Dramatists Guild Foundation Musical Theater Fellows Presentation of New Works

Presentation of New Works by the 2022–2023

DGF Musical Theater Fellows

Featuring Work By Joriah Kwamé Julián Mesri

April Dae Okpwae

Nicholas Connors

Director

Jess McLeod

Music Director

Adam Rothenberg

Stage Manager

Nina Schatell

Assistant Stage Manager LaJoyce Jones

Casting by X Casting/ Victor Vazquez, CSA

The DGF Fellows program is a year-long New York City-based intensive for dramatists looking to develop their existing work in pursuit of further production and development in the next level of their careers. The Fellows is a free program, hosted by the Dramatists Guild Foundation, to eliminate historical barriers of entry for many emerging dramatists. This cohort of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists work together under the guidance and leadership of Award-winning dramatists.

Fellows who are selected receive:

A $5,000 Jeffrey Seller Family Foundation Scholarship

One-on-one mentoring from accomplished professionals in the field who help them hone their process, find their unique voice, and revise and edit an existing work ready for development

Access to career resources

Connections to partner with national arts organizations

The opportunity to participate in a presentation of their work for top theater professionals

The program was founded in 2000 by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Janet Neipris, and Susan Miller. They believed it was vital to put playwrights and musical theater writers in the same room, to learn from each other’s different perspectives, to see how collaboration creates magic, and to foster community. The success of the program has been proven by the careers of various dramatists and collaborations, including launching the careers of more than 250 writers. With alumni that include recipients of Pulitzers, Tonys, Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Larson Awards, Kleban Awards, and Fred Ebb Awards, the DGF Fellows program is an opportunity to grow in community and professionally.

DGF Fellows Program Chairs

Michael Korie, Musical Theater Chair

Jess McLeod, Musical Theater Chair

Tom Kitt, Composer Chair

José Rivera, Playwriting Chair

Nikkole Salter, Playwriting Chair

Support for DGF's Fellows Program has been generously provided by the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation and Jeffrey Seller Family Foundation

Dear Esteemed Guests, DGF Fellows Alumni and Current, and Supporters,

As the Director of Grants and Programs at the Dramatists Guild Foundation, it is with immense joy and pride that I extend a heartfelt welcome to each and every one of you to the Presentation of Works from the Musical Theater Fellows 2022-2023.

Today, we gather not only to celebrate the artistic achievements of our talented fellows but also to honor the incredible journey they have each and collectively embarked on and completed during their time as DGF Fellows. When the creators of this fellowship, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty conceived and developed this unmatched experience for emerging dramatists; they created more than a fellowship; they created a legacy of community. That is why it is only fitting that when I think of this particular fellows class, I am compelled to think of one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite musicals, also another masterpiece from Lynn and Stephen; “Human Heart” from “Once on this Island” . Particularly, I think of the first line, “The courage of a dreamer”. The courage to dream, to pursue those dreams against all odds, to believe that the dream is attainable and you are deserving of it has been what each of these fellows has demonstrated throughout this year. This sentiment resonates deeply as we witness the culmination of months of dedication, creativity, and collaboration. This moment is theirs to shine brightly as dreamers who are also doers

To our extraordinary fellows, April, Joriah, Julian, and Nick- I offer my sincerest congratulations Four triple threat fellows who write books and lyrics, compose, and some who even perform is remarkable. Your unwavering commitment to your craft, coupled with the love and passion you infuse into your works, is truly commendable Each of you has poured your heart and soul into your projects, and your efforts have not gone unnoticed. Your dreams are not just aspirations; they are tangible, vibrant expressions of the human spirit.

I would also like to extend a special congratulations to our esteemed chairpersons, Michael Korie and Jess McLeod Your guidance, expertise, and unwavering support have been instrumental in shaping the journey of our fellows. Your dedication to nurturing emerging talent is a testament to your commitment to the future of musical theater.

None of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of our dynamic Grants and Programs department. Their dedication and hard work behind the scenes have been instrumental in ensuring the success of this event. To each member of our team, I extend my deepest gratitude for your passion, creativity, and unwavering commitment to our mission.

Although I am unable to be there with you in person due to our growing national programs and obligations, please know that I am with you in spirit, inspiration, and heart. Your dedication and passion inspire me every day, and I am immensely proud to witness the incredible work that you have accomplished

In closing, let us celebrate the incredible dreams of our fellows and the indomitable spirit of the human heart. May this presentation serve as a testament to the power of art to inspire, unite, and transform lives.

