TheaterWorksUSA to Adapt DOG MAN Series Into Family Musical

TheaterWorksUSA announces their newest partnership with Writers House and Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education, and media company, by securing the rights to adapt the worldwide bestseller DOG MAN by Dav Pilkey for the stage. DOG MAN:The Musical is written by Emmy Award winning duo Kevin Del Aguila and Brad Alexander and directed by Jen Wineman and will get its world premiere in New York City this Summer June 28 - August 4, 2019. VIP Passes are now available for members of TheaterWorksUSA's Honor Society. To become a member or get more information about DOG MAN: The Musical visit TWUSA.org/DogMan.

Dog Man The Musical is a hilarious new musical based on the bestselling book series by Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey featuring a lovable crime-biting canine who is part dog, part man, and ALL HERO!

Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild, the latest title in Dav Pilkey's Dog Man series received a staggering 5 million copy first printing and debuted at #1 overall on the USA Today, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Launched under Scholastic's Graphix imprint two years ago, Dog Man was an instant bestseller, appealing to kids and critics alike, and now has more than 23 million copies in print to date and translations available in more than 21 languages.

"I just had the honor and privilege of seeing an early workshop performance of Dog Man: The Musical and I absolutely loved it! I admire the talented team at TheaterWorksUSA who are best known for making literature come alive and for creating entertainment that appeals to audiences of all ages. I can't wait for everyone to see it!" Dog Man creator Dav Pilkey

"We are thrilled that Dav has entrusted us to create Dog Man: The Musical. Very few writers have been able to encourage young readers as much as Dav Pilkey has and very few theater companies have been able to inspire young theater-goers as much as TheaterWorksUSA has. It's a great match!" TheaterWorksUSA's Artistic Director, Barbara Pasternack

"Developing and producing new musicals is a huge undertaking, financially and otherwise. As a not-for-profit company, with 11 touring productions on the road this year alone, our donors do so much to help us bring live theater to more than 1.5 million young people across North America each year. It's only natural that they have first crack at reserving their seats now for special moments like the world premiere of Dog Man: The Musical this summer." TheaterWorksUSA's Managing Director, Michael Harrington.

The development of this project took place at TW Studios: Chelsea with a cast that included L.R. Davidson (Playwrights Horizon's National Pastime), Jamie LaVerdiere (Broadway's Motown, The Musical), Kenita R. Miller (Broadway's Once on This Island), Brian Owen (Regional: Camelot, Sweeney Todd), Dan Rosales (NYC: Spamilton), and Forest Van Dyke (NY: Balloon Boy The Musical). Creative team includes: set design by Timothy Mackabee (Broadway: The Elephant Man. NYC: Heathers), light design by David Lander (Broadway: Torch Song, The Heiress), sound design by Emily Auciello (Atlantic Theater's Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical), and costume design by Heidi Leigh Hanson (Regional: Flyin' West, Evita). Musical director for the workshop was Noah Teplin and Melissa Erickson was the stage manager.

TheaterWorksUSA has led the Theater for Young and Family Audiences movement in New York City and across North America for over half a century. Since 1962, the 501(c)3 not-for-profit has captured the imaginations of 100 million new and veteran theatergoers with an award-winning repertoire of over 130 original plays and musicals. Acclaimed alumni include Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Disney's Frozen), Jerry Zaks (Hello, Dolly!), Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), and Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America). To learn more, visit www.TWUSA.org

DAV PILKEY (creator of Dog Man) As a child, Dav Pilkey was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. Dav was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hall every day. It was in the hallway in second grade where Dav created his own original comic books featuring characters that eventually became Dog Man and Captain Underpants. The Captain Underpants series has more than 80 million copies in print worldwide and has been translated into more than 28 languages. In 2017, DreamWorks brought the character to the silver screen in the feature film adaptation Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, and Netflix is now streaming The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants TV show. Dav has gone on to create award-winning and bestselling books for children including the Dragon series, the Dumb Bunnies series, Dog Breath, and The Paperboy, which won a Caldecott Honor.

Jen Wineman (Director) is a director/choreographer based in Brooklyn. Her work has been seen at theaters in New York and across the country. New York credits include Less Than 50% (59E59); Surfer Girl (Animus); My Heart is in the East (La Mama); Fable (NYMF), The King's Whore (Walkerspace); F#%king Up Everything (Elektra Theater), Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen] (Ars Nova). Touring productions include Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Asolo Repertory Theatre). Regional credits include the world premiere of Game On (currently running at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera); Shakespeare in Love (Virginia Rep); Into the West (Tantrum Theater); Baskerville (Dorset Theatre Festival); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Asolo Rep & Miami New Drama); Sweeney Todd (Playmakers Rep); The 39 Steps, Shipwrecked (Triad Stage); The Hunchback of Seville (Washington Ensemble Theatre); Bubble Boy (American Theater Group); Aloha Say the Pretty Girls (Theatre Vertigo). Jen was a co-founder and co-artistic director of Studio 42, a New York City-based company that, from 2001-2015, produced "unproducible" new plays by emerging playwrights. She is an affiliated artist with New Georges, an alum of the Soho Rep Writer Director Lab, an associate member of Telluride Theatre, and a proud member of the SDC. Jen has taught at the City College of New York, Vassar College, Ithaca College, SUNY Purchase, and is on the faculty at Primary Stages' Einhorn School of Performing Arts in New York City. She received a B.A. from Vassar College and her M.F.A. in directing from Yale School of Drama.

