Katya Stanislavskaya Takes Home Weston's New Musical Award

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company announces Katya Stanislavskaya's Resident Alien as the winner of its ninth annual New Musical Award. The only honor of its kind in the country, the Weston New Musical Award supports a high quality demo of a new work by writers and composers of notable promise, chosen from a group of national nominations.

Winners rehearse their work in Vermont under professional musical direction with a cast of Broadway actor/singers, performing selections from the work on the Weston stage and in an invited concert in New York. The cast then records a free demo cd under the supervision of Kurt Deutsch of Sh-K-Boom Records. The Vermont concert of Resident Alien will be performed at the Weston Playhouse on Saturday, February 28 at 8:00pm. It is free and open to the public.

Katya Stanislavskaya's winning work is an original story of the Berdichevsky family, who emigrate to New York from the Soviet Union in the early 1990's. The musical explores the theme of the main characters' ability - or inability - to adapt to a new set of rules.

Resident Alien was nominated by Andrea Lepcio on behalf of the Dramatists Guild of America. Of the piece, she said, "Katya is doing an amazing job of creating a show from her life experience as a Russian immigrant. The characters are unique and feel real... Rising to the challenge of writing book, lyrics and music, Katya has found both their musical and textual voices." The musical has been developed at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, the Dramatists Guild Fellowship, and New York Theatre Barn.

Stanislavskaya's original works have been developed at the McDowell Colony Residency, New Dramatists, White Heron Theater Residency, and New Georges, and have been heard in concert at Joe's Pub, 54 Below, and Barrington Stage, among others.

Weston's New Works Programs have recently been supported by the Anton Family Foundation, Dramatists Play Service Inc., the Frederick Loewe Foundation, Stacey Mindich Productions LLC, Music Theatre International, National Alliance for Musical Theatre/National Fund for New Musicals, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, Samuel French Inc., Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records, Tams-Witmark Music Library Inc., and many generous individual donors. The demo recording is supported in part by SAG-AFTRA.

Past recipients of the Weston New Musical Award include Sarah Hammond & Adam Gwon's String, Ryan Scott Oliver & Brett Ryback's Darling, and Sara Cooper & Zach Redler's Loving Leo.

The February 28 concert will be held at the Weston Playhouse, 12 Park Street, on the Village Green in Weston. The hour-long program begins at 8:00 pm and will be followed by a brief reception with the writer and cast.

For more information about the Weston New Musical Award and Weston's 79th summer theatre season, visit www.westonplayhouse.org.

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