With warmest regards,

Goldie E Patrick

Goldie E Patrick Director of Grants and Programs Dramatists Guild Foundation

J O R I A H K W A M É

“HOW TO: YOU A MUSICAL GUIDE TO BLACK BOYHOOD”

Representation:

Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

Alex Gold & Ross Weiner

Writer Bio:

65 E. 55th St. New York, NY 10022

1 212 556 5600

MENTOR: Jeanine Tesori

JORIAH KWAMÉ is a musical writer most known for penning standalone song "Little Miss Perfect", which has grossed over ten million views and inspired a broadway aimed musical of the same name. With Pasek and Paul, he co-wrote "Top Of The World" for Sony Picture Film Lyle Lyle Crocodile, performed by Shawn Mendes. Dreamworks Theatricals (TROLLS JR) Chicago Shakespeare Theater (SINISTER), Olney/Goodspeed Musicals (LITTLE MISS PERFECT). 2020 Johnny Mercer Songwriting Project. 2022-23 Jonathan Larson finalist. ASCAP Cole Porter Award, Harold Adamson Lyric Award. Joriahkwame.com

@joriahkwame

HOW TO: YOU A MUSICAL GUIDE TO BLACK BOYHOOD

by JORIAH KWAMÉ

SYNOPSIS

A musical fantasy that follows the journey of YOU, the unborn spirit of a black man who appears in limbo in preparation to go into the world. With the help of a wise talking owl and six personified "chapters", YOU is enlightened to the realities of identity, race, and humanity.

CAST LIST

REMEMBER.................................................................

DREW GEHLING*

YOU.............................................................................

DARRON HAYES

BLACK FATHER SOLOIST................................................

RELAX...........................................................................

JELANI REMY*

NORA SCHELL*

FORGET.................................................................ALYSHA UMPHRESS*

*denotes AEA membership

“300 MILLION”

JULIÁN MESRI is a New York-based ArgentineanAmerican playwright and composer who makes multilingual plays and musicals in the US and around the world. He is the co-adaptor and composer/lyricist for the upcoming bilingual production of Comedy of Errors for the Public Theater Mobile Unit. He received an EST/Sloan Commission in 2021 for his musical FAVALORO: A HEART IN PIECES. Recent work includes TELO (Live and In Color Finalist, O’Neill NMTC Finalist), BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS RUINS MY POOL (O’Neill NPC Finalist) IMMERSION (Columbia/Roundabout Finalist, BAPF Semi-Finalist). Other work includes music directing/arranging SONGS ABOUT TRAINS with Radical Evolution, music directing and co-orchestrating Brian Quijada’s SOMEWHERE OVER THE BORDER (Syracuse Stage, Geva Theater). He is a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center and has been a member of the Public Theater Emerging Writer’s Group, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow and Usual Suspect at NYTW, and a Van Lier fellow at Repertorio Español.. His adaptation of FUENTEOVEJUNA received the HOLA Outstanding production award. He has also translated dramatic works for the Lark US/Mexico Exchange and PEN World Voices. He received his MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.

Writer Bio:

MENTOR: Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez

DRAMATURG: Annie Jin Wang

300 MILLION

by JULIÁN MESRI

SYNOPSIS

Malena, a domestic worker at a mid-budget “Luxury Inn” near Poughkeepsie hopes to one day bring her son to live with her in the United States. She is deceived by Rocco, a guardian angel who in their boredom has made her believe that she has inherited 300 million dollars. Using a score that merges cumbia, folklore, musical theater and pop, 300 MILLION reimagines Robert Arlt's classic Argentine play into a musical fantasy of the Latine immigrant community's vision of American success.

ABOUT SMJ

CAST LIST

MARCK STANTON...............................................JIMMY RAY BENNETT*

FRANCIS POLOWSKI..................................................ALISON CIMMET*

ROCCO.............................................................................JOEL PEREZ*

MALENA PALACIOS...............................................SHEREEN PIMENTEL*

*denotes AEA membership

A P R I L D A E O K P W A E

“QUEENS OF SOLOMON”

APRIL DAE OKPWAE is a performer, playwright, composer, lyricist & community organizer. She’s a Dramatists Guild Foundation Musical Theater Fellow who explores social inequities through comedy centering black folk. Her 15-character solo show, I’MMA DO ME, satirically exposes the impact of poverty in America & has won several awards including Best Emerging Actress at United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC and Best Short Play at Atlanta Black Theatre Festival. Her concert credits include Poetic Theatre Productions’ FEELING GOOD AS RITUAL, Musical Theatre Factory’s 4X15, and Maestra’s & Parent Artist Advocacy League’s was commissioned to create a new audio streaming n’s Sounstage series. Her music(al) video, BE SOFT BE Festival Official Selection.

