New Musicals from Lynne Shankel, Sara Cooper and Billy Recce Will Be Featured in New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series

The 13th season of New York Theatre Barn's signature New Works Series continues Monday, April 6th, 2020, with exclusive pre-premieres of the new musicals HoT and Dimes. New York Theatre Barn serves as a home for new musicals during incubation.

With music by Lynne Shankel (Postcard American Town, Altar Boyz, Allegiance) and words by Sara Cooper (The Memory Show, Elevator Heart), HoT is an all-female+ darkly comic sungthrough feminist adaptation of Helen of Troy. It examines the commodification of women throughout our lifetimes as Helen is first sexualized, then held to unrealistic beauty and gender-based standards, and finally vilified and discarded- until she decides to stand up and take her power back. The presentation will be directed by Laura Brandel, and the cast includes Amy Lynn Hamlin, Katie Lee Hill (KPop, Spongebob SquarePants), Alyse Alan Louis (Soft Power, Mamma Mia, Amelie), Melody Madarasz, Marissa Rosen (Kristin Chenoweth: For the Girls, The Marvelous Wonderettes), Kay Trinidad (Hadestown), and Aurelia Williams.

HoT has been developed at Dixon Place and in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony residency at Goodspeed. The show was a finalist for the NAMT Festival of New Musicals, and was included in NAMT's "Shows You Should Know", "New Work In The Classroom" at Michigan State University, and "Under The Arch" New Musical Theatre Incubator in St. Louis.

Dimes is a new musical with book, music and lyrics by Billy Recce (A Musical About Star Wars) and is directed by Carlos Armesto (Producing Artistic Director of Theatre C). Loosely inspired by, and a queer re-telling of the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr., Dimes is set in late 1963 and tells the story of America's favorite crooner arranging the kidnapping of his son at the precipice of the gay liberation movement. Part Cabaret, Part Scorsese, Dimes is a journey through Italian machismo, jazz music, and shifting ideas of identity in a newly blossoming New York. The cast includes Victoria Alev Duffy and Darren Ritchie (Wonderland, Dracula). Dimes has been developed with Theatre C and at Fordham University.

The 70-minute presentation will begin at 7PM at Improv Asylum NYC (307 West 26th Street) in New York City. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, and can be purchased on New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org. Seating is limited. Jen Sandler and Joe Barros are executive producers, Sam Strum is the line producer, and casting is by Eisenberg/Beans Casting (Daryl Eisenberg, CSA; Ally Beans, CSA).