Kevin Del Aguila (Book and Lyrics) is an acclaimed actor, writer and director in New York City. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winning writer of the PBS show Peg + Cat, recipient of the Heideman Award for his play The Greekest Of Tragedies (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and the book-writer of the hit Off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz (New York Outer Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations) which made history as one of the longest running off-Broadway musicals of all time. Other works include his middle-aged superhero musical The Astonishing Return of The Protagonists! (2013 NAMT Festival), A Touch of Rigor Mortis (NY Fringe), and his stage adaptations of the wildly popular book series Diary of A Wimpy Kid (CTC Minneapolis) and the DreamWorks film Madagascar, which toured nationally and played engagements at Radio City Music Hall. He has been commissioned to write many stage adaptations of children's books for Theatreworks USA, several of which have premiered Off-Broadway including Click Clack Moo (Lortel nomination for Best Musical and Drama Desk Award Nomination for Kevin's lyrics), Skippyjon Jones (Lortel Award Nomination), and The Velveteen Rabbit (DR2). Kevin has written for many children's television programs including "The Wonder Pets," "Blaze and The Monster Machines," and "Nella The Princess Knight" for NickJr (staff writer), "Henry Hugglemonster" for DisneyJr, "Tumble Leaf" for Amazon, and the upcoming reboot of "Clifford The Big Red Dog" for PBS & Amazon (head writer). He has also been hired to adapt many high-profile children's entertainment brands into live touring experiences, including Paw Patrol for Nickelodeon, Ice Age for Fox, and TrollS for NBC Universal/Dreamworks. His film projects include the teen comedy Band Dorks and the romantic comedy Cupidity. Kevin has also written and directed events for The New York Philharmonic, including their famed Young People's Concerts at Lincoln Center. As an actor, Kevin has had guest appearances on television ("Law & Order: SVU," Hulu's "Deadbeat") and can be heard as a singing troll in the Disney blockbuster Frozen as well as various characters in the animated PBS show "Peg + Cat". Kevin has been part of the original Broadway casts of Frozen (as Oaken), Peter And The Starcatcher (as Smee) and Rocky, and has performed in a myriad of Off-Broadway productions including Love's Labour's Lost at The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, Peter And The Starcatcher at New York Theater Workshop, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater for City Center Encores' Off Center Series, the 2006 revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive & Well..., A Christmas Carol, The Big Bang, Black Russian, Around The World In 80 Days And Rocket To The Moon, as well as workshop productions of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson for Center Theatre Group and Up Here for The Roundabout Theater Company.

Brad Alexander (Composer) is a New York-based BMI songwriter and the composer of See Rock City& Other Destinations (book and lyrics by Adam Mathias), recipient of the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, six Drama Desk nominations, the Richard Rodgers Award, and The BMI Foundation Jerry Bock Award. The Original off-Broadway Cast Recording is available on iTunes and Amazon and the show is available for licensing through Samuel French, Inc. Brad has scored numerous projects for TV, web and radio, including PBS's Emmy Award-winning animated series "Peg + Cat", VH1's "Celebreality" campaign, SiriusXM's Stage Door Supper Club, web series "Submissions Only," and the upcoming "Clifford The Big Red Dog" for Amazon/PBS/Scholastic. With NYC band EdibleRed, Brad wrote "Sugar and Spring", the first single off the band's debut album Welcome To My Bad Behavior on Select Records. Additional theatre credits include the music and orchestrations for Theatreworks USA's Click, Clack, Moo (Drama Desk and Lortel nom, book by Billy Aronson, lyrics by Kevin Del Aguila), the music for JUST SO STORIES (book by Mindi Dickstein, lyrics by Helen Chayefsky) and Martha Speaks (book by Kevin Del Aguila, lyrics by Jill Abramovitz) and songs with Kevin Del Aguila for Duck For President, Fly Guy & Other Stories, And We The People: America Rocks! (Lortel Award nom). Current projects: Bread And Roses (book and lyrics by Jill Abramovitz), recently presented at A.R.T./New York Theatres as part of Amas Musical Theatre's "Dare To Be Different Series" and at Playwright's Horizons as part of the New York Musical Festival's Developmental Reading Series. Brad and Jill are also developing a new musical with Erik Forrest Jackson (Cheers Live On Stage) at Musical Theatre Factory. Brad is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Dramatists Guild of America and member Emeritus of The BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.