USUCC: An Original Zoomsical Premieres Next Month

A new comedy musical USUCC: An Original Zoomsical will premiere on Youtube on February 12th.

This Zoom-musical tells the story of an adjunct university professor, who finds herself facing a mutiny from her students after the school moves online. She questions what it means to be a teacher when she is forced to make a choice between taking care of herself and taking care of her students.

The project was filmed remotely, entirely on mobile phones with minimal additional equipment. The actors worked across many roles in addition to their parts on screen: filming, recording music, adjusting camera angles, and even lighting.

Lead actress playing the professor, Amanda Kristin Cox (off-Broadway: Mrs. Patrick in A Man of No Importance (2020) with Bookworm Theatrics at the Alvin Ailey Theatre) is also Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Lyric Theatre at Houghton College in upstate New York. Additional cast members include Kevin Herrera (off-Broadway: Ensemble in Romeo y Julieta (2020) at The Public Theater/WNYC) and Ian Parker, recent graduates of Brooklyn College's MFA in Acting program, Jake Ellsworth (Southern Illinois University) and Hannah Duran (AMDA).

Filmmakers Brian Ryu and Julia Krom, friends through high school and college at NYU, had the idea to unite a group of creatives during a difficult time of the pandemic. Cast and crew worked in unison across the country and time zones: from Hawaii to Los Angeles to New York.