Rhinebeck Writers Retreat Announces Musical Theatre Writers for Inaugural Year

Kathy Evans, Founder and Executive Director of the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, announced the fourteen musical theatre writers who will participate for the inaugural summer in July and August. The Rhinebeck Writers Retreat provides a one-week residency for a musical theatre writing team to create and refine their musical in Rhinebeck, New York. The participants include 2011 Tony-nominee Alex Timbers, working with his Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson collaborator Michael Friedman; and the band Groovelily -- Valerie Vigoda, Brendan Milburn, and Gene Lewin.

The writers and projects selected for this summer are:

· * Fred Carl and Ed DuRanté; A Clockwork Orange, which will
have its premiere in London at Theatre Royal Stratford East this
September.

· * Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses; Nobody Loves You, which will
premiere at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 2012.

· * Rebekah Melocik and Jacob Yandura, The Disillusionist.

· * Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers, with a yet to be titled musical.

· * Janet Allard and Nicholas Tsakalakos; Pool Boy, which
premiered at Barrington Stage in 2010.

· * Valerie Vigoda, Brendan Milburn, and Gene Lewin;
Wheelhouse, which will have its premiere at TheatreWorks in California
next spring.

· * Andrew Gerle; Gloryana, which won the 2011 Richard Rodgers
award for Musical Theater.

The Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is the creation of Kathy Evans, who was
the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre
for nine years and currently serves on its Board. The new
organization provides a working residency for musical theatre writing
teams in a home near Rhinebeck, located in the scenic countryside of
the Hudson Valley. The weeklong residencies give writers the space
and time to focus on their work. The Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is now
filing for not-for-profit status, with generous assistance from the
law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. For more information on the
Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, email RhinebeckWriters@gmail.com.

Writer Bios:

July 2 - 9: Fred Carl and Ed DuRanté: A Clockwork Orange

Fred Carl is a composer, educator, musical director and flutist. As a
composer his work has been heard in short films, as incidental music
for plays and, most extensively, in his theatre work with writer
hattie gosset. As a musical director he has worked at numerous venues,
including Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theater, Lincoln Center,
and Joe's Pub. He is currently an Assistant Arts Professor at
NYU/Tisch's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. He is also alum
of that program. A Clockwork Orange is scheduled for a full
production at Theatre Royal Stratford East this September.

Ed DuRanté graduated from NYU's Graduate Film Program where he was
awarded the Graduate/Professional Opportunity Fellowship; NYU's
Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program where he received the ASCAP
Foundation Yip Harburg Scholarship; and Yale University. His work has
been produced by Theatre for the New City and Playwrights Horizons
where he was an original member of the Black Playwrights Unit. His
play "Homeboys" is part of the literary anthology "Patchwork of
Dreams." He has written, produced and directed several short films
including "America", which was a Wasserman Award Finalist and the
recipient of awards for Editing, Acting and Production Design and he
was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for
Filmmaking.

July 10 - 17: Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses - Nobody Loves You

Gaby Alter is a Brooklyn-based composer and songwriter. His musicals
include NOBODY LOVES YOU with Itamar Moses, scheduled for production
in 2012 at The Old Globe Theater; BAND GEEKS (with Tommy Newman, Mark
Allen and Gordon Greenberg), which was produced at Goodspeed Musicals
in 2010, and 29, produced by NYU Steinhardt. He has written music for
PBS Kids' television, MTV and NPR. He is the recipient of a Jonathan
Larson Grant, awards from the San Francisco Theater Critics' Circle
and the New York Fringe Festival, and a 2010 MAC award nominee.

Itamar Moses is the author of the plays OUTRAGE, BACH AT LEIPZIG,
CELEBRITY ROW, THE FOUR OF US, YELLOWJACKETS, BACK BACK BACK, and
COMPLETENESS, and the musicals NOBODY LOVES YOU (with Gaby Alter), and
FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE (with Michael Friedman and Daniel Aukin). His
work has appeared Off-Broadway, at regional theatres, and is published
by Faber & Faber and Samuel French. He has received new play
commissions from The McCarter Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, The Wilma Theater, South Coast Rep, Manhattan
Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, and The Goodman Theatre. On television,
Itamar writes for both TNT's MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE and HBO's BOARDWALK
EMPIRE. Itamar holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and has
taught playwriting at Yale and NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists
Guild, MCC Playwrights Coalition, and is a New York Theatre Workshop
Usual Suspect.

