New York Theatre Barn Presents New Musicals From Joe Iconis, Sarah Beth Pfiefer and Rob Rokicki

New York Theatre Barn will host a free live stream of its New Works Series on Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 at 7PM EDT, featuring excerpts from the new musicals Love In Hate Nation and Experience Marianas. The live 1-hour presentation will also feature a conversation with the writers and creative team.

The new musical Love In Hate Nation has book, music and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Joe Iconis (Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter). Set in a 1960s Juvie Hall, Love in Hate Nation tells the story of young people caught between eras of a changing America. Sixteen-year-old Susannah Son is carted off to the National Reformatory for Girls to get her head put on straight. There she meets the aggressively incorrigible Sheila Nail, and a relationship forms which leads to an all-out "revolution in the institution" as they attempt to break out of the boxes society has created around them. Girl Group Wall of Sound harmonies are filtered through a punk rock spirit in this rebellious and romantic new musical. Featuring performances by Sydney Farley, Amina Faye, Jasmine Forsberg (Broadway Bounty Hunter), Lauren Marcus (Be More Chill), Kelly McIntyre (A Night with Janis Joplin), Lena Skeele, Emerson Mae Smith and Tatiana Wechsler (Benny & Joon, Oklahoma!).

Experience Marianas is a new musical with a book by Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief, Monstersongs) and Sarah Beth Pfeifer (The Lightning Thief), and music and lyrics by Rokicki. Experience Marianas is a wild sapphic rock musical adventure about one woman's journey to escape an oceanic cult. The piece is a high-octane, darkly comedic examination of systems of control and how we struggle to define our identities within them. Set aboard a ship, the show immerses our audience into the Marianas Institute, an aquatic 'healing center' founded by Dr. Davis "Daddy" Johnson. We are indoctrinated into the group in real-time. "Informational sessions" start off completely plausible but get progressively wilder and more fantastical, complete with pyramid schemes, sex rituals, sea monsters, and eventually murder. Featuring performances by co-writers Rob Rokicki and Sarah Beth Pfeifer, and CAP21/Molloy College students Juliana Conte, Bridget Doyle, Arturo Hernandez, and James Silverstein.

Love In Hate Nation was commissioned and developed by Penn State Musical Theater, and received its world premiere production in the fall 2019 at New Jersey's Two River Theater. Experience Marianas has been developed with CAP21/Molloy College, was a semi-finalist for the 2020 O'Neil Festival, and will be presented at University Centre Weston in the UK this year.

The 1-hour presentation will be available on New York Theatre Barn's YouTube channel and Broadway on Demand, and is hosted and produced by Jen Sandler and Joe Barros. For more information, visit New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.

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