Kleban Winner Amanda Yesnowitz Debuts New Musical MAY/DECEMBER
By: Stephi Wild Dec. 11, 2019
MAY/DECEMBER is a new musical loosely-- and also tightly-- based on real events. The original two-hander had its first workshop at Oldcastle Theatre in Bennington, VT in June and will make its NYC premiere at The Duplex on Sunday, December 15th at 3:30. In this very special incarnation, the show will be performed by the couple who inspired it, librettist Amanda Yesnowitz and co-conceiver/actor Brendan McGrady. Composer Doug Katsaros will accompany on piano. Directed by Piper Goodeve.
May, an accomplished cultural anthropologist, has just published her first New York Times best seller: "Middle-Aged Women and the Men Who Love Them Anyway." To kick off her book tour, she and boyfriend Dylan (18 years her junior) are touring the country answering audience questions about modern love, revealing surprising discoveries about each other in the process. Theirs is a love for the middle ages.
ABOUT THE WRITERS:
Amanda Yesnowitz (BOOK/LYRICS/MAY):
Separately, Amanda is the 2018 Kleban Prize winner (lyrics), a Jonathan Larson Award recipient (first lyricist), an eight-time MAC Award nominee, a Dottie Burman Award winner, a Jamie deRoy Award Winner and winner of the 2019 Berklee School of Music Alumni Achievement Award. She wrote lyrics for The Caucasian Chalk Circle (produced at Ithaca's Hangar Theatre), Building a Wing (Best Musical at Short, Sweet & Song in Sydney, Australia) and The History of War (NYMF invited selection, O'Neill finalist), and book/lyrics for By The Numbers (ASCAP workshop, Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Johnny Mercer Colony at Goodspeed), from which "No Looking Back" was performed by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. Amanda performed her songs at the Kennedy Center to commemorate ASCAP's 100th birthday. Her song "Gotta Start Small" (Stephanie J. Block, This Place I Know, PS Classics) recently aired on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center series.
Doug Katsaros (MUSIC): As theatre composer, Doug contributed material to A. . . My Name is Alice, Diamonds, Just So, Abie's Island Rose, Elisabeth & Essex, Moby Dick, and Lingoland (all Off-B'way). He also wrote music for The End, Valadon (TRU Theatre Festival), Great Expectations (Mill Mountain, VA), Merton of the Movies (winner of the Main Street Musicals Award) and Orphan Train (NYMF, NY Theatre Institute, Grand Central Terminal's 100th anniversary). He writes special material for Ringling Brothers Circus, Macy's 4th of July Fireworks and their Thanksgiving Day Parade, winning the Emmy for Best Original Song. Doug has also served as arranger, orchestrator, MD, and conductor for many theatrical productions.
Together, Doug and Amanda wrote the score for the musical adaptation of Somewhere in Time, based on the film and novel by Richard Matheson. In May of 2013, the musical had its world premiere at Portland Center Stage and was nominated for 7 PATMAs (Portland Area Musical Theatre Awards) including Best Original Musical, Best Score, and Best Song. The show, which was a finalist for the 2013 NAMT festival, is being developed by Davenport Theatrical Productions. Doug and Amanda are also working on an original romantic comedy May/December whose marquee song "The Thing About Dylan" has been performed by Broadway luminaries including Jessica Phillips and Susan Egan. The project just had a workshop at Oldcastle Theatre in Bennington, VT (June, 2019). Additionally, they are contributing material to a musical series for young audiences adapted from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series (licensed by R & H Theatricals). Most recently, Doug and Amanda finished a draft of their new musical "Do No Harm" (based on the life of Margaret Bulkley), which was short-listed by NAMT, the O'Neill Conference, and has been developed at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
ARTIST BIOS:
BRENDAN MCGRADY (CO-CONCEIVER/DYLAN): Red (Oldcastle Theatre); Long Day's Journey Into Night (Oldcastle Theatre); Tranquil (Luna Stage); Orphans (Lake Dillion Theatre); The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Carthaginians, Measure for Measure, Trojan Women (all at Stella Adler Studios); Love's Labour's Lost (DTLA Shakespeare); Grease (Park Avenue Players); Damn Yankees (Gallimaufry Performing Arts); Just So (No Square Theatre). He has starred in various short films, workshops, readings, and voice over projects. Brendan is also an improviser and impressionist. BFA: NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Find out more at www.brendanmcgrady.com
Piper Goodeve (DIRECTOR) is an actor, director and audiobook narrator based in NYC and sometimes Vermont. Credits include: Syracuse Stage, Hangar Theatre, Prospect Theater Co., Tennessee Shakespeare Co. and the McCarter. For three years, Piper was the Director of Education/Artistic Associate at the Weston Playhouse in Vermont, where she worked in new play development, directed multiple cabarets and events, and the 2019 Young Company production. She is an Audie award-winning audiobook narrator of over 200 titles, received a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance (Anne of Green Gables) and holds an MFA from Brown University/Trinity Rep.
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