NYMF Festival Announces Full Slate of Invited Shows

World premieres of THE BALLAD OF BONNE AND CLYDE from Michael Aman, Oscar E. Moore and Dana P. Rowe, and Drama Dept.'s THE BIG TIME topline invitational programming for the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

The 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), currently entering its sophomore year, has announced a series of invited productions and events to round out this year's slate along with the previously announced titles for the "Next Link Project." In addition to the above, NERDS://A MUSICAL SOFTWARE SATIRE and FEELING ELECTRIC, directed by Peter Askin (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), will also highlight the Fall program. The complete list of invitational musicals is as follows:

* The Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde by Michael Aman and Oscar E. Moore (book and lyrics) and Dana P. Rowe (music)
* The Big Time by Douglas Carter Beane (book) and Douglas J. Cohen (music and lyrics).
* Feeling Electric by Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics) and Tom Kitt (music)
* Nerds://A Musical Software Satire by Jordan Allen-Dutton & Erik Weiner (book and lyrics) and Hal Goldberg (music)
* Orpheus by Michael Levine
* People Like Us by Todd Almond (music, book, lyrics) and Gus Kaikkonen (book & lyrics)
* Reluctant Pilgrim by Stephen Schwartz
* Richard Cory by Ed Dixon, adapted from a play by A.R. Gurney.
* Rooms by Paul Scott Goodman (book, music, lyrics) and Miriam Gordon (book).
* Six Women With Brain Death (Expiring Minds Want To KnoW) by Mark Houston (music and lyric) and book by Cheryl Benge, Christy Brandt, Rosanna E. Coppedge, Valerie Fagan, Ross Freese, Mark Houston, Sandee Johnson, & Peggy Parr Wilson.
* Soon of A Mornin' by Andrea Frierson-Toney
* The View From Here by Tim Huang

Jointly with the UPRIGHT CITIZEN'S BRIGADE THEATRE, NYMF will present a series of musical comedies including both improvised musicals and scripted pieces developed by improvisational troupes. NYMF itself is commissioning new musicals for this year's festival. Exploring new directions in theatrical collaboration for the musical theatre, NYMF has joined with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre to commission and develop a work through a combined written and improvisational process. Brian Lowdermilk and Kait Kerrigan (authors of The Woman Upstairs, which played the Festival last year) will write the piece, in collaboration with a troupe of improvisational performers.

In addition to presenting more than 30 new musical productions, NYMF will presents a series of STAGED READINGS of several new works including THE BIG ENDING by Peter Shrubshall and Richard Free and THE BIG BEGINNING by Scott Guy and Ross Kalling (a transatlantic double-bill commissioned by London's Mercury Musical Developments and Los Angeles' Academy for New Musical Theatre); a CONCERT SERIES featuring new writers and performers including DAGMAR, a new work from Jim Bauer, whose musical THE BLUE FLOWER met with critical and popular acclaim in its debut at last year's Festival and a series of PANELS and DEMONSTRATION SEMINARS including several co-sponsored by New Dramatists, BMI, the American Theatre Wing, and ASCAP.

As it did last year, NYMF will partner with institutions and producers around New York City to celebrate the creation of new musicals. Events include productions, concerts and special events in collaboration with Dixon Place, Melting Pot Theatre Company, the Donnell Library, The Duplex, Prospect Theatre Company, Birdland, ASCAP, BMI, New Dramatists, The Museum of Television & Radio, The Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92nd Street Y, The American Theatre Wing, and others.

NYMF previously announced 18 productions selected through its open-submission Next Link Project. Of the productions featured in last year's Festival, approximately 20% have since been optioned for additional runs, including ALTAR BOYZ (2005 Outer Critics Circle Award), Stephen Schwartz's CAPTAIN LOUIE(recently at the York Theater) and the forthcoming productions of THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL, TITLE OF SHOW and SHOUT!.

Dedicated to discovering new work and new artists, The New York Musical Theatre Festival celebrates the diversity, creativity, and future of musical theatre. NYMF is a flagship program of the National Music Theater Network, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and is America's largest annual musical theatre event. For more information, visit www.nymf.org.