New Voices Project Announces 2020 Winners

New Musicals Inc. has announced that four writing teams have been selected to participate in the 2020 New Voices Project, a musical theatre development program hosted by New Musicals Inc. in Los Angeles (with support from Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment), now in its eighth year.

The New Voices Project is offered to a select group of young musical theatre playwrights, composers and lyricists under the age of 26, who receive workshops, readings, and concerts of their work.

"We are always so thrilled to have this opportunity to get to know these up-and-coming writers," says Elise Dewsberry, Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc., "and we only wish we could support more of these deserving young and talented artists."

The four teams will receive workshops and feedback with NMI's resident theatre ensemble, the Academy Repertory Company, and will then have excerpts of their work presented as part of the HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL in June, 2020.

"Being a part of [the New Voices Project] was an incredibly informative experience." says Chris Bryon Pratt, former NVP winner. "Having my material performed then dissected gave me a very clear picture of what I can improve on as a writer. I think workshops such as the New Voices Project are so monumental to young aspiring writers because the panel gives fabulous critical feedback."

The teams chosen to participate this year are:

• Charli Eglinton
• Clayton Daniel Briggs and Molly Reisman
• Emma Lockwood and Noah Sunday-Lefkowitz
• Martin Gold

"New Musicals Inc. offers a great opportunity to get the exposure that all young writers so desperately need." says Santino DeAngelo, former NVP winner. "The New Voices Project was my first chance to have my writing scrutinized by industry professionals and, throughout the course of the project, they really helped to shape the professional standards that I hold myself to today."

Additional information about this year's New Voices writers:

Charli Eglinton is a 20 year old one woman creative team from London whose original Steampunk opera, '8' (a sung through show of 41 pieces of music, stylistically blurring the line between opera and musical theatre), has had a concept album recording at Fiction Studios; an animated 5 minute film which won BEST SHORT FILM and OVERALL WINNER of the 2019 Moving Image Awards; and a sold-out run at the Other Palace Theatre. Charli has now also written her next, original, Celtic inspired musical, Colours and begun work on her next musical Fallen. www.charlieglinton.com

Clayton Daniel Briggs (an alum of NMI's Core Curriculum) is a musical theater writer based in Brooklyn, New York. His full length musicals include Electric Circus with Molly Reisman, The Three Dolls with Reisman and Jane Catherine Shaw, and Stop Clock with Brooke Magalis. Clayton received his MFA from NYU Tisch's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and his BA in Music Theory and Composition from Pepperdine University, where he also studied vocal performance. www.claytonbriggs.com

Molly Reisman is a Canadian lyricist and librettist who holds a B.F.A. from Ryerson University and an M.F.A from NYU Tisch's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program. Credits include: Electric Circus (Pepperdine University 2019), Keaton and The Whale (Amas Musical Theatre 2019; WINNER: Inaugural Eric H. Weinberger award for emerging librettist), Three Dolls (LaMaMa Kids 2019), Heartbeat (NYU Tisch 2019), TedQuest (LaMaMa Puppet Slam 2017), and We Wrote This (Ryerson New Voices Festival & WINNER: Best of Atlantic Fringe Festival 2014). www.mollyreisman.com

Emma Lockwood is a writer, director, and performer from New York. At age 12 she wrote a terrible Christmas song and has since gone onto write some pretty cool musical theatre. In college she wrote/staged readings of over six original plays, and one full-length musical (WOO!) that she wrote with her partner Noah Sunday-Lefkowitz. She has recently presented work at the New York Musical Festival. By day, she is a contributing journalist for American Theatre magazine and is on a bad-ass all female producing team of a national tour.

Noah Sunday-Lefkowitz is a composer, performer, and Disney enthusiast. At age ten he picked up the piano (not literally) and has since composed music for many original theatrical works. He has co-written the score to four "PATAsphere" productions, composed several student-written musicals at Muhlenberg College, and created his first full-length original musical with Emma Lockwood in 2015. He is currently a Walt Disney Imagineer, working as a Project Coordinator for Voice Casting and Disney Parks Live Entertainment.

Martin Gold is a 2019 graduate of Northwestern University, where he spent his time writing a handful of original musicals as well as writing for Northwestern's Waa-Mu Show for four years. He currently resides in Chicago, working as a music director at Storycatchers Theatre, a nonprofit developing new musical theatre with incarcerated and court-involved youth across northern Illinois.

For additional information on the New Voices Project, visit NMI's website (www.nmi.org) or contact Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry at admin@nmi.org; 818.506.8500.

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