Her latest work, QUEENS OF SOLOMON, has been developed at Goodspeeds Musical with the Johnny Mercer Writer Grove and New York Stage and Film through DGF. Bringing together the traditional musical theatre canon with the music of Hip-Hop, R&B, gospel, & afrobeats, QUEENS OF SOLOMON, re-examines this ancient biblical story as a celebration of black women as political powerhouses and cultural creators under oppressive rule.

Writer Bio: ABOUT SMJ

As a community organizer, April Dae has worked in black & brown communities throughout New York City and Detroit, MI conducting performance-based development workshops. She is a founding board member of BlackCount, an arts based voter education, engagement, & advocacy organization. Born & raised in Detroit, April Dae received her BFA from SUNY Purchase performing in television, theatre, & universities throughout the country. She is a mother, wife, believer, and celebrator of blackwomandom.

MENTOR: Rona Siddiqui

DRAMATURG: Natasha Sinha

by APRIL DAE OKPWAE

QUEENS OF SOLOMON SYNOPSIS

A musical reimagining of the ancient story of the 700 wives of King Solomon, the richest and wisest king of biblical times. This community of fierce, regal, shade-slinging, quick-lipped women of color from kingdoms near and far are shocked when they are expected to abandon their customs for strange new traditions and religious laws. Tensions arise as their beliefs and fashion choices clash with each other and with the kingdom. Can this brigade of side-eyeing sister-queens unite to entangle the king and ensure their own queenly freedoms? Or will their differences in desires leave them ensnared? Alliances are formed, wigs are snatched, and religious patriarchy meets its match in QUEENS OF SOLOMON.

CAST LIST

KURDUSHIAN QUEEN...............................................

BATHSHEBA AKA QUEEN MOTHER / HITTITE.........

Writer Bio:

APPLE*

ZABUD.............................................................RODRICK COVINGTON*

MOABITE QUEEN/ SOLOMON............................................

AMMONITE QUEEN..................................................TATIANA LOFTON*

PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER.......................................APRIL DAE OKPWAE*

HITTITE.............................................................ANDREA PATTERSON*

*denotes AEA membership

“COAL”

NICHOLAS CONNORS is a composer/lyricist, Broadway conductor and orchestrator. He is a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow and a recent finalist for the Ed Kleban Prize and Fred Ebb Award. For his new musical COAL, Nicholas was a 2023 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist and an Artist-InResidence at New York Stage & Film and The BringAbout. Other stage musicals include PAPER VALLEY and HERE, IN THE PARK.

ABOUT SMJ

Nicholas has orchestrated and arranged music for many stars of the stage and screen, including Kristin Chenoweth, Tina Fey, Lea Salonga, and André De Shields. His orchestrations have been performed by orchestras across the country, from Carnegie Hall to the White House. Nicholas' Broadway credits include ALMOST FAMOUS (Asst. Music Director), Kristin Chenoweth's FOR THE GIRLS (Assoc. Music Director, Orchestrator) and MEAN GIRLS (Pianist). Nicholas is a proud graduate of the University of WisconsinMadison.

MENTOR: Stephen Schwartz

DRAMATURG: Jack Viertel

COAL

by NICHOLAS CONNORS

SYNOPSIS

Deep in the hills of West Virginia, Will Foster dreams of escaping his coal mining life. As he partners with his best friend Jimmy to perfect an invention that will make them both rich, their community is thrust into the 1921 West Virginia Coal Mine Wars— a labor struggle that becomes the largest armed insurrection in US history since the Civil War. Featuring a sweeping, Appalachian folk-infused score, COAL is a musical about working folk fighting for a piece of the American Dream.

CAST LIST

JOHN "TEX" ROBINSON..................................................SHAWN BOWERS*

WILL FOSTER..................................................................DAMON DAUNNO*

CHARLOTTE HAYES..............................................................DESI OAKLEY*

ELI CARTER.........................................................................JELANI REMY*

GIOVANNI "TWIG" BERARDO.....................................NATHAN SALSTONE*

*denotes AEA membership

JESS MCLEOD - DIRECTOR

Jess McLeod specializes in risky new work about America. She is currently Artist-In-Residence at the NYCLU (Creatives Rebuild NY Grantee); Woolly Mammoth’s BOLD Resident Director; Lead Curator of Roundabout’s Refocus Project, and Co-Chair (with Michael Korie) of the DGF’s Musical Theatre Fellows Program. Recent credits include 2ST, MTC, Roundabout, Atlantic, Little Island and P73. Regional credits include THE THANKSGIVING PLAY (upcoming), VENUS (Steppenwolf); HANG MAN, WOLF PLAY, (The Gift); RADICAL OR, ARE YOU GOINNA MISS ME (IAMA); THERE’S ALWAYS THE HUDSON (Woolly Mammoth); THE CHINESE LADY (Cincinnati Playhouse); HYPE MAN (Actors Theatre of Louisville); PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Long Wharf); THE GREAT KHAN (San Diego Rep); DO YOU FEEL ANGER?, FULFILLMENT CENTER (A Red Orchid); and EARTH TO KENZIE (Lyric Opera of Chicago). Jess has developed new plays and musicals at The Public, The O’Neill, WTF, NAMT, NYSAF and Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep. She spent three years as Resident Director of HAMILTON Chicago and is currently under commission at La Jolla Playhouse. MFA, Northwestern. 1st Gen Korean-Filipina-Scottish American. www.jess-mcleod.com | @mcjessmc

