MT Shorts Partners With Atlanta Workshop Players On New Musical Short Film

MT Shorts announces its new partnership with Atlanta Workshop Players (AWP), filming an original musical short film penned by 2019 Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient Andy Roninson and featuring the students of AWP.

The musical short film, Jump, will be filmed and screened this July on location at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee school outside of Atlanta, GA in conjunction with AWP's performing arts intensive. The film, inspired by interviews with AWP students, follows the experience of three young campers who manifest the famous Eleanor Roosevelt quote, "Do one thing everyday that scares you", featuring a new contemporary musical theatre anthem and screenplay by Roninson, and directed by MT Shorts Co-Creator/ Producer and AWP alumni, Greg Kamp.

"AWP was a haven during my formative years as a creative person," says Kamp. "Beyond the top notch professional training, they deeply explore and instill the huge responsibility that comes with being an artist. AWP prepares you not just to be a good performer, but a great human. That is why Sarah and I are so excited for MT Shorts to partner with them, work with their incredible students, and play some small part in the enormous legacy they've created."

MT Shorts, founded by Sarah Ellis and Kamp last year, is a creative production company where musical theatre and short film meet, with a mission to bring the voices of an emerging generation to screen through the creation of original musical short films. At its core, MT Shorts seeks to provide an outlet for new composers to explore writing for film and the luxury of a digital short form content platform with an unlimited amount of viewership-maintaining musical theatre's legacy, while simultaneously pushing the form forward. The company's debut film, Hey, Beautiful!, premiered last year written by Nat Zegree and Eric Holmes.

Since 1981, Atlanta Workshop Players, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, family-friendly performing arts company and film school conservatory, has been "changing the world one audience at a time!" AWP provides year round professional level training to challenge and inspire diverse people through extraordinary productions in a joyful, supportive, non-competitive atmosphere. AWP is more than arts education. They help students reach their full potential by embracing uniqueness, living out their passion, making strong industry connections, developing life-long friends, and living life to the fullest. Students of AWP have gone on to star in movies, on television shows, Broadway, National Tours, and in every facet of the entertainment industry.

Andy Roninson is a composer-lyricist, orchestrator, and music director in NYC. As a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, he was awarded the Robert B. Sherman Scholarship and the Jerry Harrington Award for Creative Excellence. He participated in the 2017 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. He is the creator and host of TAKE A TEN, the all-original ten-minute musical podcast. Episodes have had live productions at theaters and schools around the world and have won numerous awards including Best Musical (2x) at Theatre Now New York's SOUND BITES festival, the 2016 City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting, and the top prize at the 40th Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival, which included publication by Samuel French. Recorded episodes featured THE VOICE talents of Tony-nominees Laura Osnes and Rob McClure as well as Broadway and NYC actors like George Salazar, Nick Blaemire, and more. Andy is a 2019 Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient presented by the American Theatre Wing.

For more information on MT Shorts please visit www.mtshorts.com

For more information on AWP please visit www.atlantaworkshopplayers.com

For more information on Andy Roninson please visit www.andyroninson.com

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