New Works Festival 2020
Friday, January 17 – 7:00pm
Talk To Me
Book and lyrics by Charlie Sohne
Music by Tim Rosser
Tim Rosser (Composer) and Charlie Sohne (Book Writer and Lyricist) have received the 2018 Ed Kleban Award, the 2016 San Diego Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Original Score, a 2015 Jonathan Larson Grant and ASCAP’s 2015 Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award. Their show, The Boy Who Danced on Air (NAMT 2013) had its world premiere at The Diversionary Theatre, its Off-Broadway premiere at the Abingdon Theatre and had its cast album released on Broadway Records (featuring ‘His Song’ – a bonus track recorded by India.Arie). Their independent TV pilot, Truth Slash Fiction, won best comedy at SeriesFest and ITVFest and their new song cycle, With The Right Music, made its premiere
with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. They’re currently writing the musical adaptation Libba Bray’s best selling novel Beauty Queens, and developing a new musical commissioned by New York City Children’s Theatre titled Talk To Me. They’re also developing a sitcom with Netflix and a movie with ABC/Disney’s Freeform Network. Tim and Charlie were 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Fellows, members of The Civilians’ R&D Group and writers at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, ASCAP’s Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project and the Yale Institute for Music Theatre. Their songs have been seen at 54 Below, Birdland, Contemporary Classics at Seattle Rep, Cutting Edge Composers at Joe’s Pub, ALNM at Rockwell in Los Angeles, Above The Arts in London, a sold out show at Broadway au Carre in Paris, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. They are the songwriting team behind India. Arie’s single, High Above.
Saturday, January 18 – 12:00pm
QUIVER
By Jenni Lamb
Jenni Lamb (Playwright) is a Chicago-based playwright and former improviser. She is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and her plays include Mother Lode, Quiver, 12th and Clairmount, Memento Polonia, Period Piece, and Jumble of Bones. Jenni’s plays have had readings or productions with The Road Theatre (LA), The Goodman Theatre, Route 66, The Gift, American Theatre Company, Stage Left Theatre, Pivot Arts, Project Y (New York), Broken Nose, Wordsmyth Theatre (Houston), Northwestern University, and Chicago Dramatists. In addition to traditional plays, she wrote Thou Proud Dream, a site-specific adaptation of Henry V. She also creates site-specific plays with Living Room Playmakers where she is a Producing Playwright. Jenni’s play Quiver was cited by the Kilroy List, and she has been a member of the Goodman Playwrights Unit. As an improviser, she performed on many Chicago stages as well as national comedy festivals in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. Jenni holds an Master of Fine Arts in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University. This summer, she was in residence at Links Hall in Chicago collaborating on an adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper.
Saturday, January 18 – 7:00pm
WRONG RIVER
By Josh Wilder
Josh Wilder (Playwright) is a playwright from Philadelphia. His work has been developed, commissioned, and produced at various regional theaters and festivals across the country including The Fire This Time Festival, Classical Theatre of Harlem, New York Theatre Workshop, True Colors Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 2015 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, PlayPenn, Company One, InterAct Theatre Company, and Yale Rep. Past awards include the Holland New Voices Award, The Lorraine Hansberry Award, The Rosa Parks Award, and The ASCAP Cole Porter Prize. Josh is a former Jerome Fellow and the first national recipient of the Jerome Many Voices Fellowship at The Playwrights’ Center. He has been in residence at The Royal Court Theatre; Sundance at UCross; and served as Co-Artistic Director at The Yale Cabaret for its 50th season. Master of Fine Arts: Yale School of Drama.
Sunday, January 19 – 7:00pm
THE MOON AND THE SEA
Book by Douglas Lyons
Concept, Music & Lyrics by Creighton Irons
Douglas Lyons (Book) is an actor, writer, director, composer and playwright. Broadway: Beautiful (Original Cast) and The Book of Mormon. Tours: Rent, Dreamgirls and The Book of Mormon 1st’ National. Writing: Polkadots (Off Broadway Alliance Winner Best Family Show, Atlantic Theater Company). Five Points world premiere (Theatre Latte Da), Beau (Adirondack Theatre Festival). Commissions: ‘64 (The 5th Ave). Upcoming 2020 productions: Chicken and Biscuits (Queens Theatre), The Moon and The Sea (Adirondack Theatre Festival). Douglas is currently developing Five Points with Hamilton’s Andy Blankenbuehler. With composing partner Ethan Pakchar his lyrics have played Lincoln Center, The Old Globe, Goodspeed Musicals, Seattle Rep, Joe’s Pub, NAMT and more. @DouglasSings Creighton Irons’ (Concept, Music and Lyrics) musicals have been on stage at ACT (San Francisco), Goodspeed, NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals, Boston Conservatory, Pace University, and more. His show Factory Girls (with Sean Mahoney) was recently performed in Kyoto and Osaka, Japan; another work, The Moon and The Sea (with bookwriter Douglas Lyons), will be produced at Adirondack Theater this summer. He also performs with his wife, singer/songwriter Dawn Landes; their collaborations include a musical (Boomtown, TN), a daughter (Callan), and beloved mutt (Scout). His latest show, Lost Letters (book by Jonathan Karpinos), debuted at Bloomington Playwrights Project in December 2019.