New Musical ROJA By Jaime Lozano & Tommy Newman To Be Developed At Forestburgh Playhouse

The In the Works-In the Woods Festival at the Forestburgh Playhouse will present a new residency-collaboration with Writers Jaime Lozano (Jonathan Larson Grant Award Winner) and Tommy Newman.  ROJA, A NEW MUSICAL will be featured at the 2024 Festival in September, 2024.  Lozano and Newman's work, EL OTRO OZ, was a part of the inaugural Festival in 2021 and has subsequently toured nationally and performed Off-Broadway.  The Playhouse is thrilled to welcome the team back to the ITW-ITW Festival. As part of a new Festival component, Lozano and Newman will travel to the Playhouse for a May residency to write and further develop the piece and then return for the September Festival for additional development with a creative team lead by director Florencia Cuenca, full cast and staged readings during the Festival weekend (September 6-8).  

ROJA, A NEW MUSICAL, tells the story of a young girl, living with her grandmother in America, who a befriends a mischievous, magical coyote, who takes her on a journey across the border into Mexico to find her mother and make peace with the loss of her father. A bilingual musical, ROJA will explore a familiar tale (Little Red Riding Hood), through the lens of Mexican Folklore.  

To celebrate the collaboration, the Playhouse will host a reception, including a sneak peek of songs from ROJA, songs from El Otro Oz and Songs by an Immigrant. The reception will be held May 25th, 2024 from 5-7PM at the Tavern at the Forestburgh Playhouse. To RSVP, email boxoffice@fbplayhouse.org 

Jaime Lozano

is a Mexican multi-hyphenate musical theatre storyteller considered by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the “next big thing” on Broadway. American Theatre Wing's Jonathan Larson Grant 2022. Joe's Pub Working Group 2020-2022. The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. JACK Resident Artist 2021. Lincoln Center Resident Artist 2023. Selected works: El Otro Oz -formerly The Yellow Brick Road- (Off-Broadway & National Tour), Carmen La Cubana (European Tour), Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 “Best of Fest” Production), A Never-Ending Line (Comédie Nation in Paris, France & Off-Broadway), Savage (UAB at Birmingham), Present Perfect (Live & In Color), Desaparecidas (JACK). Albums: “A Never-Ending Line,” “Jaime Lozano and the Familia: Songs by an Immigrant” released by Broadway Records. Film: “In The Heights” (orchestrations), “Tick, Tick… Boom!” (cameo in Broadway composers scene). His project “Jaime Lozano & The Familia” has performed sold out concerts at venues such as Joe's Pub, 54 Below, The Green Room 42, Two River Theater, and more recently as part of the prestigious Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series. His anticipated new album “Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2” was released on September 15, 2023 by Grammy Award winner label Concord Theatrical Recordings. Currently working on “Broadway en Spanglish,” and Frida, The Musical. BFA: Music & Composition, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MFA: NYU/Tisch, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Full Tuition Scholarship); part of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, AFM Local 802, BMI and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY member. www.jaimelozano.net  IG: @jaimelozano

Tommy Newman

is a published playwright, composer and lyricist from Alabama and a 2013 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award Winner. Three of his shows have participated in the annual NAMT Festival in New York. He is a recipient of an Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant, and a 2014 Kennedy Center ACTF National Musical Theatre Award Winner. Productions include: The Single Girl's Guide with Gordon Greenberg, developed at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle (2016), The Village Theatre in WA (2015), Capital Repertory Theatre (2013), and NAMT (2013). Band Geeks! (Published by MTI, Goodspeed Musicals, Human Race Theatre Co., Red Mountain Theatre, NAMT Fest ‘09). Tinyard Hill with Mark Allen (Theatreworks Silicon Valley, Red Mountain Theatre, Human Race Theatre, Goodspeed, NAMT Fest ‘07). Off Broadway: We the People: America Rocks (Theatreworks, USA, NY Times Critic Pick, Lortel Nomination 2010), The Yellow Brick Road with Jaime Lozano (TheatreworksUSA, NY Times Critic Pick) and 29 with Gaby Alter (NYU Steinhart, Troy University). Recent works: The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and Other Stories (Theatreworks, USA), The Odyssey Suite, Savage, Jenny's Damned Ex, and With Bell On: The Musical. He holds a BS in Music Education from Troy University and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch. Tommy is currently a full-time professor with Troy University's Department of Theatre and Dance in Troy, AL. Read more about him at www.tommynewman.com.

For more information about the Forestburgh Playhouse, go to www.fbplayhouse.org and the In the Works-In the Woods Festival, go to https://www.fbplayhouse.org/itw 

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