VOW Workshop Set for Marymount Manhattan College, 1/31-2/1

VOW is an inaugural and extremely ambitious Musical Theatre Workshop being presented by the Marymount Manhattan College Musical Theatre Program (Pat Hoag Simon, Coordinator for Musical Theatre) and The Directory Of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers (David Sisco, Founder & Curator) that opens wide the creative process of the Broadway musical theatre industry to twenty very fortunate musical theatre students currently enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College's progressive Musical Theatre Program.

The twenty students will both perform in the four new musicals that comprise VOW as well as stage-manage, market and design the much talked about workshop. In addition, featured company members have received songs from THE DIRECTORY, which will thread together the 90-minute production of VOW.

During the time-intensive four-week rehearsal period of VOW the twenty students will also enjoy Masterclasses with Broadway's Barry Wyner (Calvin Berger), Jeff Blumenkrantz (URBAN COWBOWY) and Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair (MURDER FOR TWO) as they develop characters that will eventually arrive on Broadway and on Regional stages across the country.

The project also opens wide a new venue of opportunity for entrepreneurs interested in the next generation of Broadway award-winners and the solid financial investment opportunities that accompany such a lucrative creative situation.

VOW's four award-winning writers, Sara Wordsworth, Russ Kaplan, Will Reynolds and Clay Zambo, have written smart and entertaining musical "shorts" based on articles from the Weddings/Celebrations Sunday Section of THE NEW YORK TIMES.

VOW will be presented to the public on FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 at 8:00pm and SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 at 7:30pm and 9:30pm at the THERESA LANG THEATRE at MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE (221 East 71 Street). Admission is free. Reservations are required. DIRECT LINK FOR TICKETS: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/vow-made-2-measure-musical-theatre-workshop-tickets-10149560609

THE MUSICALS:

VOWS
Book by: Russell Kaplan & Sara Wordsworth
Music by: Russell Kaplan
Lyrics by: Sara Wordsworth

A hardnosed New York Times reporter is given a new nightmare job writing for the Weddings and Celebrations section. Can she hack it in her tough new assignment, or will the fluffy material and her peppy young intern drive her insane?

BLUE APRON
Book, Lyrics, & Music by: Clay Zambo

It takes a village (or at least a storeful) in BLUE APRON. The primary "helper" is the market's leprechaun-like manager and his aisles and shelves of tasty treats. The other customers don't directly aid and abet Steve in his pursuit of Laura as much as Steve's doctor does, but they observe and comment-and, perhaps, wish they could do more to help. (The setting of this musical is not imagined; I visited the shop before starting to write it, and gained a pound or two in the process.)

TRANSIT OF VENUS
Book, Lyrics & Music by: Clay Zambo

TRANSIT OF VENUS involves the entire cosmos. Sara and Kenneth meet over an antique telescope, but-as so often happens in life-their attraction is first noticed by others. In this case, that "constellation" represents their friends and colleagues and the spirit of a 250-year-old astronomer. For years, I've read "Vows" with amusement and great interest-and, occasionally, even thought the story of one couple or another might make an interesting musical. Although I've not met Sara and Kenneth or Laura and Steve, the time I've spent with their stories, and in rehearsal with David Sisco, Laura Josepher, and the Marymount Manhattan College student cast has been a delightful way to spend the winter. Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING
Book, Lyrics & Music by: Will Reynolds

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING takes place on Oct. 1st, 2011 - day 15 of the Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park. In Part One, Jonathan Westin (a very new New Yorker) meets Camille Rivera, a fiery protestor and community leader. Desperate to be a part of something bigger than himself, Jonathan is swept up - alongside Camille - in the march on the Brooklyn Bridge. Part Two finds the unlikely duo in the NYPD Midtown lockup in a holding cell alongside their fellow protestors. After talking until dawn when everyone else falls asleep,Camille and Jonathan find they have more in common than at first glance, and are faced with a choice that might change their lives forever. Or at least get them out of jail.

THE BIOS:

LAURA JOSEPHER (Director) has been directing, teaching, and coaching professionally in New York City for the past twenty-five years. Her most recent directing credits include two concerts promoting The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers: Binders Full Of Women's Songs at 54 Below, and A Celebration Of Contemporary Musical Theatre at Second Stage Theater. Other credits include a workshop of Tom Gualtieri and David Sisco's musical Falling To Earth at Syracuse University, David Sisco's Bait 'N Swish for the Left Out Festival, Garth Wingfield's Dating Games at the Theatre Row Studio Theatre, NY and The Elephant Theatre in L.A., Dirty Blonde, The Turn Of The Screw and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, Anna Christie at Gallery Players, Successful Strategies for Lilli Theatreworks, and HUGHIE at Provincetown Rep. For Rattlestick Productions: Winning and the award winning Car Pool. Operas: La Boheme, Cosi Fan Tutte, Hansel And Gretel, Die Fledermaus, and Gianni Schicchi at Quisisana Resort. Assistant Director for Laurie Anderson's, Songs And Stories From Moby Dick (co-directed by MS. Anderson and Anne Bogart), Associate Director for Backwards In High Heels directed by Scott Schwartz. Laura has a Master of Arts in Educational Theatre, and a Bachelor of Music, both from New York University. She is an Equity stage manager, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a Member of SDC.

