Stephen Schwartz to Workshop Pittsburgh CLO's SCARY MUSICAL, 4/9-14

Pittsburgh CLO and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, in partnership with The ASCAP Foundation and Academy and Grammy Award -winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, have announced that SCARY MUSICAL has been selected for further development as part of the Pittsburgh CLO/Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama New Works Program. The program encourages the exploration and refinement of new works of the American musical theater.

Pittsburgh CLO, under the direction of Executive Producer Van Kaplan, will host a workshop at the Pittsburgh CLO Academy April 9-14, which will culminate in a staged reading for invited guests at 12:00 pm on Saturday, April 14, in the Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theater at Carnegie Mellon University. The project managers are Gary Kline, associate professor of musical theater at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama and Van Kaplan. Carnegie Mellon University graduate Jason Coll will direct the workshop.

Stephen Schwartz, a Carnegie Mellon University alumnus whose credits include the Broadway smash Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, the Walt Disney films "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and the DreamWorks film "The Prince of Egypt," will attend the reading of the workshop and run a Master Class for Carnegie Mellon University Drama Students.

Scary Musical has all the elements of a classic "scary movie" with an added twist - the characters sing and dance - before, during, and sometimes after getting killed.

About the show: "With the enormous success of "Scream," "Saw," "Twilight," "High School Musical" and "Glee," time is ripe to combine these genres. As in the best scary movies, the plot is simple...sort of.

"Scary Musical, written by Pittsburgh CLO alumns Richard Hochberg (book, music, lyrics) and Michael Paternostro (music), is set in the small coastal village of Hidden Secrets, USA. On opening night of the Tippi Hedren Community Theater's production of A Scary Musical, a gruesome murder takes place. In a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of town, Drew Campbell, local prom and drama queen, is slashed to death after being tormented on the telephone by a sadistic musical theatre trivia freak. That is just the beginning. With an original pop score and a cutting edge script this new age Rocky Horror Show will take you on a bloody and hilarious musical adventure like you've never been on before. Some adult content."

A collaborative effort established in 2001, the Pittsburgh CLO/Carnegie Mellon University New Works Program encourages the development and refinement of new works of the American musical theater. By utilizing the resources of both Pittsburgh CLO and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, this program offers a unique opportunity for writers, lyricists, composers, directors and actors from both the academic and professional worlds to collaborate on new musicals. In 2007, Pittsburgh CLO and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama formed a new partnership with The ASCAP Foundation and Stephen Schwartz to augment this important initiative by selecting new works from participants in the prestigious ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop.

The ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop occurs twice a year in New York and Los Angeles and is sponsored by The ASCAP Foundation as part of an ongoing commitment to nurture new American musicals. Stephen Schwartz directs the Workshop. The selected musical theater writers have the opportunity to make short presentations from their original works-in-progress for professional critique by a panel of the most prominent theater producers, directors, lyricists and composers. Scary Musical was presented at the Los Angeles workshop held in February 2010.

The development of New Works is an integral part of the Pittsburgh CLO mission. CLO's production and development of New Works includes Summer Season productions at the Benedum Center year-round entertainment at the CLO Cabaret, in addition to Gallery of Heroes musicals at area schools. Pittsburgh CLO continues to find innovative ways to nurture artists, attract talent to the organization and invest in this important American art form. Through memberships in the Independent Presenter's Network (IPN) and Elephant Eye Theatricals/5 Cent Productions, Pittsburgh CLO is playing an important role in developing material that can play in Pittsburgh, on Broadway, and beyond.

Since 1946, the Pittsburgh CLO has been a driving force behind live musical theater in Pittsburgh and the entire Southwestern Pennsylvania region. Under the direction of Van Kaplan since 1997, this not-for-profit arts organization appreciates the support of nearly 200,000 patrons each year and produces a subscription series, educational programs, national tours and develops and invests in new works, including 13 Broadway shows (13 Tony Awards®) featuring the recent productions of Catch Me If You Can and The Addams Family. Its dedication to the musical theater art form extends to include such programs as the CLO Academy, the CLO Mini Stars, the Gene Kelly Awards, the Richard Rodgers Award the National High School Musical Theater Awards, the Construction Center for the Arts and the CLO Cabaret.

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org.

Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, titled "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.

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