EarthStone Theatre to Present Steve Schalchlin's NEW WORLD WAKING Song Cycle at Boston Conservatory Tonight

At last December's 12-day, 20-show Urban Stages Winter Rhythms Festival, composer Steve Schalchlin presented one of the highlights the two-week program with his dramatic, passionate, political, witty, and melodically soaring song cycle New World Waking. (Read BroadwayWorld's entire review here.) Now Schalchlin, who was recently honored with a 2014 BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Award for "Excellence in Songwriting," will have his stirring piece performed by the EarthStone Theatre Company at the Boston Conservatory tonight, March 10 at 8 pm.

EarthStone's executive producer and actor/dancer Blake Zolfo will direct Schalchlin's New World Waking, with musical direction by Joey Harrell (accompanied by Max Wang). The EarthStone Theatre Company's cast for the show features singers from The Boston Conservatory, including: Gabi Carrubba, Jackie Chylinski, Dani Apple, Bransen Gates, Aaron Badilla, and Isaiah Reynolds.

The brand new EarthStone Theatre Company operates in Boston, MA, and will bring four shows annually to the Back Bay/Cambridge area. EarthStone's mission includes:

• Breaking down the assumption that theatre can only happen in places designated as "theaters"

• Breaking down preconceptions that specific shows need to be performed in a particular manner

• Breaking down social barriers by using art as activism

• Breaking down artistic barriers by connecting composers/playwrights with actors and vice versa.

"New World Waking fits into our mission statement because it sparks strong conversation about LGBT issues," says Zolfo. "The executive board of EarthStone is comprised of current students and alumni from The Boston Conservatory that has about a 30% population that identifies as "other than straight. "(The national average is around 14% for a college campus.) So we decided to include this powerful song cycle in our season, feeling that it would resonate within such a diverse community. It's also a unique opportunity for this group of pre-professional singers to be able to work on a show with the composer being an active part of the process. They have improvised many of the harmony lines and bring a fresh new look to this very pointed piece of theatre."

New World Waking will be performed on March 10 (one night only!) at 8 pm at the Boston Conservatory, Ipswich Building, 132 Ipswich Street, Room 306. Tickets are $5 and can be reserved by emailing Blake_Zolfo@bostonconservatory.edu. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Trevor Project. Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

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