Photo Flash: First Look at After Hours Theatre Company's I LOVE YOU BECAUSE

AFTER HOURS THEATRE COMPANY, (who most recently produced Jonathan Larson's tick, ...tick...BOOM!), presents a modern day musical love story, I LOVE YOU BECAUSE, music by Joshua Salzman, book and lyrics by Ryan Cunningham, musical direction by Elmo Zapp, choreography by Aja Gomez and directed by Rebecca Kenigsberg. I LOVE YOU BECAUSE opened July 22 and will perform through Sunday, August 7 at the Hudson Backstage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

This contemporary musical comedy is a modern twist on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Set in New York City, it centers around a young, uptight greeting card writer whose life is changed when he meets a flighty photographer. Along with their eccentric friends and siblings, they learn to love each other not in spite of their faults, but because of them. I LOVE YOU BECAUSE was presented at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals in 2005.

Joshua Salzman (Music) and Ryan Cunningham (Book and Lyrics) are Jonathan Larson Award winners as well as Drama Desk and MAC Award-nominated writers. Their Off-Broadway musical, I Love You Because, was in the NAMT Festival of New Musicals and has been produced all over the world in five languages. Their new musical, Next Thing You Know, has been produced at CAP 21 in New York, across America and in Europe. Their song Just Not Nowwas featured on Lauren Kennedy's solo album Here and Now. Ryan and Joshua are graduates of the NYU graduate musical theatre writing program and are both members of ASCAP and the Dramatist Guild.

REBECCA KENIGSBERG (Director) is a Los Angeles-based director, who made her professional directorial debut in March with tick, tick...BOOM! She recently returned from spending several years abroad teaching English in Kenya and South Africa. It was during this time that she also began teaching theatre and directing school productions, including various student written works and The Lion King. She received her Bachelor's in Theater from UCLA, where she directed Spring Awakening. This fall will be heading to NYU to receive a Masters in Arts Politics from Tisch, focusing on theatre for social justice.

Elmo Zapp (Musical Direction) is a vocalist/multi-instrumentalist by way of Iowa and the University of Miami, FL. He has musically helmed runs for After Hours Theatre Company's tick, tick...BOOM!, Glory|Stuck's productions ofSpring Awakening in Concert, Bare: A Rock Musical, Bare: A Rock Musical Reunion Concert, TAP+Ed SHeeran, andthe west coast premiere of Green Day's American Idiot and Almost Famous in Concert. Elmo was also called upon to MD SuckerLove's The Unauthorized OC Musical, and was assistant MD for a reading of Home Street Home, a new punk musical written by Fat Mike of NOFX. Also an avid producer, Elmo runs a recording studio having over 50 productions on YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify, including his stamp on cast recordings of Spring Awakening in Concert, Bare, Cruel Intentions Musical, OC Musical and several covers and originals by artists such as Payson Lewis and Kelley Jakle to name a few. Not forgetting his love of performing, Elmo has played and continues to jam bass and cello for several bands, indie artists, and musicals and fits in lending his voice to productions playing Otto in Glorystruck's Spring Awakening, Larry Fellows in Almost Famous in Concert, Nosmo in a reading of Home Street Home.

AJA GOMEZ (Choreography) is a dancer/choreographer originally from sunny San Diego, CA. She received her B.A. from UCLA, where she performed in several musicals, worked at the on-campus television studio, and participated in many arts activism projects with the UCLA Art & Global Health Center. She continued her passion for performing by attending and graduating from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. She has acted, danced, and choreographed for various shows in the LA and San Diego areas, and has just been announced as the new Dance Team Director at South Hills High School in West Covina.

GRAHAM WETTERHAHN (Producer) is the founder and Executive Producer of After Hours Theatre Company. Graham is a recent UCLA graduate with a double major in Political Science and Communication Studies. When he is not moonlighting as a theater producer, Graham works with his family as a fourth-generation insurance agent. Previous producing credits includeJonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! and Pasek and Paul's song cycle Edges.

The cast of I LOVE YOU BECAUSE features: Austin MacPhee (Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening, La Mirada Theatre), Aly French (The Real Housewives of Toluca Lake, Kathy inCompany, Cabrillo Music Theatre), Nick Bredosky (tick, tick...BOOM! for After Hours Theatre Company), Shelley Regner ("Pitch Perfect," "Pitch Perfect 2"), Harrison Meloeny (tick, tick...BOOM! for After Hours Theatre Company,bare - LA Revival) and Reesa Marie (American Idiot, bare-LA Revival).

The design team for I LOVE YOU BECAUSE is as follows: Set and Props Design by Justin RyanBrown; Lighting Design by Josh Camarena; Sound Design by Alex Ashley; Costume Design by Rebecca Kenigsberg; The Stage Manager is Shen Heckel. I LOVE YOU BECAUSE is produced by Graham Wetterhahn, Rebecca Kenigsberg and Mark Heidel with Shen Heckel as Associate Producer.

Tickets and more information about the show are available at www.plays411.com/iloveyoubecause.

Photo Credit: Bryan Carpender

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