First Look at Member Reading Of COMPLETE By Matthew Wexler

MTAP­­-Musical Theatre Artists of Pittsburgh­­ announces MTAP Member Matthew Wexler's "first look" public reading of his new musical in development entitled Complete. The reading features performers Laura Barletta, Natalie Hatcher and Chris Morriss, with Nick Stamatakis as music director and Drake Ma as director. The reading is Friday, January 19, 2018, at 7:00 pm at the Pittsburgh CLO Academy, 130 CLO Academy Way, 8th Fl. Pittsburgh, PA, 15222. The show, with adult language and situations, is free and open to the public; MTAP encourages online reservations at: https://www.artful.ly/mtap/store/events/13942

MTAP encourages members to produce their own readings in order to get work up on its feet for audience reaction. To assist in the effort MTAP provides support and guidance when possible. Matthew Wexler, the composer/lyricist/librettist of Complete, has been an active MTAP member for several years and had his song "The Refugee" included in MTAP's 2017 Hot Metal Musicals showcase. With the assistance of MTAP, his work will be put forth to a public audience so he can gauge response and the impact of his concepts and ideas in order to refine the work.

The premise of Complete is a mystery surrounding Abby, who lives a blissful married life until a relative arrives and uncovers just how far Abby's husband, Evan, will go to protect his secrets. The show has adult situations and language and is intended to unfold for an audience with surprise and mystery.

Laura Barletta (Abby) was last seen as Detective in Little Lake's Clue:The Musical where she also served as choreographer. Prior to that her greatest success to date is the birth of her son Matthew. Laura has appeared many times on the Little Lake stage including Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, Olive in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Alison in Brooklyn Boy, and Mandy in Time Stands Still. Other favorite roles include Cathy in The Last Five Years with Off the Wall Productions, plus Kate Monster in Avenue Q and Janet Van De Graaff in The Drowsy Chaperone - both with Stage 62. Laura has helped MTAP artists by bringing to life their new songs and also previously played the role of Fanny Parnell in the 2015 MTAP reading of Kitty.

Natalie Hatcher (Luci) was recently seen in Kinetic Theatre's The Christians, and has participated in several new musical theatre readings with MTAP. Favorite past roles include: Dani in Kooman & Dimond's Dani Girl (2016 Ediburgh Fringe Festival and Stage 62's 2013 production), Homeless Woman in Bald Theatre Company's A New Brain, The Baker's Wife in Into the Woods, Beth in Merrily We Roll Along, and Ronette (twice) in Little Shop of Horrors at Stage 62. Natalie spends her days as the General Manger at City Theatre in the South Side. Natalie has been one of the performers in both of MTAP's Hot Metal Musicals showcase of new work and continues to help bring new work to life at member meetings.

Chris Morris (Evan) is an actor for stage and film, as well as a singer, musician, and voice-over artist. He is a graduate of Denison University, where he received the David Rounds Theatre Prize for his undergraduate work in theatre, and is a proud alumnus of the National Theatre Institute and the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, CT. Chris has worked in NYC on a variety of new works, regionally in musical theatre and contemporary versions of Shakespeare plays, and locally with City Theatre (Young Playwrights Festival), Pittsburgh Musical Theatre and MTAP.

Matthew Wexler (Book, Music, Lyrics and Producer) is a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, where he studies cancer genetics. He also occasionally writes songs and musicals and is producing an MTAP First Look reading of his new musical in development, currently titled Complete.

Nick Stamatakis (Music Director) is pleased to be supporting new works through Musical Theatre Artists of Pittsburgh once again. A music director, composer and accompanist, Nick has worked with dozens of theaters in the Pittsburgh region, including Arcade Comedy Theater, Throughline Theatre Company, Sewickley Area Theater Company, 12 Peers Theater, Alarum Theatre, Resonance Works, UPStages, Comtra Theater and Quantum Theatre. Nick also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016 and is a director for spring musicals at Montour High School. Nick graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with degrees in Music and Industrial Engineering and studied piano under Lee Kikuchi and Natalie Phillips.

Drake Ma (Director) is a playwright, lyricist, director, and improviser based in Pittsburgh. A Chinese native and a Pitt alumnus, Drake is a 2017 New York Musical Festival Songwriting Workshop Lyricist and a proud member of MTAP-Musical Theater Artists of Pittsburgh. Like Matthew, Drake also does biological research at Pitt by day, but at nights and weekends you will most likely see him as the Creative Marketing Director at Front Porch Theatricals and a House Manager at Arcade Comedy Theater in downtown Pittsburgh. Drake is thrilled to make his professional directorial debut in this stage reading of Complete. @thedrakema

MTAP is grateful to the Pittsburgh CLO and Pittsburgh CLO Academy for their ongoing support of MTAP and new musical theatre development in Pittsburgh.

MTAP's focus is new musicals, and it seeks to foster collaboration between musical theatre artists in the region and create opportunities for the development, presentation, and production of new musical theatre. MTAP is an inclusive organization, and prospective members, whether writers, composers, musicians, performers, managers or producers, are always welcome at meetings, which are held monthly at the Wightman School Community Building in Squirrel Hill. Visit http://mtap.weebly.com/ for more information, including dates of meetings and bios of some of MTAP's active members. MTAP-Musical Theatre Artists of Pittsburgh is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit service organization.

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