The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced that Afterwords, a new musical with a book by Emily Kaczmarek and music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, is the second of three Musical Radio Plays it will produce in its 2020/21 digital season. Afterwords has had previous development in the Pacific Northwest: by The 5th Avenue Theatre in a 29-hour reading in January 2020 and by Village Theatre in 2018 as part of its new musical development program, the Beta Series. Released as a vivid, multi-episode podcast series that will be available for streaming in June of 2021, this production of Afterwords is only available to current Essential 5th Digital Collection subscribers.
Afterwords is directed by
Adrienne Campbell-Holt and has a cast that features
Andi Alhadeff (Off-Broadway: Jasper in Deadland, The 5th: Jasper in Deadland, Ragtime, RENT) as Kali, Taylor Niemeyer (The 5th: West Side Story, Annie) as Simone, Broadway's
Amber Iman (Broadway: Shuffle Along, First National Tour: Hamilton) as Jo,
Mari Nelson (Broadway: Guys and Dolls, The 5th/ACT: Urinetown) as Lydia,
Brandon O'Neill (Broadway: Aladdin, The 5th: Rock of Ages) as Jimmy, Saxton
Jay Walker (The 5th: Grease, ArtsWest: Peter and the Starcatcher) as Franklin, and
Kirsten Delohr Helland (The 5th: The Sound of Music, Grease) and Danny Kam (The 5th: West Side Story, Jasper in Deadland) as Kali's Voice.
"Afterwords is a beautiful story about the power art has in the human process of healing," said The
5th Avenue Theatre's Producing Artistic Director
Bill Berry. "The characters heal through art-song, painting, writing-things that we are all deeply connected to. I'm thrilled that The 5th gets to be part of this musical's next steps in its development as a musical radio play and am excited to see where it goes next on its journey."
Reeling from the sudden loss of their mother, sisters Kali and Simone are once again roommates in their childhood home. Burdened with mounting bills, they decide to rent out the attic, and into their lives walks Jo, a war reporter grieving her own deep loss. As the women get to know each other and struggle to reckon with the past, a complex mosaic of intersecting lives reveals itself. A formally inventive exploration of family, grief, healing, and redemption, Afterwords is the story of three women bound by notes scribbled down on paper, and the art we make from the love that makes us.
For more information about The
5th Avenue Theatre, its season and its programs, please visit
www.5thavenue.org.
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