Village Theatre Announces The 17th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS

Village Theatre is excited to announce the lineup for The 17th Annual Festival of New Musicals, which will take place in Issaquah on August 11-13, 2017 and continues the theatre's dedication to the development of new work. This year, the Festival's five readings will include Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat, an electronic pop musical about one of the world's greatest inventors; Hart Island, a look at social justice and the people society has forgotten; Afterwords, a tale of art and love; Howl's Moving Castle, based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones and animated feature by Hayao Miyazaki; and ZM, a hilarious romp through a zombie-filled future by the Tony Award-winning authors of Urinetown.

The five new musicals featured in The Festival will truly encompass a wide variety of music and subject matter. "This summer has an unbelievable mix of writers, shows, and styles," says Associate Artistic Director, Brandon Ivie. "From established Broadway teams to up-and-coming writers, from brassy musical comedies to complex and emotional dramas, from authentic folk tunes to boundary-pushing electronic dance music. I'm thrilled to have such a varied and accomplished group of writers with us!"

The Festival of New Musicals provides an essential platform for writers to incorporate a key component of live theatre - the audience. Each new musical will be rehearsed during the week, then present to the audience in staged reading format, performed in full using scripts. Many of these readings go on to be further developed in The Beta Series as well as on Village Theatre's Mainstage. The readings are not open to the general public, however, those interested in being the first to see these new works may become a Village Originals Member to gain access to this and other exciting benefits and events.

The weekend will also feature The Northwest Songwriters Showcase which celebrates the Puget Sound's vast pool of talent by presenting individual songs composed by local musical theatre writers. This year's collection will include works by Sonya Schneider and Robertson Witmer; Leslie Wisdom and Nathan Young; Rheanna Atendido; Kat Sherrell and Natalie Wilson; Naomi Morgan; Daniel Maté; Kristen deLohr Helland, Justin Huertas, and Sara Porkalob; Monti Fleck, Zoe Johnson, Sophie Poole, Andrea Scott, Megan Titus, and Riley Toland.

The Festival of New Musicals is a vital cornerstone to the Village Originals program, which represents one of the strongest commitments to new musicals in the nation. The program fosters a creative and nurturing environment, allowing the creators of developing works the opportunity to further evolve their piece through readings, workshops, and developmental productions. The Village Originals program, as well as The Festival of New Musicals has been essential in launching Brian Yorkey's Next to Normal, winner of three Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, Million Dollar Quartet, nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award and Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award, Stephen Schwartz's Snapshots, and It Shoulda Been You, which played Broadway in 2015. During the upcoming 2017-2018 Season, the new musical String will be featured on Village Theatre's Mainstage, having been developed in The Festival of New Musicals in 2016 and The Beta Series in 2017.

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NIKOLA TESLA DROPS THE BEAT

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Nikko Benson and Benjamin Halstead

A misunderstood genius. A rivalry for the ages. A dream that would change the world forever. Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat is an Electronic Dance Musical that turns the volume up on one of the world's most influential yet overlooked inventors and his struggle to realize his vision of the future. In this anachronistic universe, Tesla is a genius DJ whose sounds push the limits of what his audience can handle. The innovative score translates his electric obsessions into electronic music: alternating current loop-pedal soundscapes, wireless dance-floor frequencies, and mad-scientist dubstep breakdowns. Come feel the beat drop.

HART ISLAND

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Danny Larsent and Michelle Elliott

**Contains strong adult language and content

Hart Island is the story of two people on the fringe of society - Charles, an incarcerated man, and Marielena, an undocumented young woman. Their lives intersect on Hart Island, New York City's public burial ground. Although Charles and Marielena are marginalized by the rest of the world, they come to appreciate each other's humanity - a powerful action in a world that elevates division and isolation over compassion and respect.

AFTERWORDS

Musical and Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, Book by Emily Kaczmarek

When an accomplished war reporter is killed on assignment, his diaries are left to

his protégé, Jo. But their pages provide her with more questions than comfort, chronicling his turbulent midlife love affair and pointing mysteriously toward Kali and Simone, artist sisters mourning the loss of their volatile mother. As entanglements deepen and past collides with present, Kali, Simone, and Jo relay three sides of one story through the show's music, set, and book. Afterwords is a new musical about three women bound by notes scribbled down on paper, and the art we make from the love that makes us.

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE

Based on an original book by Diana Wynne Jones, Adapted by Myra Platt, Music and Lyrics by Justin Huertas

When Sophie unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, she finds herself transformed into an old woman. To break the enchantment, Sophie must strike a bargain with a fire demon and seek the help of the heartless wizard Howl before facing the Witch head-on. Based on the award-winning novel an animated feature, Howl's Moving Castle inspires each of us to find our voice.

ZM

Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann, Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis

ZM takes place in a remote American town where a fast-food franchise is test-marketing a new sandwich that, apparently, turns people into zombies. ZM follows Barnabas Young and Mercy Rider, two teenage lovers/fast-food workers, who are separated during the outbreak. Barnabas searches for the franchise president to warn him about the sandwich while Mercy stays behind to look after the president's wounded son. The lovers eventually reunite, but not before committing unspeakable acts that change them forever. In the end, the two learn the terrible truth about the source of the plague and the outcome it was designed to create.

About Village Theatre's Village Originals Program

Village Theatre's mission stipulates a dedication to the development of new musicals that achieve national exposure. The Village Originals program of readings, workshops, and developmental productions represents one of the strongest commitments to new musicals in the nation, developing such musicals as Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal, Tony Award-winning Million Dollar Quartet, Drama Desk Award-winner Cupid & Psyche, Stephen Schwartz's Snapshots, and the Drama Desk Award-nominated It Shoulda Been You, After the Fair, and Making Tracks. Village Theatre is one of the few resident theatres to provide regular opportunities at every step of musical development, from first table reading to full-scale premiere production. Each season, new works are included as part of Village Theatre's Mainstage five-show lineup alongside the classics. Anchored by the Annual Festival of New Musicals and The Beta Series, the Village Originals program is dedicated to the continued growth and evolution of musical theatre, and a determination that the form will remain vibrant and relevant for generations to come.

About Village Theatre

Based in Issaquah, WA, with operations in Everett, Village Theatre is a leading producer of musical theatre in the Pacific Northwest. Producing entertaining, quality productions for the entire family since 1979, Village Theatre has grown into one of the region's best-attended Equity theatres, with over 20,000 Subscribers and 200,000 projected total attendance each season. Through its Village Originals program, Village Theatre is nationally recognized for its contribution to the development of new musicals, having launched over 150 new works to date. Village Theatre also takes pride in nurturing tomorrow's audiences through its youth education programs, Pied Piper and KIDSTAGE, serving over 60,000 young people, families, and schools annually.

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