Female Writers Get Pre-Premieres with NYTB's New Works Series

The ninth season of New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series continues on Monday, November 7, 2016 at The Cell with pre-premieres of two new musicals: Days of Rage and Fireflies.

Days of Rage, inspired by the activities of The Weathermen/Weather Underground Organization and The Black Panther Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s, captures the passion and conviction of that turbulent era and questions how far one should go in defense of what they believe is right. Days of Rage has book and music by Hyeyoung Kim (recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award and Daryl Roth Award), book and lyrics by Shoshana Greenberg, and will be directed by Theatre Barn's Artistic Director Joe Barros (Gigi, Beaches). The female writing duo of Days of Rage says that their show "speaks to what is happening today in our country and around the world. With the Black Lives Matter Movement, today's parallels to the Black Panther Party are clearer than ever."

Fireflies, a new musical by Dmitry Koltunov, tells the story of a Russian/Jewish immigrant struggling to support his old world family in modern day NYC. Told through the soundscape of an indie-rock score with Russian gypsy and folk influences, Fireflies explores chasing the elusive American Dream, and the timely lessons of love and loss. The presentation will be directed by Shaun Peknic (Once), and Molly Marinik is the dramaturg.

Between sets, Theatre Barn will present a sneak peek of Hot Diggity!, a new musical by Jesse Lozano that takes place at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.

The presentations will take place at 7:30PM at The Cell, located at 338 West 23rd St. in New York City. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online through OvationTix: web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10122862.

New York Theatre Barn, a Manhattan based non-profit theatre company founded in 2007, incubates, develops, and produces new musicals that tell untold stories. Our stories are inspired by the lives of real people and actual events. These stories are challenging, diverse, and alternative. Theatre Barn's core programming is the New Works Series, which presents bi-monthly "pre-premieres" of new musicals in the Early Stages of development. The company considers more than 100 new works each year before choosing twelve eclectic stories to present. With each installment, two new musicals are showcased before a live audience and a worldwide virtual audience. Since the series' inception, the company has presented more than 350 writers in more than 80 pre-premieres. For more information, go to www.nytheatrebarn.org.

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