NAMT to Feature Songwriters Showcase, 10/21

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) has announced additional casting and Songwriters Showcase line-up for its 22nd Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place on Thursday, October 21 and Friday, October 22, 2010 at New World Stages in New York City. The Industry-only two-day event features 8 new musicals in 45-minute staged readings.
 
The Songwriters Showcase will present 8 additional songwriting teams during the Festival of New Musicals.  This year's writers are Joshua Cohen & Marisa Michelson; Anika Noni Rose, Jeremy Alan Richards & Eugene Gwozdz; Evan Yionoulis & Mike Yionoulis; Eric Price & Will Reynolds; Shaina Taub; Jonathan Reid Gealt; Michael Wartofsky & Marcus Gardley; and Hyeyoung Kim & Dina Gregory. 
 
Performers will include Darius de Haas (Marie Chistine), Zachary Prince (Jersey Boys Nat'l Tour), Anika Noni Rose (Tony Winner- Caroline, or Change), Gabriel Violett (Spring Awakening), AureLia Williams (All Shook Up Nat'l Tour) and Lauren Worsham (Candide at NYCO). 
 
Updates to the Festival of New Musicals castings include:
 
Stephen Berger (The Pajama Game) has joined the cast of BIG RED SUN replacing Michael Kostroff due to scheduling conflicts. 
 
THE BOWERY BOYS cast will also include Jill Paice (Curtains) and Brian Bohr (Not Wanted on the Voyage).
 
P.J. Benjamin (Wicked), Sydney James Harcourt (American Idiot) and Zakiya Young (The Little Mermaid) have joined the cast of HEARTBREAKERS.  
Jenn Colella (High Fidelity) will replace Nancy Anderson in PLAY IT COOL, due to scheduling conflicts. 
 
The cast of RED CLAY will now include Ben Harney (Dreamgirls). 
 
John Jellison (Memphis) will round out the cast of THE TROUBLE WITH DOUG.
 
Admission to the FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is open to all theatre industry professionals by registering at www.namt.org.  Registration will close Monday, October 18th at 10pm (Eastern)
Standby seating is available to the general public, with lines forming 20 minutes prior to each reading. 
 
The 22nd annual Festival of New Musicals is overseen by Festival Artistic Director Branden Huldeen and General Manager Lisa Dozier.   At NAMT's Festival, New York City's longest-running musical theatre festival, theatre producers from around the world gather for this industry-only event to discover 8 new musicals presented in 45-minute staged readings over two days.  Since 1989, the Festival has presented over 230 musicals and 420 writers, and almost 80% of these shows have found subsequent productions, tours, licensing agreements, and/or cast albums as a direct result of the Festival.  NAMT's Executive Director is Kathy Evans.
 
The NAMT Festival of New Musicals has a history filled with many successes.  Festival highlights include the Tony Award-winners The Drowsy Chaperone and Thoroughly Modern Millie; off-Broadway successes such as last season's Vanities, A New Musical (Second Stage) and Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre Co.), See Rock City and Other Destinations produced this summer at the Transport Group, I Love You Because, Songs for A New World, Striking 12, Summer of '42; and regional hits like Ace, Children Of Eden, Dangerous Beauty (this season at Pasadena Playhouse), Jane Austin's Emma (which will be produced this season at The Old Globe), Harold and Maude, Honk!, Meet John Doe and Tinyard Hill.
 
The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is funded entirely by contributions to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, a not-for-profit organization, and is supported in part by a generous award from the National Endowment for the Arts and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties.
 
NAMT is very grateful to the following organizations whose contributions support our mission to nurture the creation, development, and production of new musicals: