NEXT UK to Showcase New British Musical Theatre Writers at The Duplex, 11/2

Performed by RAJA BURROWS, LYNN CRAIG, DAVID R. GORDON (Flashdance! The Musical), MIKE HOUSTON (Boardwalk Empire), ALICIA KRAKAUER, JENNI LAWTON, MAGNUS TONNING RIISE, RACHEL SULLIVAN, KEVIN DAVID THOMAS (A Little Night Music, Les Miserables), LAURA KAYE THOMSON, and MATHIEU WHITMAN with Musical Director WILL BUCK at the piano.

To make reservations, call The Duplex at (212) 255-5438 or reserve directly on their website http://www.theduplex.com/~thedup/webcalendar/view_entry.php?id=8830&date=20141102

BOBBY CRONIN is an award-winning composer/writer whose current projects include: Sunset City with bookwriter Wade Dooley (2013 Running Deer Theatre Lab, 2014 Goodspeed Mercer Project, 2014 The Pitch at Finger Lakes Theatre); The Concrete Jungle with co-bookwriter Crystal Skillman, which was commissioned in 2012 for London's esteemed ArtsEd School (President: Andrew Lloyd Webber) and opened in London June 2012. Welcome To My Life (W2ML) currently under a Broadway option; 'Til Death Do Us Part (2012 Alec Baldwin Fellowship Winner, UK's S&S Award Finalist). Daybreak which won the 2011 New Jersey Playwrights Contest and premiered in Wayne, NJ & London's Tristan Bates Theatre June 2012. Currently writing Mary & Max with Crystal Skillman and Stafford Arima, Alone In The US, commissioned by CAP21 with Terry Berliner which was also seen at Marymount Manhattan College where it won "Best Musical" - it will also be produced in 2015 at New York Film Academy this January and The University of Cumbria in February. He wrote the score to the short musical film "Walk the Walk" for NYFA, where he is also on faculty and currently writing a techno-rock-opera film noir. He wrote the score for the webseries "Settling Up" which just finished filming in NYC. Other: York NEO 10 Fellow, 54 Below, Lincoln Center New Songbook Series, Birdland, Symphony Space, London's The Players Theatre & St. James Theatre, and more. "Reach The Sky: Live at The Beechman" and "The Concrete Jungle International Studio Cast Recording" both on iTunes. Yale graduate, Member of ASCAP, Dramatists Guild, and MMD (UK). Producer & creator of Inspired US & UK. @bobbycronin or www.bobbycronin.com

FINN ANDERSON most recently wrote and directed Alba for the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Alba was nominated for a Musical Theatre Network Award, chosen as Fringe Review's No.1 Musical and Musical Talk Podcast's Pick of the Fringe. Previously Finn conceived and wrote music and lyrics for Streets which was nominated for two Off West End Awards including Best New Musical following a transfer to Hackney Empire in June last year. Finn would like to thank everyone involved for their time and commitment to new writing!

TIM CONNOR is a composer and lyricist. His cabaret songs have been performed at venues around London from Wilton's Musical Hall to the St James Theatre. Most recently, he was a finalist in the Stiles and Drewe new writing competition. NEXT will be featuring songs from two of Tim's projects - Heart of Winter, a one woman cycle created with Lia Buddle - and The Stationmaster, a new musical drama written with Susannah Pearse.

GUS GOWLAND is writing book music and lyrics for 'Pieces of String', due for production next year directed by Craig Revel Horwood. He was commissioned to write 2 songs for Olivier award winning company Duckie's show Copyright Christmas at the Barbican. Gus was both a finalist in the Stiles and Drewe award and shortlisted for the Perfect Pitch award. He was selected to be on a the UK Jury for this years Eurovision Song contest and is currently under commission to write the book for a modern musical version of Medea.

SCOTT MORGAN staged his first musical when he was 19, which then after several productions and rewrites later, opened in London last year as Geek! where it ran for a month at the Tristan Bates Theatre, becoming their second biggest selling show; it is currently undergoing more rewrites before it opens in NYC later next year. In April this year, Scott staged a concert in Essex, where he lives featuring several West End singers performing his work including songs from 'Geek!', stand alone cabaret songs & snippets from his new show Strange People which begins workshopping this month. Strange People is staged as a 'television' documentary and follows the lives of 3 people with bizarre compulsions and traits and chronicles the aftermath of their instant celebrity status. Scott is now trying his hand at something new: writing a family show with a happy ending and not a swear word in sight! One of the songs from said show, 'The Life I Never Planned' was premiered at NEXT UK's debut show last month.

EAMONN O'DWYER trained at the Royal Academy of Music and has worked as a musician in theatres all over the world. As a composer he has written original music for The Glass Menagerie (Chipping Norton Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Stockholm English Speaking Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Barakura Festival Theatre, Japan); The Massacre (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds); Liquorice & Smokerings (New Wolsey, Ipswich); and Frankenstein (Dorset Corset Theatre Company). He is a frequent musical collaborator at Sir Peter Hall's Rose Theatre in Kingston, where he has written scores for Our Town, A Christmas Carol, Hamlet, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Arabian Nights and Alice in Wonderland. His original musical The House of Mirrors & Hearts won the Musical Theatre Matters Award for Best New Musical Score at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010. The show later transferred to the Arcola Theatre and was recently recorded for Perfect Pitch, featuring Charlotte Wakefield, Helen Hobson & Lauren Samuels. His most recent appearance in the West End was in the National Theatre's multi- award-winning production of War Horse, in which Eamonn played the role of the Song Man from 2009-2011. 3 times Stiles & Drewe finalist, he's just written a gypsy jazz score for Around The World in 80 Days which is about to start touring. He's working on a new musical adaptation of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe for the Rose in Kingston this Christmas. http://www.eamonnodwyer.com

LAURA KAYE THOMSON has an MA from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and although a performer, is also a musical theatre songwriter. Having met NEXT co-founder Alicia Krakauer at Mountview, she heard about the idea of bringing NEXT to the UK and jumped on board as Artistic Assistant to help produce such a brilliant project.

NEXT: Now Entering The Crossroads of Theatre is a concert series dedicated to helping talented new artists meet and collaborate with the most promising emerging songwriters. Each concert features the work of up and coming musical theatre writers and a rotating group of talented young performers. To get familiar with NEXT, to contact us, or to submit for future concerts, follow us on twitter (@NextUKMT) or visit www.NowEnteringNEXT.com

Photo Credit: Lee Martin