July 24 - 30: Rebekah Melocik and Jacob Yandura -- The Disillusionist

Rebekah Melocik has had her work performed in Sydney, Los Angeles and
New York. She first studied songwriting with Jason Robert Brown, and
proudly received her MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU. In 2008,
she won the Kennedy Center's award for Emerging Musical Theatre
Writers. Her current projects include "Dogwood Days" and "The
Disillusionist" (music by Jacob Yandura), and "Dancing with Abandon"
(music and lyrics by Karen Hartman and Phil Lebovits).

Jacob Yandura holds a B.A. in Music Composition from Kenyon College
and an M.F.A from New York University's Graduate Musical Theatre
Writing Program. He studied with Michael John LaChiusa, Bruce
Coughlin, Mel Marvin and Stephen Oremus. In 2009, his musical,
Morning's Song, had a premiere reading at Kenyon College and raised
over $6,000 for the Vicki Speakman Memorial Fund for Breast Cancer
Research. His current projects include Dogwood Days and The
Disillusionist (book and lyrics by Rebekah Melocik). Jacob's work has
been performed in New York, Nashville and Florence, Italy.

July 31 - August 6: Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers -- Untitled musical

Michael Friedman is a founding Associate Artist of The Civilians, and
has been the Composer/lyricist for the company's This Beautiful City,
[I Am] Nobody's Lunch, Gone Missing, and Canard, Canard, Goose? He
also wrote music and lyrics for Saved, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,
In the Bubble, The Brand New Kid, God's Ear, and The Blue Demon. With
Steve Cosson, he is the co-author of Paris Commune. His music has also
been heard at the New York Shakespeare Festival, New York Theatre
Workshop, The Roundabout Theatre Co., Second Stage, Soho Rep, and
Signature; regionally at Hartford Stage, ART, Berkeley Rep, Dallas
Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Portland Center Stage;
and internationally at London's Soho and Gate Theatres, and the
Edinburgh Festival. Film/TV work includes On Common Ground, Beloved,
Emile Norman: By His Own Design, Floaters and Affair Game. He is an
Artistic Associate at New York Theatre Workshop, and a recipient of a
MacDowell fellowship and a Princeton University Hodder Fellowship. He
received a 2007 Obie award for sustained excellence.

Alex Timbers is a Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning writer/director.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (also co-writer; Broadway, Public Theater
and Center Theatre Group, OCC and Drama Desk Awards), A Very Merry
Unauthorized... (conceiver; Obie Award and Garland Award, Best
Director), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Drama Desk nomination, Best
Director of a Musical), Hell House (Drama Desk nomination, Unique
Theatrical Experience), Peter and the Starcatcher (Disney
Theatricals). Alex is the artistic director of the New York-based
company Les Freres Corbusier and was nominated for a 2011 Tony for
Best Book of a Musical for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

