NORMATVITY Opens 2016 NYMF Tonight to Sold-Out Audience at The Pearl Theatre

Producer Dylan Jarrett announced today that the New York premiere production of Normativity, a new musical by Jaime Jarrett and an official selection of the 2016 New York Musical Festival Next Link Project, opens tonight to a completely sold-out audience.

In solidarity with the LGBTQ+ company of Normativity, NYMF and the Pearl Theatre have installed updated signage for all restrooms for the duration of this production. All restrooms, both for Audience members and company members backstage, will be gender neutral with signage reading: "Please use the restroom most aligned with your gender identity or expression. Thank you."

"We are excited and encouraged that audiences are lining up, literally, to see Jaime's new musical," says producer Jarrett. "I'm so proud of the entire Normativity family and the work we've created and cannot wait to share our show with a sold-out opening crowd."

Normativity tells the story of Taylor, a teenage lesbian, who's sick of seeing LGBTQ+ people killed off in media with tragic endings (the phenomenon known as "Bury Your Gays"). When Taylor meets Emily, a book character who's willed herself to life in order to confront the author who wrote her story, they force him to rewrite Emily's story, giving her a happy ending and proving why positive LGBTQ+ storytelling is so important.

Normativity opens tonight, Monday, July 18 at 7:00PM, and continues Thursday, July 21 at 5:00PM, Friday, July 22 at 9:00PM, Saturday, July 23 at 1:00PM, and Sunday, July 24 at 5:00PM at the Pearl Theatre (555 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036).

Tickets can be purchased at: nymf.org/normativity

Directed by Mia Walker, the complete cast includes Izzy Castaldi (Taylor), Christopher Livingston (Mike), Soph Menas (Dev), Geena Quintos (Kara), Aneesh Sheth (Anne/Danielle), Mitchell Winter (Charlie), Madeline Wolf (Emily) and Jesse James Keitel (understudy). Normativity aims to explore our ideas about sexuality, the world we live in, the people we're surrounded by, and the way these factors influence the lives of LGBTQ+ teens.

The Normativity creative team includes Adin Walker (choreography), Emily Marshall (music direction), Kristen Robinson (set design), Tristan Raines (costumes design), Zach Blane (lighting design), and Shannon Slaton (sound design) with music supervision by Adam Kaufman, casting by Rebecca Feldman, and general management by Dailey-Monda Management. Katie Kavett serves as the Production Stage Manager.

The New York Musical Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theater.

Now in its thirteenth year, the Festival is the premier musical theater event in the world. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theater fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 24 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2016 is sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Fuzzrocket, PRG, TheaterMania, and Clear Channel Spectacolor, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

?The NYMF PASS is a great way to experience The New York Musical Festival. With a NYMF PASS, you can get into the theater before individual ticket holders. Passes also offer the exclusive ability to book tickets before they go on sale to the public. Individual tickets are now on sale!

The 2016 New York Musical Festival will take place July 11 - August 7. For more information, please visit: www.nymf.org

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