TheatreWorks hosts a week-long Writers Retreat every winter to provide our family of artists the much needed time, space, and resources to refine the next draft of their new play or musical.  Our last retreat in January hosted the following teams:

  • Nathan Tysen, Chris Miller, and Craig Wright working on their TheatreWorks commission Molly’s Delicious
  • Brian Lowdermilk and Kait Kerrigan starting a new musical with Irish rock influence
  • Indie band The Spring Standards (James Cleare, James Smith, and Heather Robb) working with playwright Darcy Fowler on a new musical set in a highly theatrical world where consumerism reigns
  • Playwright Matthew Lopez working on the book for the upcoming musical of Mad Hot Ballroom
  • Playwright Bathsheba Doran working on the new draft of her play Kin
  • Playwright and composer David Kirshenbaum starting work on a new play

 

WRITERS RETREAT, JANUARY 2011

KARA LEE CORTHRON and JUSTIN LEVINE

Kara Lee Corthron's plays include Julius By Design (The Fulcrum), Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night (PlayPenn, InterAct), Holly Down In Heaven (Princess Grace Award), and Wild Black-Eyed Susans (Helen Merrill Award).  Kara recently received the Vineyard Theatre’s 3rd Annual Paula Vogel Playwriting Award.  Current commissions: South Coast Rep, New Georges, and Naked Angels.  Development: New Georges, P73, Vineyard, and many others. Juilliard alumna.

Justin Levine works as a writer, composer and performer. His musical Bonfire Night (Book, Music and Lyrics) was developed at New York Stage and Film this past summer with director Alex Timbers, and he is currently working on Naked Angels' first musical commission with Kara Lee Corthron. He has also served as MD and cast member of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson since its arrival at the Public Theater in 2009.

Kara Lee Corthron and Justin Levine are working on a new musical commissioned by Naked Angels.


DAVID CLEMENT and KATE MOIRA RYAN (Weatherman)

Singer/Songwriter David Clement's self-produced first album was featured as an Editor's Pick in Billboard and got him signed to Polygram records (eventually Universal Music).  His songs have been played on TV shows (from the CW all the way back to the WB) and more recently he has composed for and added to soundtracks of indie films.  He frequently performs around NYC (Mercury Lounge, Rockwood, Joe's Pub) and is currently working with Kate Moira Ryan on a musical they've workshopped at La Jolla Playhouse.

Kate Moira Ryan recent projects, Bass for Picasso (Theater Row), It's Jewdy's Show written with and for Judy Gold (Williamstown Theater Festival) upcoming production at Daryl Roth Theater in the Spring. Other credits include 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, Beebo Brinker Chronicles and she is currently the co host of Hatched By Two Chicks on Sirius Radio with her long time collaborator Judy Gold.

Weathermen is a rock musical focusing on 6 months (1969-70) in the increasingly tumultuous story of The Weather Underground as they escalate their tactics (think: nudity, rock music & pyrotechnics).


JASON GROTE and MARISA MICHELSON (Scherazade)

Jason Grote's plays include 1001, Maria/Stuart, and Civilization (all you can eat), among others. Honors include the P73 Fellowship, a Denver Post Ovation Award, and "Best of" lists in The Huffington Post, Time Out NY, The Seattle Times, L.A. Weekly, The Austin Chronicle, Westword, and elsewhere.  He is currently working on new projects with The Civilians, The Foundry, Clubbed Thumb, The Denver Center, and ACT.

Marisa Michelson's work includes book and music for Tamar and the River (commissioned by the Signature Theatre thanks to the Shen Family Foundation Next Generation grant), Still Life with Toe Shoes (Old Deerfield Productions and upcoming at Emerson College), Hotel Sarajevo (CAP 21, hotInk Festival), and other one-acts for NYC's Prospect Theatre Company. She is the winner of the St. Botolph Award for composition, a grant from the Global Arts Village to study Indian Hindustani Singing in India, a participant in the New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, and is an upcoming resident at Emerge, an interdisciplinary artists residency at Earthdance in Western Massachusetts. 

Scheherazade hyperlinks the ancient tales of the Arabian Nights with the culture clashes of the 21st century to explore the ways in which narratives shape our lives. This musical was developed in Montclair State University's New Works Initiative and New Dramatists' PlayTime.


MIKE PETTRY and LILA ROSE KAPLAN (The Light Princess)

Mike Pettry is New York-based composer/lyricist and music director. He is a 2007 Jonathan Larson Award winner, and his songs have been performed all across the US. To learn more about Mike's songs, musicals, and recordings, visit www.mikepettry.com.

Lila Rose Kaplan's plays include Wildflower, We All Fall Down, 100 Planes, Bureau of Missing Persons, Catching Flight, and Biography of a Constellation.   Her plays have been seen at Second Stage, Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse/UCSD and Chalk Rep among others.  Upcoming projects include a Studio Retreat of 100 Planes at the Lark, a reading of We All Fall Down at New York Theatre Workshop, and a commission for a brand new play from Launchpad at UCSB.

The Light Princess (music and lyrics by Mike Pettry, book by Lila Rose Kaplan) is a whimsical tale of a Princess who is cursed to not have physical or emotional gravity. The King and Queen must find the Princess' gravity before her 16th birthday, else the kingdom will fall into the hands of the Witch that cursed her. Based on the short story by George MacDonald, The Light Princess is written for younger audiences, but is safe for adults as well.