Pace University Presents FACTORY GIRLS Musical, 1/26-1/30

The new musical Factory Girls will be presented as a part of Pace University's New Musicals Program beginning January 26th through the 30th. Factory Girls features music and lyrics by Creighton Irons and Sean Mahoney and a book by Maggie-Kate Coleman. The reading will be directed by Amy Rogers, the head and creator of Pace University's BFA Musical Theater Program. Musical direction will be by Robert Meffe, the program's resident musical director.

A cast comprised of 13 of Pace's BFA musical theater students will perform at Schaeberle Studio in Lower Manhattan from Wednesday, January 26th until Sunday, January 30th. Performances are Wednesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students.

The cast features Taylor Noble as Sarah Bagley, Ally Bonino as Harriet Farley, and Andrea Ross as Lucy Larcom. The rest of the company is comprised of Melanie Burg, Holly J. Dalton, Julia Franklin, Brandon Gabriel, Emma Jane, Sarah Nathan, Christopher Nolan, Maisie Salinger, Britton Smith, and Megan Smith.

The rest of the team includes accompanist Mark Fifer, Lighting Designer Graham Kindred, Assistant Director Alex James, Stage Manager Dylan Bustamante, and Production Manager Joshua W. Kelley.

Taking place in the 1840's, Factory Girls tells the story of Yankee farm girls who come to Lowell, Massachusetts, "the City of Spindles," in order make a better life for themselves. After laboring for up to fourteen hours a day, the girls write and publish their own company-sponsored publication, The Lowell Offering, which becomes a worldwide literary phenomenon. Led by Lucy Larcom, a poet and major Offering contributor, a Greek Chorus of Factory Girls brings the pages of the Offering to life on stage through the events in the lives of two extraordinary women, Harriet Farley and Sarah Bagley. When working conditions deteriorate due to competitor and economic hardship, the women speak out against the corporation. Through their hardship, the course of both workers and women is forever altered: both have found a voice in America.

The musical was first conceived at NYU-Tisch's Graduate Musial Theater Writing Program. The project has since been developed at Lesley University, The American Conservatory Theater, Goodspeed Opera House, ArsNova, Joe's Pub, and NAMT. Pace New Musicals seeks to nurture the creation of new musical theater in New York City and to provide an invaluable educational opportunity for Pace students to work directly with top professionals in the field.

To make reservations, e-mail pacenewmusicals@gmail.com. Pace's Schaeberle Studio is located at 41 Park Row on the 10th Floor. To learn more about Factory Girls, visit www.factorygirlsmusical.com.

Pace University's Musical Theater Program, a part of the Performing Arts Department, began with six majors in 2002 and has grown to 100 majors. In 2006, Pace became only the second school in New York City to offer a BFA in Musical Theater. Pace New Musicals was developed in 2007 to nurture the creation of new musical theater in New York City, while at the same time providing an invaluable educational opportunity for students to work directly with top professionals in the field. Most importantly, the program allows students to experiment with new, untested works without precedent-setting productions, a rare opportunity in theater education.

Past works of Pace New Musicals include a staged workshop of QUANAH with music, story and lyrics by legendary country music star Larry Gatlin, book by Anthony Dodge, and dramaturgy by Ragtime director Marcia Milgrom Dodge; Mark Waldrop and Brad Ross' musical, Luck!; Jonathan Larson award winner Ryan Scott Oliver's and B.T. Ryback's Darling; and College: The Musical, which was subsequently chosen for production with the New York Musical Theatre Festival where the authors, Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola, won the NYMF award for Excellence in Writing Lyrics.

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