Becky Ann Baker and Nikki M. James Will Lead Industry Reading of New Musical ASK, I WILL TELL.

A private industry reading of Ask, I Will Tell, a new musical by Ben Diskant, will be presented in New York City on Thursday, June 23 at 3pm.

The cast features Becky Ann Baker (Good People, Assassins), Tony Award-winner Nikki M. James (Book of Mormon), Donna English (Nice Work If You Can Get It, Ruthless!), Joy Franz (Into the Woods), Ryan Andes (Big Fish), and Troy Iwata (Be More Chill).

Ask, I Will Tell is a musical that explores, through three generations of women, how we try to outrun the mistakes of our parents, only to create new ones.

Ashley Brooke Monroe will direct the reading with music direction by Anna Ebbesen. Angela Kiessel will serve as the stage manager, with general management services by Evan Bernardin Productions.

For more information, visit www.bendiskant.com.

Ben Diskant is a New York-based musical theatre writer. Projects include Judy Moody & Stink (with Sami Horneff), which kicked off ArtsPower's 2019-2020 season and Jade Alaska (with Neena Beber), commissioned by Theatreworks/USA. As a Composer/Lyricist, he has written the musicals Ask, I Will Tell and Read This Tomorrow. Ben is a current member of the BMI-Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop and holds a Bachelor's in Music from Northwestern University in addition to an MFA in Acting from The Old Globe/USD program in San Diego. As an Actor, Ben has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional productions all over the country.

Ashley Brooke Monroe is a Brooklyn based director focused on new plays and musicals. She is currently traveling the country as the resident director of the first national tour of Hamilton. Recent shows under her direction include Death Cruise (Access Theater), Fun Home (Cape Rep), The Goree All-Girl String Band (NYMF), Julius Caesar (CSC), and Orlando (Fordham). She has worked as an assistant/associate director alongside Sam Gold, Rebecca Taichman, Alex Timbers, Tommy Kail, Andre Gregory and Eric Ting. She assisted Sam Gold on the Tony-winning musical Fun Home and the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie featuring Sally Field and Joe Mantello. She is the associate director of Indecent (Tony winner for Best Director) and has worked on the show on Broadway, at the Huntington Theater, CTG, and the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. She has developed work with New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, Musical Theater Factory, The Drama League, The Culture Project, The Flea, Soho Rep, IRT, New York Theatre Barn and Special Sauce Company. Member of SDC, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Drama League Next Stage Residency.

Anna Ebbesen has made a career commitment to fostering new voices in the industry. Her orchestrations can be heard on over twenty original movie musicals currently on the film festival circuit, including scores by Anna K. Jacobs (2020 Jonathan Larson Award), Avi Amon (2019 Jonathan Larson Award), Zoe Sarnak (2018 Jonathan Larson Award), Bobby Cronin and Daniel Lincoln. As a music director and orchestrator for the American Theatre Wing/NEA Songwriting Challenge (2018-present) and the New York Youth Symphony Musical Theatre Composition Program (2019-present), Anna continues to work on cultivating the industry's newest composers while simultaneously developing new works with established writers such as Tony Award winner Steven Sater, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Gaby Alter, and Michael Cooper. Recent premieres: Paradise Square at Nederlander Chicago (Associate Music Director and Conductor), Mary & Max at Theatre Calgary (Music Supervision and Orchestrations) and We Were Everywhere at Princeton (Music Supervision and Co-orchestrations). Next: The Notebook by Ingrid Michaelson/Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, with music supervision by Carmel Dean.

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