August 7 - 13: Janet Allard and Nicholas Tsakalakos; Pool Boy

Janet Allard is a playwright and bookwriter/lyricist. Recent Works
include: Vrooommm! A NASComedy published by Samuel French, Incognito,
Loyal and Untold Crimes of Insomniacs, published by Playscripts, Inc.
Her musical The Unknown: A Silent Movie Musical (with Shane Rettig and
Jean Randich) won a Jonathan Larson Award with P73 Productions and
appeared at the New York Musical Theater Festival. Ms. Allard is the
recipient of two Jerome Fellowships at the Playwrights' Center in
Minneapolis. Her work has been seen at The Guthrie Lab, The Kennedy
Center, Mixed Blood, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Rep, The Yale Cabaret,
The Women's Project, Perseverance Theatre, and Joe's Pub, with P73
Productions. She is a Fulbright Fellow, has an M.F.A in Playwriting
from the Yale School of Drama, and has studied at the NYU Musical
Theatre Writing program with William Finn. She currently teaches
playwriting at University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Nikos Tsakalakos is a composer-lyricist whose production credits
include Litter (American Conservatory Theatre, 2011), Pool Boy
(Barrington Stage Company [BSC], 2010), Duck for President
(TheatreworksUSA, 2010-2011), Songs of a Night Owl (Ars Nova, 2009;
BSC, 2008), and Late Nite with Niko (BSC, 2007). His original scores
include Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser (Alliance Films,
2007). His songs have been heard at New York venues such as Joe's
Pub, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Zipper Factory, and
Birdland. In Los Angeles, his band Saint Friday performed at venues
such as The Viper Room, The Roxy and The Troubadour. He is a two-time
recipient of UCLA Barry Manilow Scholarship, sponsored by Barry
Manilow and Concord Records, for "excellence in the art and craft of
lyric writing." He received his M.F.A. in musical theater writing from
New York University in 2008 under the mentorship of William Finn.

August 14 - 20: Valerie Vigoda, Brendan Milburn, and Gene Lewin -- Wheelhouse

Valerie Vigoda, electric violinist and singer, is the founding member
of GrooveLily. Originally from McLean, VA, Valerie is a
classically-trained musician, honors graduate of Princeton University,
and former Army lieutenant. She has toured the world with Cyndi Lauper
(opening for Tina Turner and Cher), Joe Jackson and the Trans-Siberian
Orchestra. She founded GrooveLily (originally "The Valerie Vigoda
Band") in 1994, with a critically-acclaimed CD called "Inhabit My
Heart." Dirty Linen Magazine wrote: "to call Valerie Vigoda talented
barely seems to do her justice. She has a great voice, is an
intelligent lyricist ... and an ace violinist. Methinks we'll hear more
of her." Along with her husband and longtime collaborator Brendan
Milburn, Valerie is a 2009 winner of the ASCAP Foundation Richard
Rodgers New Horizons Award, as well as a two-time winner of the
Jonathan Larson Award for Excellence in Writing for the Theatre.

Brendan Milburn graduated from Pomona College and NYU's MFA program in
Musical Theatre Writing. He does a lot of arranging for GrooveLily,
and he's an accomplished record producer as well. He often yearns for
his native San Francisco. Seth Rogovoy wrote: "Milburn was a deft
pianist, his nimble fingerwork doing double-duty as the band's bassist
and provider of its harmonic foundation, delivered with the jazzy
sophistication of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and the rock and roll
theatrics of Billy Joel." Brendan's music and/or lyrics have been/will
be featured in a growing number of off/on-Broadway shows, and he's
always on the lookout for new projects/productions which will add more
slashes ("/") to his bio/credits.

Gene Lewin plays the drums and sings, and hails from Princeton, NJ.
Like many of his heroes (Jack DeJohnette, Russ Kunkel, Vinnie
Colaiuta), Gene joyfully blurs the lines between jazz and rock,
supporting and complementing the music but unafraid to instigate when
the time is right. After graduating from Princeton University, Gene
earned a Master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music. He tours
regularly with Audra McDonald, and has appeared on CDs with George
Coleman, John Patitucci, and many others. "His gift lies in his
frenzied dynamo attack of cymbals and skins. Think Tony Williams sits
in with Weather Report." (Mark Corroto, All About Jazz)

August 21 - 27: Andrew Gerle - Gloryana

Andrew Gerle is the only four-time recipient of the Richard Rodgers
Award for musical theater writing, administered by the American
Academy of Arts and Letters. With lyricist Eddie Sugarman, he received
a Jonathan Larson Award for their show, MEET JOHN DOE, developed
through the National Alliance for Music Theatre and nominated for
seven Helen Hayes Awards for its premiere at the Ford's Theatre in
Washington, DC. His first opera, THE BEACH, was recently heard as part
of New York City Opera's VOX reading series, and his book, The Enraged
Accompanist's Guide to the Perfect Audition, was published this spring
by Hal Leonard. Andrew is a graduate of Yale University and a member
of the Dramatists' Guild. www.AndrewGerle.com.

 

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