Rhinebeck Writers Retreat Now Accepting Applications

Kathy Evans, Founder and Executive Director of the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, announced that applications are open to all musical theatre writers for eight retreats taking place in Summer 2013. Rhinebeck Writers Retreat provides a writing team with a weeklong residency to work on their musical in a private home near Rhinebeck, New York. There will be eight one-week retreats offered between June 22 and August 25th. Applications are due February 28 and the submission fee is $20. The submitted musical can be at any stage of development, as long as it has not been published or licensed. All information, guidelines, and online application can be found at www.rhinebeckwriters.org.

Writers selected for this summer will pay nothing to participate, are reimbursed for travel from New York City, and receive a $300 stipend. There are a limited number of travel grants up to $400 available for writers living outside of New York City.

A panel of experts who are members of the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat "Sounding Board" will help select participants. Past Rhinebeck writers include Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter with Nobody Loves You, which will receive its New York City premiere at Second Stage this summer; Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman, who worked on a musical version of Love's Labour's Lost; Andrew Gerle, who received the Kleban award for Gloryana; Glenn Slater and Wendy Wilf with Beatsville; and Sean Barry, Laura Eason, and Jenny Giering, with Summerland.

Since its creation in 2011, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat has hosted 15 weeklong retreats, serving 32 writers developing 15 new musicals. Now beginning its third year, RWR provides a sanctuary for writing teams to do nothing but write their musicals in a bucolic setting in the heart of the Hudson Valley. All costs for the retreats are covered by contributions, including major support from The ASCAP Foundation, The Noël Coward Foundation, Stacey Mindich Productions, Rick Farrar, Brian Hargrove and David Hyde Pierce, Michael A. Jenkins, Peter Risafi, and Jeff Zadroga. www.rhinebeckwriters.org