In Development Works Return to Poughkeepsie With a Dance-Driven Project

This past weekend, two big New York development programs got underway. This is the first summer season that New York Stage and Film (NYSAF) has been completely separate from Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater, opening the opportunity for them each to do their own things. NYSAF—in its first year exclusively at Marist College—has used the opportunity to launch a new program, “Stories That Move: Developing Dance Musicals,” which will allow it to present at least one dance-driven musical each year. Dance was not typically a big part of the NYSAF workshop process, but these pieces will showcase choreography.

“[The dance musicals are] a lot bigger and require a lot more resources because it's not just about the words on the page and the music that you're hearing—there's a third language,” NYSAF Interim Artistic Director Liz Carlson said. “There's the whole language of dance and body and movement, which can take the form of so many different things. There are more people involved. It takes a little bit longer. And it's thrilling because it's a whole different way to tell a story than we're used to here.”

This year, NYSAF is doing one dance-driven piece: Princess Lockerooo and Harold O’Neal’s Paradise Ballroom, which features waacking, a dance style that became popular in Los Angeles’ underground gay clubs in the 1970s. The Paradise Ballroom team will be in residency for four weeks—two with just the creatives and two with the cast—culminating in three presentations in August. That four weeks is twice as long as the musical A Wrinkle in Time will be in residence and four times longer than any of this season's plays (which include a one-man show by Laurence Fishburne). The project is supported by the Jerome Robbins Foundation (which previously had a similar program under its auspices), Howard Gilman Foundation, Frederick Loewe Foundation, and Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and, according to Carlson, the funds associated with it can only be used for dance-driven works.

As I’ve previously detailed, NYSAF launched everything from Hamilton to Side Man, and it continues to be a place where writers can have their early-stage work heard by an audience. However, like many other non-profits, NYSAF is producing less overall than in prior years.

“We've recalibrated the scale just a little bit,” said Carlson, who took over for outgoing Artistic Director Chris Burney at the end of last year. “We transitioned leadership in the fall. We were also reconsolidating our resources on one campus and, like everybody, we're also feeling the changing financial tide of the industry. So we wanted to be really responsible with how we were bringing together the resources that go into public presentation.”

However, NYSAF is still keeping its behind-the-scenes early development programs up. There will be around 175 people on the Marist campus, where, Carlson explained, “everyone lives in the same set of townhouses and works in the same building.” With the shuttering of developmental programs, this support for nascent products is more necessary than ever. Residents this summer include Heidi Schreck, Lila Neugebauer, and Deirdre O'Connell, all working for a week on a piece Schreck is writing. (NYSAF is also continuing its film-related projects and its non-summer programming.)

Plus, Powerhouse Theater is working with other non-profits and producing entities to present its own season of in-development musicals and plays. It is stepping up to fill a void. Is it all cumulatively as big as in the before times? The amount of public presentations is comparable. And while there might be fewer people total in residence on extremely early development projects, the number is still substantial enough to celebrate.

“We're feeling the struggle of a lot of things, but we're also feeling an exceptional amount of joy in our spaces right now,” Carlson said. “The artists are in their rooms. They are developing their stories. It's nice to feel that energy because it shows us that there's maybe hope in all of this.”

Industry Trends Weekly is a short column that runs in the weekly Industry Pro Newsletter. You can read past columns and subscribe here. If you have an idea for the column, you can reach the author at cara@broadwayworld.com.