene Gwozdz is the MD/Arranger for American Dance Machine 21 and the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts. Eugene has been heard on Broadway in The Full Monty and Oklahoma, as well as the National Tour of Sunset Boulevard, Flower Drum Song, Swing!, The Color Purple, The Phantom of the Opera, Will Rogers’ Follies, and West Side Story. Jesse B. Langston is a theatre and concert producer with a mission to produce and develop new works that value the power of change through positive messages. His goal is to create commercial viability for these new works so as wide of an audience as possible may be reached.
Dumb Luck – January 30, 2017
Music and Lyrics by Michael Sansonia, book and lyrics by RC Staab, directed by Dan Swern, music director Michael Sansonia, presented by Sam Strum in association with H. Danforth & Co. There are stories about people living. There are stories about people after they die. But Dumb Luck tells the unlikely, but true, story of the life and afterlife of poor Elmer McCurdy, a small-time Old West outlaw.
Dumb Luck is the brainchild of composer/co-lyricist Michael Sansonia – famously the musical director and contributor for National Lampoon’s live shows and television specials. He also conducted the original New York run of Little Shop of Horrors and has appeared in several Broadway and off-Broadway shows as an actor/musician including Pump Boys and Dinettes. His co-lyricist and book writer R.C. Staab’s musicals and plays have been produced in New York, San Francisco and England (www.rcstaab.com). Director Dan Swern is the co-founder and producing director for coLAB Arts in New Brunswick, NJ, which engages artists, social advocates, and communities to create transformative new work. He has directed projects with American Records, Branch Street Productions, Voice Afire and The Secret City. Producer Sam Strum is a line producer for New York Theatre Barn’s New Works Series of original musicals, works at Broadway Asia and is producing Broadway Goes A Cappella at Feinstein’s 54 Below. www.dumbluckmusical.com
Admission is free for everyone. But reservations are required. Please reserve at http://truonline.org/tru-voices (click for the show you wish to reserve), or call at least a day in advance for reservations: 212/714-7628, or e-mail [email protected].
TRU is currently accepting submissions for the 2017 TRU Voices Play Reading Series. For details, and to submit an application visit http://truonline.org/tru-voices-details-and-history/. Deadline for submissions is January 20, 2017.
Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-four year old 501c3 nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies.
TRU publishes a community email newsletter of services, goods and productions; presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and Annual New Musicals Reading Series, two new works series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new shows as well as new producers for theater; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition plus Resource Nights and “Speed Dating.”
Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, 9th district Council Member Inez Dickens; and with support from the Montage Foundation and the Friars National Association Foundation.
For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.orgor call 212 714-7628. |
