New Musicals THE LOOPHOLE and THE BRIDGE to Headline New York Theatre Barn's New Work Series

New York Theatre Barn will host a free live stream of its award-winning New Works Series on Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 at 7PM EST, featuring excerpts from the new musicals The Loophole and The Bridge. The live 1-hour presentation will also feature a conversation with the writers.

The Loophole is the new musical from 2020 Richard Rodgers Award winners Jay Adana (music and lyrics) and Zeniba Now (book and bars). It's 1864 and Polly Danfield, a brilliant Black mapmaker, has never left her white father's house. She's free inside her library but when the outside world and mysterious Alligator Queen beckon, Polly must choose: the life she's known or love and revolution. With a blend of folk, rap, poetry and body percussion, this swampy epic recasts the American hero. Featuring performances by co-writers Adana and Now, and John-Michael Lyles (A Strange Loop, Sweeney Todd).

The Bridge, an epic new musical based on the love story that built the Brooklyn Bridge, has book and lyrics by Kathleen Wrinn and music by Peter Hodgson. When Emily Roebling's husband falls mysteriously ill and is unable to continue as Chief Engineer, Emily must do the impossible: secretly take her husband's place as Chief, in an era half a century before women were allowed to vote. With a genre-defying score as vibrant as New York City itself, The Bridge explores the forces that unite and divide us. It is a story of mistakes and forgiveness. Of great sacrifice and even greater hope. Of finding a way forward, across the uncrossable. Together. Featuring performances by co-writers Hodgson and Wrinn.

The Loophole has been developed with The Public Theater, the Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellows program and SPACE on Ryder Farm. The Bridge has been developed with the Catwalk Art Institute and Syracuse University.

The 1-hour presentation will be available on New York Theatre Barn's YouTube channel and Broadway on Demand, and is hosted and produced by Associate Artistic Director Jen Sandler and Artistic Director Joe Barros. Now in its 14th season, the New Works Series has received support in part by the Innovation & Exploration Fund, a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. For more information, visit New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.