David Sisco (Musical Director) is a member of the Dramatist's Guild and BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (Advanced) and is the author of Here I Am: A Musical Personal Ad, Variations on a Theme of You, Sopranos, BAIT n' SWISH and The Catbird Seat. David is currently collaborating with book-writer-lyricist Tom Gualtieri on two musicals: Falling to Earth, and I'm Afraid, You're Afraid: 448 Things to Fear And Why. Sisco is also a prolific art song composer. Winner of the 2010 NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Composition Award, David's songs have been heard at concerts produced by Friends & Enemies of New Music, New Music New York, Joy in Singing, Lyricfest, Songfest and Songfusion. As a singer, David feels at home as a recitalist, musical theater performer and chorister. He has been a proud member of the sanctuary choir at Marble Collegiate Church for over twelve years and recorded three CDs with the ensemble - the most recent includes the premiere recording of his choral work, "Awake My Heart." David has served on the faculties at Northeastern and Suffolk University, and currently teaches private voice at Marymount Manhattan College. He also maintains a private studio in New York and leads masterclasses around the country on preparing contemporary art song. David is the Founder & Curator of The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers, a resource that helps teachers, students and music theatre professionals find well-written, largely self-published contemporary musical theatre songs (www.contemporarymusicaltheatre.com). He serves on the artistic board of a new initiative spearheaded by Jeanine Tesori at City Center and recently returned from Australia, where he presented two papers at the International Congress of Voice Teachers. www.davidsisco.com

THE DIRECTORY OF CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS is a unique interactive resource, which allows subscribers to access the rich landscape of contemporary musical theatre and directly connect with today's best writers. By circumventing traditional publishing models, the Directory helps voice teachers, students and musical theatre professionals explore our writer's songs, introducing them to well-crafted material they won't find anywhere else. Subscribers can easily search the ever-growing database (currently with over 160 writers and 400 songs) by voice and song type and explore repertoire that covers the gamut of styles from legit to pop/rock. All songs are vetted by industry professionals. Each song record includes detailed information, such as the range, tessitura, accompaniment difficulty, transposition availability, writer notes and links to listen and purchase the songs directly from the writers. The Directory has become a hub for informative interviews and exclusive media content. The Directory has produced two star-studded concerts in New York: Binders Full Of Women's Songs at 54 Below (honoring Gretchen Cryer & Nancy Ford in conjunction with City Center's Encores: Off-Center production of I'm Getting My Act Together...), and A Celebration Of Contemporary Musical Theatre at Second Stage Theater (Seth Rudetsky, host). The Directory has also recently launched a masterclass and workshop series, which further connects teachers and students to fantastic emerging writers.

PAT HOAG SIMON (Coordinator for Musical Theatre) has served as Coordinator for Musical Theatre at Marymount Manhattan College since 1991. She has designed our various music theatre curriculums as well as taught Musical Theatre Techniques, Scene into Song, Auditioning for Musicals and Special Topics courses such as The Musicals of Prince and Sondheim, New Musicals and Musicals That Won the Tony as Best Musical and Best Revival of a Musical. Pat directed Baby, She Loves Me, The Grass Harp, The Human Heart, Plain and Fancy, Carousel, The Human Comedy and Ragtime for the college. Additionally, she has introduced music theatre professionals such as Robert Durkin, Josh Bergasse, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Christopher D'Amboise, David Loud and Stephen Oremus to the Theatre Production Workshop, where our students worked with them on such shows as The Boyfriend, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Bright Lights Big City, Drood, Vaudeville and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Our partnerships with DANY, Manhattan Movement and Art, Studio Maestro, The York Theatre Company, Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers and National Dance Institute are the result of Pat's efforts to truly make New York City our campus for musical theatre. Pat supervises a faculty of over thirty musical theatre professionals in the fields of music theatre history, music theory, dance, private voice, auditioning and acting for musical theatre. Prior to MMC, Pat was a professional actor, appearing in A Shot in the Dark, Dames at Sea, Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. She worked as Casting Director and Literary Advisor for the WPA Theatre, casting Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias. For several years she worked at New York Agency and Bauman Hiller Associates assisting Mark Redanty before taking teaching and curriculum design positions with Musical Theatre Works and The American Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Pat is especially proud of the MMC January Projects which have allowed students to work on new musicals with Patricia Birch, Larry Fuller, Larry Grossman, Charles Strouse, Christopher Cerf, Paul Jacobs, Sarah Durkee and Barbara Siman among many. An Oral Historian, Pat's work on Joshua Logan is housed at the Goodspeed Library of Musical Theatre in East Haddam, Connecticut.She is currently working on a new music theatre piece called Songlines and Dreamings.