The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Mass Street Productions/Ryan J. Davis are proud to present the World Premiere of Street Lights, a contemporary musical drama by Joe Drymala. From the creators of the Broadway-bound White Noise, which was a hit at NYMF in 2006, Street Lights features a groundbreaking score that uses modern hip hop, R&B and pop to tell a timeless story in the musical language of today's youth, while creating a bridge to earlier generations by incorporating samples of old civil rights anthems within the modern songs and beats. Ryan J. Davis directs a cast of 14 including Carla Duren* (Bway: 110 in the Shade, Hairspray), Chad Carstarphen (Off-Bway: The Conscientious Objector), Kevin Curtis* (NYMF: Twilight in Manchego, Maccabeat), Gayle Turner* (Bway: The Wiz), Jim Stanek* (Bway: Story of My Life, Lestat, Little Women), Virginia Cavaliere (Regional: High School Musical), Joy Lynn Matthews (Bway: The Music Man; Marie Christine), Roberto Araujo, Claudeen Benoit, Geri Brown, Jay Garcia*(Off-Bway: Altar Boyz), Ejyp Johnson, and Melissa Joyner all of whom are dedicated to supporting new musicals and whose credits encompass every major regional theater in the country, along with significant achievements in film, television and cabaret. Performances will be held at American Theatre for Actors (Chernuchin), 314 West 54th Street, (bet. 8th & 9th Avenues) in New York City from October 13th-18th.
Street Lights is a new musical about a group of inner city teenagers who fight to save their high school music program from being shut down; in the process, they discover the power of music to unite their community and bring new hope to the residents of their troubled housing projects. The talented singer and songwriter Monique, her academically gifted brother Rocky and their beat-making DJ friend X-Ray all use organizing techniques pioneered during the civil rights movement to help rally the people around them to protect the neighborhood music that has helped sustain the community through thick and thin. When Monique begins to fall in love with Damon, a local drug dealer with a Robin Hood streak, she must choose between accepting the hard realities of the world she lives in or trying to change her neighborhood for the better.
Director and Co-Producer Ryan J. Davis conceived & directed the award-winning (and now Broadway-bound) White Noise at the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival, and was featured on Good Morning America and Primetime Live. Other NYC projects include My Life on Craigslist & the annual Broadway Beauty Pageant. He recently directed Vote! the musical at FringeNYC and My Broken Brain at MITF. He serves on The Board of Directors of The Deconstructive Theatre Project, where he co-directed the play, Lilies. As a politico, Davis served in NH as GOTV Triage Lead at Obama's State Headquarters and was a member of the Obama Pride NYC Leadership Committee. He is a veteran of Gov. Howard Dean's 2004 Presidential Campaign and writes for The Hill & Huffington Post. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn. For his activism, Davis has been honored by The American Association Of Political Consultants and awarded a Nightlife Award by The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. He blogs daily.
Composer and Writer Joe Drymala is the primary composer and original bookwriter for the satirical musicAl White Noise, which received its premiere at the 2006 NYMF and which received a Summer Theater Award for Outstanding Score that year; White Noise was subsequently optioned for Broadway, and recently was mounted in New Orleans as a tryout for the Broadway production. In 2003-4, he was the primary speechwriter on Gov. Howard Dean's presidential campaign where he wrote a feature-length article in Vanity Fair magazine on poverty in America on behalf of Gov. Dean, as well as writing a speech on race relations that was hailed by The Black Commentator magazine as "the most important statement on race in American politics by a mainstream white politician in nearly 40 years." He performs indie folk/country under the name Blueyed Son around Brooklyn and Manhattan (www.blueyedson.com).
