NAMT Announces Creative Teams For The 36th Annual Festival Of New Musicals

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the directors & music directors for the 36th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which is slated to take place on Thursday, October 24 and Friday, October 25, 2024, at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Now in its 36th year, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is an industry-only professional development event offering the chance to discover eight new musicals presented in 45-minute concert presentations over two days to hundreds of producers, presenters artistic & executive directors, investors, donors, developers and creative administrators in Regional Theatre, Broadway, Music, Film & TV from all around the globe. As a non-profit organization, NAMT funds the Festival entirely through donations, sponsorships and contributions which underwrite all production costs.

FESTIVAL DIRECTORS

Directors for this year's Festival include May Adrales (Off-Broadway/Regional: Vietgone), Catie Davis (Broadway/Tour: Beetlejuice), Ryan Dobrin (Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along), Miranda Haymon (Resident Director, Roundabout Theater Company), Ellie Heyman (MCC: Space Dogs), Arpita Mukherjee (Broadway: The Kite Runner) and Sarah Rasmussen (Artistic Director, McCarter Theatre Center).

FESTIVAL MUSIC DIRECTORS

Music Directors for this year's Festival include Simone Allen (Off-Broadway/Regional: Octet), Steven Cuevas (Broadway: The Notebook, Days of Wine and Roses), Rick Edinger (Off-Broadway: The Visitor), Andrea Grody (Broadway: Suffs, The Band's Visit), Remy Kurs (Broadway: Lempicka), Nehemiah Luckett (Broadway: The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, Scottsboro Boys), Anessa Marie Scolpini (Broadway: Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club) and Jacob Yates (Broadway/Tour: Hadestown).

FESTIVAL EMERGING ARTISTS

The Festival will also welcome participants to the Festival Emerging Artist Programs: the Festival Line Producer Residency and the Festival Creative Assistantship. The Creative Assistantship provides artists from underrepresented groups the opportunity to join the musical theatre development process through each step of building a staged reading presentation and focuses on three categories: Directing, Script and Music. The 2024 cohort includes Xander Browne, Kathryn Carter, DV Cortez, Mikayla Coxe, Obed De la Cruz, JuJu Jaworski, Christian Jimenez and Julia Sonya Koyfman. Mayah Lourdes Burke and Amiah McGinty will join the Festival producing team as Line Producers.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which was created to celebrate the new musicals that were being produced and presented around the country, has introduced musical theatre producers to 300 musicals and 575 writers from around the world. More than 85% have gone on to subsequent readings, workshops, productions and tours; been licensed; and/or recorded on cast albums as a direct result of the Festival. Past Festival shows include Come From Away, Lempicka, The Drowsy Chaperone, Lizard Boy, Teeth, Gun & Powder, King of Pangea, Benny & Joon, Darling Grenadine, Ordinary Days, It Shoulda Been You and Thoroughly Modern Millie, among many others.

Registration for industry members is now open at www.namt.org/festival. All industry members must select a professional affiliation (i.e. NAMT, the Broadway League, TCG, many more) to register. Industry members may upgrade their Festival passes for priority admission and access to supplemental events, including the Festival Closing Night Party, through a donation to NAMT. Free General Standby passes are available to industry members only and may provide seating at Festival presentations on a first-come, first-served basis as available after all other passholders have entered.

This year, a committee of 23 theatre professionals selected eight new musicals out of 583 submissions—marking a record-breaking submission season for the second year in a row. The musicals chosen for the 36th Annual Festival of New Musicals are:

The Brass Teapot (Book by Tim Macy & Ramaa Mosley, Music & Lyrics by Chaz Cardigan, Co-conceived by Erik Kaiko), Dear Ex (Book, Music & Lyrics by Be Steadwell), Helsinki (Music & Lyrics by Barrett Riggins, Book & Lyrics by Graham Techler), In Clay (Book & Lyrics by Rebecca Simmonds, Music & Lyrics by Jack Miles), Lewis Loves Clark (Book and Lyrics by Mike Ross, Music by Dylan MarcAurele), LIGHTHOUSE (Book, Lyrics & Story by abs wilson, Music & Story by Veronica Mansour), Medusa (Book, Music & Lyrics by Parisa Shahmir), Proud Marys (Book and Lyrics by Jennifer Paz, Music & Lyrics by Anthony Fedorov).