MARY & MAX Selected for Pace New Musicals

Out of over a hundred plus submissions, MARY & MAX, a groundbreaking musical featuring a book by Crystal Skillman (Geek, King Kirby) and music and lyrics by Bobby Cronin (The Concrete Jungle, W2ML), has been selected for this year's Pace New Musicals.

The BFA Musical Theater Program at Pace Performing Arts created Pace New Musicals to allow the students to rehearse new work. Pace New Musicals has provided MARY & MAX a developmental workshop of three weeks of rehearsal with their students. The musical will receive a staged reading at Schaeberle Studios January 31st through February 4th, directed by Amy Rogers, featuring musical direction by Angie Benson.

MARY & MAX's full creative team includes Theatre Calgary's newly appointed artistic director Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Altar Boyz), and musical supervisor Anna Ebbesen.

MARY & MAX tells the story of two people from two different worlds who remind us that, even when we feel most afraid and alone, friendship can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Set in the 1970s/80s, the story comes to life through pen pal exchanges between Mary Daisy Dinkle, a chubby birth-marked eight-year-old girl in the suburbs of Melbourne [Australia], and Max Horowitz, a severely obese, 44-year-old Jewish man with Asperger's Syndrome living in the chaos of New York City. As they take us on their respective journeys, we learn that sometimes perfect strangers make the best of friends.

The ensemble cast features: Katie Hollenshead, Jazley Genovese, Josh Lerner, Zoë Verbil, Yassi Noubahar, Leana Rae Concepcion, Caleb Hartsfield, Conor McShane, Jacob Roberts-Miller, Jovan E. Watlington, and swings Noah Virgile and Amisha Bhandari.

The production team includes: Trent Soyster (Asst. Director), Mitchell Chasse (Stage Manager), Caitlin Johnson (Asst. Stage Manager), Griffyd Cole (Lighting Designer), Rebecca Murillo (Bookwriter Asst.), and Matthew Smolsky (Composer Asst.).

Adapted from Adam Elliot's claymation film, MARY & MAX has been in the news recently as the musical received it's first 29-hour reading in New York City this fall, and a reading this summer at the ALLIANCE THEATRE produced by Broadway Dreams Foundation.

Seating is very limited. Reservations: https://pnm2018.brownpapertickets.com/

Previous Pace New Musicals have included Rope by Ryan Scott Oliver, The Danger Year by Georgia Stitt, and Esaura by John Bucchino and Mads Nielsen among others. For a full list view: http://performingarts.pace.edu/pace-new- musicals