Drama Desk Award-Winning TADA! Youth Theater will Present NEW YORK, NEW YEAR

The Drama Desk Award-winning TADA! Youth Theater will present NEW YORK, NEW YEAR A New Musical, from April 29 - May 21, 2017. Based on the original concept by GARY BAGLEY, NEW YORK, NEW YEAR has book by Christina Franklin, music by MICHAEL MULDER & lyrics by GARY BAGLEY, with additional lyrics by Matthew Gregory.

Christina Franklin directs the production, which stars TADA!'s RESIDENT YOUTH ENSEMBLE (ages 8-18). Associate Artistic Director & Resident Choreographer, Joanna Greer, will choreograph & Matthew Gregory serves as Musical Director. Set Designer is Ryan Howell, Lighting Designer is Stephen Arnold & Costume Designer is AL MALONGA.

Tess isn't in Missouri anymore. She's moved to NYC in the middle of the school year. How will she fit in in NYC? Will she make friends at her new school? Tess has the months of the year to help guide her, but she misses Sarah, her best friend from back home. When she tells 3 NYC kids that she's going to take a bus tour to really get to know NY, they tell her you don't get to know the real NYC through a bus tour, so she asks them to show her things they each love about the city & they become her new friends. Tess thinks that she needs to change herself to be liked, but who does she become? And will she still be friends with Sarah? Can she be the Tess from Missouri with Sarah & the NYC Tess with her new friends? What happens when they all get together for New Year's Eve as a surprise for Tess? Can the "months" save the day?

Christina Franklin (Playwright & Director) is a theatre artist, born & raised in NYC & has been a part of the TADA! family since she was four years old. As a member of the TADA! Youth Ensemble for 10 years, she performed in 17 main stage musicals in addition to many workshops & readings. Christina found a love for the production aspect of theatre when she was a sophomore at Professional Performing Arts School. She went on to earn a BFA in Directing, Playwriting & Production from The University of the Arts. During her time at UArts, she stage managed multiple productions, wrote plays, produced student work & directed many projects. Shortly after graduation, she began an internship at The Public Theater, which led to working on multiple projects including The Total Bent & Eclipsed on Broadway. Since becoming a TADA! Alumna, she has worked on many TADA! shows as a stage manager & assistant director. New York, New Year marks Christina's NYC directorial debut as well as her 26th production with TADA! Youth Theater.

GARY BAGLEY (Lyricist, Original Concept Writer) joined New York Cares in 2004 & served as Senior Director of Programs & Associate Executive Director before being appointed Executive Director in 2008. He is responsible for more than tripling annual volunteer service delivery, filling more than 200,000 volunteer positions on 20,000 projects & serving over 1,400 nonprofit organizations & schools last year. Since Hurricane Sandy, Gary has overseen the launch of programs serving homeowners, nonprofits & schools in the impacted areas that have resulted in the filling of over 25,000 volunteer positions. Gary led New York Cares in garnering the 2009 New York Times Company Nonprofit Excellence Award for Overall Management Excellence & the 2010 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation. In 2016, the City & the State of New York named Gary as one of the CSR Responsible 100, an award given to 100 individuals from many different sectors, who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in social responsibility. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Points of Light & has been appointed to the State Commission on National & Community Service. Gary is a lecturer at Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs & Baruch College of the City University of New York, from which he holds an MPA. Before joining New York Cares, Gary served in leadership positions at Young Audiences New York & TADA! Youth Theater & has written many songs for a number of TADA! musicals.

DR. MICHAEL MULDER (Composer) teaches & conducts five bands in the Bedford Central Schools in Westchester County. He is also the Music Director at St. James Episcopal Church in North Salem, NY. He has a doctorate in composition & three master's degrees in piano performance, music history & education. Mulder has composed music in all genres (including other off-Broadway theatre music, a string quartet, a piano concerto, song cycles, choral music & music for various instruments) & has published articles in The Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing & the music theory publication, In Theory Only. He is on the Board of Directors of the Westchester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists & is currently completing a music literacy textbook for beginners.

Matthew Gregory (Additional lyrics, Musical Director) is a composer/lyricist, musical director & actor & is in his second season as musical director for TADA!'s Resident Youth Ensemble, last season composing the music for Skates! His work as a composer includes Pajama Sam, a musical adaptation of a popular 90's point-&-click computer game, & Where the Sidewalk Ends, a song cycle devised from the poems of Shel Silverstein. He is one half of the pop-country duo Halcyon Days as well as a solo artiSt. Matthew holds a BFA in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Joanna Greer (Choreographer) is a Director-Choreographer & Teaching Artist who has had the pleasure of working with numerous award-winning organizations, such as The American Ballroom Theater (featured in the 2005 Documentary Mad Hot Ballroom), YANY, City Lights Youth Theatre & the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Her directing & choreography credits include over 25 main-stage musicals as well as 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan Lori-Parks at TADA! & The Public Theater. Most recently, she choreographed Alienne: The Musical Adventures of My Little Martian at the 2014 New York Fringe Jr. Joanna is also the Co-founder of NYC-based Kinetic Dance Theater, an artistic collective driven toward innovating dance theater, cabaret & musical theater performance. Currently, her choreography can be seen across North America in 50 SHADES! The Musical.

