'LMNOP' Gets Private Reading Next Week; Set for Developmental Run at TUTS This Spring

Following a summer 2013 developmental production at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre, LMNOP, a new musical by Larson Award-winning writers Scott Burkell (book/lyrics) and Paul Loesel (music), receives a private reading on Monday, November 10, 2014.

Directed by Joe Calarco, LMNOP is based on the 2001 novel by Mark Dunn. Dominick Amendum (Wicked) is Music Supervisor. Staff for the reading: Jack Beetle - Music Director; Cindi Rush Casting - Casting Director; Jason Kaiser - Stage Manager; Matt Schicker/Show Shepherd Consulting - Line Producer for Third Coast Creative.

In this compelling and smart new musical, the island of Nollop is thrown into chaos when letters fall one by one from the epitaph on a statue of a revered historical figure in the town square. Taking it as a sign, the local government forbids the use of each letter as it falls. As infractions are met with harsher and harsher punishments, one brave woman leads the fight to save the English language from shrinking into prehistoric grunts.

The cast for the reading includes Caitlin Kinnunen (Spring Awakening), Jared Zirilli (We Will Rock You Nat'l Tour; Lysistrata Jones), Natalie Venetia Belcon (Avenue Q, The Last Smoker in America), Todd Cerveris (South Pacific), Donna Lynne Champlin (NYSF's As You Like It, Sweeney Todd), Erin Leigh Peck (Dance of the Vampires), Darius Kaleb (Raisin in the Sun, Motown), Nehal Joshi (Les Miserables), Robert Rokicki (Evita 25th Anniversary Tour, South Pacific at Carnegie Hall), Steven Eng (West End: The King and I), Erin Maguire (Forbidden Broadway SVU), Tyce Green, Natalie Arneson, and Glory Curda.

LMNOP will receive a developmental production at TUTS Underground in April 2015.

Scott Burkell and Paul Loesel's songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 54 Below, Symphony Space, and Joe's Pub, by such performers as Kristin Chenoweth, Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Rebecca Luker, and Liz Callaway. They have received a Jonathan Larson Foundation Grant and the Burton Lane Award. Recordings of their songs appear on Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley's Opposite You, Stephanie J. Block's This Place I Know, Rebecca Luker's Greenwich Time, and their own album, (Sorta) Love Songs, on the Sh-K-Boom Records label. Their musical, The Extraordinary Ordinary, received a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grant, workshops at ASCAP and CAP21, and productions at the Philly Fringe Festival, Farmers Alley Theatre, and Off-Broadway's Clurman Theatre. Musical revues: Love Songs and Other Crap (MAC Award nomination) and (Sorta) Love Songs (Birdland).

Joe Calarco (Director) New York: Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Second Stage, The Lucille Lortel, The Transport Group, and Lincoln Center. Regional: Signature Theater, Goodspeed Musicals, The Old Globe, Barrington Stage Company, O'Neill Music Theater Conference, Weston Playhouse, Berkshire Theater Festival, 11th Hour Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company. As a writer his published works include Walter Cronkite is Dead, In the Absence of Spring, and Shakespeare's R&J. He is a Drama League Directing Fellow and sits on the Executive Board of the directors' union SDC. Awards: Lucille Lortel Award, two Barrymore Awards, and four Helen Hayes Awards. Resident Director/Director of New Works at Signature Theatre (Arlington, VA); Co-Artistic Director of Breaking Bread Theatre.

Third Coast Creative is a Houston based production company established to pursue uniquely talented stage and film artists and support them in creating and producing new works. The goal is to achieve critical artistic acclaim as well as commercial success. The company, led by founders Deborah and Monte Stavis, seeks out talented writers, musicians, performers and directors across the country and provides them with the opportunity to showcase their work. Third Coast Creative embraces collaboration among artists and producers to create awe-inspiring art onstage and onscreen. In the fall of 2010, Third Coast Creative, in association with Dreamlight Theatre Company presented a developmental production of Scott Burkell and Paul Loesel's The Extraordinary Ordinary at New York's Clurman Theatre. Additionally, Third Coast Creative creates corporate entertainment events ranging from cabaret style performances to sketch comedy that is customized to the particular needs of the client company. For more information, visit www.thirdcoastcreative.com.

Visit the show website at www.lmnopthemusical.com.