Musical Theatre Artists of Pittsburgh Announces Shows EASTBURN AVENUE, [BEST IMITATION], THE NEXT GALILEO and More for Hot Metal Musicals

Musical Theatre Artists of Pittsburgh, the group becoming better known simply as MTAP, announces both the shows and cast for Hot Metal Musicals, the inaugural showcase of members' work. With generous funding from the Small Arts Initiative of the Heinz Endowments and in cooperation with the Pittsburgh CLO, Hot Metal Musicals will be presented on Monday, March 2, 2015, at 7:15 pm at the Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222. The show is free and open to the public; MTAP encourages online reservations at the following website: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/3925. A meet and greet reception with the artists and performers will follow the showcase.

Hot Metal Musicals will focus on musical theatre works-in-progress, presenting one song each from a number of new musicals, even some that have already been produced. That's the case with Doug Levine's and Marcus Stevens's EASTBURN AVENUE (Playhouse Rep), or Jeremy Richter's [BEST IMITATION] (2014 Pittsburgh Fringe). And Joe Domencic's THE NEXT GALILEO is currently touring schools with the CLO's Gallery of Heroes program. Other shows have had full public readings, like the MTAP-produced OFF WITH HER MAIDENHEAD by Amy Claussen and James Rushin, or Ted Kociolek's and Walter Holland's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, or Jeanne Drennan's and David Berlin's DEAR BOY. Other shows, in keeping with MTAP's focus on building new musicals from the ground up, will give us songs perhaps being heard by the public for the first time: John Keating's and Sandra Lowell's KITTY, Stephanie Riso's THE STORM, Frank Gagliano's and James Rushin's THE MAGICAL MOSCOW MCDONALD'S MIRACLE OF LOVE, Eva Rainforth's one-woman show, ME, MYSELF AND OTHERS, Chuck Sperry's LAZARUS, and Andy Nagraj's and Jonathan Spivey's MURPHY'S LAW, which is to have a full reading in New York this February.

The audience will also hear a spattering of songs unattached to shows, from members David Michael King ("We Could Easily Fall in Love"), Nanette Midgley ("In Your Arms"), Laurie Klatscher ("Kiss the Cook"), and Laura Lind with the Pittsburgh anthem "Back to the Burgh."

Two guest teams are also contributing songs from recent shows: Pittsburgh's own Michael Mitnick, working with collaborators Kim Rosenstock and Will Connolly on FLY BY NIGHT; and CMU alums Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond with a song from their new show THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES.

MTAP member and advisor Steve Cuden, co-creator with composer Frank Wildhorn of the Broadway hit JEKYLL & HYDE, THE MUSICAL, will be Production Director for Hot Metal Musicals. Member Douglas Levine will serve as Music Supervisor and also be at the keyboard, accompanying an ensemble of gifted local singers: Natalie Hatcher, Missy Moreno, Lisa Ann Goldsmith, Eva Rainforth, Justin Lonesome, Eric James Davidson, and Leon Zionts.

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. Prospective members, including writers, composers, musicians, performers, managers and producers, are always welcome at meetings, which are held 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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