Ryan Howell (Set Designer) credits include Broadway: Eclipsed (Golden Theater, Associate). Off-Broadway: Pretty Hunger, Teenage D*** (Public Theater), All Over the Map, Thao's Library (All for One Theater), Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR), Propaganda! The Musical (NYMF). New York: Life of the Party (Provincetown Playhouse), EMILIE, Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Lee Strasberg Institute), Uncommon Women... (Stella Adler). Regional: Loving vs. Virginia (Williamstown), Rock of Ages (Playhouse on the Square), Nice Work if You Can Get It, Rock of Ages, Merrily We Roll Along (SRT), Sleuth, The Underpants, Xanadu (The Carnegie). Film/TV: "The Affair," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," "The Americans" & "Madam Secretary" (Asst. Art Director).

Stephen Arnold (Lighting Designer) has a degree in Theatre Lighting Design from Columbia College in Chicago & his work spans the genres of live performing arts. He has worked on collaborations with a diversity of artists & companies including Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Robert Ashely, Maya Beiser, Rennie Harris, Ibrahim Quarishi, Norscq, Mike Ladd, Pamela Z, Atalee Judy, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Mabou Mines & Theatreworks, USA. His work has been presented in festivals including Under The Radar, The Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, Springdance, Kontracom, Venice Bienalle, BAM's Next Wave, Dance Chicago, Festival Internacional Música y Escena, HIFA & in 27 countries around the world.

AL MALONGA (Costume Designer) is a French-Cameroonian fashion stylist, costume designer & style blogger (@wardrobebreakdown) who relocated to NYC from Paris in 2011. She mostly styles videos, films & commercials, but thrives as a costume designer for theatre in parallel. She has costumed 8 plays in NYC with the Onomatopoeia Theater Company.

Community Talks with the show's artists! Explore topics mentioned in the musical & have your voice be heard. FREE: Post-show on April 30th after the 4pm show & May 12th after the 7pm show.

Audience InterACTive following the 4pm shows on May 7th & May 20th learn a song & dance with members of the cast, the choreographer & the musical director on the TADA! stage! $10 per participant (To register, go to the show date/time to purchase.)

TADA! original musicals are approximately one hour long & are intended for family audiences. Bring the whole family to TADA! for less than the price of one Broadway ticket!

DATES: April 29th - May 21st ~ Opening Night: Saturday, April 29th @ 7pm, Saturdays & Sundays @ 2pm & 4pm

No performances: Mother's Day, May 14th Additional Performances: Fridays at 7pm ~ May 12th & 19th

School Day Shows: Wednesday, May 10th @ 10am & noon

THEATER: TADA! 15 West 28th Street (bet. B'way & 5th Ave.)

TICKETS: $15 Children ~ $25 Adults - Non-profit groups of 15+ ~ $8 Children ~ $10 Adults

RESERVATIONS: www.tadatheater.com

Now celebrating 32 years, TADA! has provided young people of all different backgrounds, the opportunity to explore and perform musical theater together, in an educational, supportive and professional environment. Every year, TADA! produces three original musical Theater Productions with a discounted ticket program; free pre-professional training and youth development opportunities through the Resident Youth Ensemble, composed of approximately 80 NYC kids ages 8-18 annually; renowned Arts Education residency programs both in-and after-school programs that are often subsidized by our funders; and theater classes and camps for kids 2-13, taught by professional teaching artists and for which need-based scholarships are readily available.

TADA!'s mission is two-fold: to provide high-quality musical Theater Productions performed by talented kids for family audiences and to provide a safe, creative and nurturing place where kids can harness their inherent energy, build their self-assurance and realize their true potential through the unique collaborative art form that is musical theater. Through TADA!'s high-quality work, young people gain confidence and learn commitment, responsibility, communication and teamwork...skills that are critical to their success both in school and in life.

TADA! Youth Theater is a 501(c)3 non-profit theater company.

Janine Nina Trevens, Producing Artistic Director, co-founded TADA! in 1984 and continues to lead the organization towards a robust future. She oversees all of TADA!'s programs and leads the Resident Youth Ensemble. Nina's lengthy tenure with TADA! and the overwhelmingly positive anecdotes from current and past alumni, speak to her credit as an artistic leader in youth theater. Nina was selected as one of 10 Parenting Leaders by Parenting Magazine and was one of only five women nationally to receive Family Circle's First Annual Halo Award for women who make a difference. TADA! is the first youth theater to ever win a Special Drama Desk Award-winner for "Providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater." In 2013/2014, TADA! received five awards and twelve nominations from the National Youth Arts Awards and has won a total of 17 awards as well as 12 National Youth Theater Awards. In addition, TADA! has come home with the Coming Up Taller Award, the Nation's highest honor for youth development from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the American Alliance for Theater Education's Anne Flagg Multicultural Award. TADA! was also nominated for an Independent Theater Award , another first for a youth theater.

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