ADAM ROTHENBERG - MUSIC DIRECTOR

Adam Rothenberg is a music director, pianist, and conductor based in New York City. Broadway: SWEENEY TODD, SPAMALOT, COMPANY, MISS SAIGON, CHICAGO. OffBroadway: WATCH NIGHT (PAC NYC), THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (City Center Encores). Recital/concert appearances at Lincoln Center Theatre (as music director for Patti LuPone), David Geffen Hall (with the New York Philharmonic), Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center Opera House, Alice Tully Hall, and Tanglewood Music Center. Proud graduate of The Juilliard School and Northwestern University. @adam_rothenberg

BAND

VIOLIN...................................................................SITA CHAY

GUITAR.....................................................MATT SANGIOVANI

BASS..........................................................COREY SCHUTZER

DRUMS.

SANTIAGO

NINA SCHATELL - STAGE MANAGER

Nina Schatell is excited to be a part of this presentation! She's currently working on TEETH at Playwrights Horizons. Past credits include: SCHOOL PICTURES, AMUSEMENTS (Playwrights Horizons), STRAIGHT FORWARD (Theatre Row), MARS, THE WORLD IS NOT SILENT (NYSAF), YOKO’S HUSBAND’S KILLER’S WIFE, GLORIA (NAMT), EMMET COHEN TRIO AND FRIENDS (Jazz at Lincoln Center), TRIXIE & KATYA LIVE (Radio City Center).

LAJOYCE JONES - ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Born and raised in South Carolina, Dr. LaJoyce Jones, DSL has always had a love for the performing arts. While acquiring education and skills in other industries, she always found room to take advantage of performing and production opportunities. Over the years she has held a number of roles in live production theatre, TV, and film. Some works Dr. LaJoyce has been a part of include A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (production assistant & cast), OUTCHEF’D (production assistant), UNTITLED RACCOON PLAY (stage manager) and MEMORIES OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN (coproducer). She seeks to continue expanding herself in this industry and go after her deepest desires! You can check her out and get in contact with her by visiting her website, www.lacreativesllc.com.

Writer Bio:

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

2022-23 Musical Theater Fellows Mentors

Rona Siddiqui

Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez

Stephen Schwartz

Jeanine Tesori

Guest Speakers

Lynn Ahrens, Lyricist

Liz Carlson, New York Stage and Film

Rachel Chavkin, Director

Gretchen Cryer, Lyricist

Frankie Dailey, NAMT

Kathy Evans, Rhineback Writers

Stephen Flaherty, Composer

John McWhorter, NYTimes

Betsy King Militello, NAMT

Kent Nicholson, Broadway Licensing

Matt Polk, Polk Theatrical Public Relations

Stephen Schwartz, Composer Lyricist

Nathasha Sinha, Playwrights Horizons

David Stone, Producer

Emmanuel Wilson, Dramatists Guild

Doug Wright, Playwright

Executive Director: Rachel Routh

Director of Grants and Programs: Goldie Patrick

Director of Operations and Finance: Evelyn So

Director of Communications: Alyson Ahrns

Director of Development: Weston Ganz

Marketing and Events Manager: Jessica Acosta

Operations Manager: Caroline Aquino

Grants Manager: Nathan Baron Silvern

Programs Manager: Sydney Grullon-Matos

Executive Assistant and Board Liaison: Dan Gerasimowicz

Community Engagement & Impact Manager: Jacquelyn Jordan

Social Media Strategist: Hannah Kloepfer

Development Manager: Louis Otero

Grants Associate: Laura Romero

Programs Associate: Michael Witkes

Room & Reservation Coordinators: ChiChi Anyanwu, Bianca Bailey, Chima Chikazunga, Vincent Cinque, Beth Golison, Jeff Gordon, Alle Mims, Laura Romero, Josie Melendez, Amani Meliyah, Michael Witkes

Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) is a national charity that fuels the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF fosters playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters at all stages of their careers. We sponsor educational programs; provides awards, grants, and stipends; offers free space to create new works; and gives emergency aid to writers in need. By supporting and nurturing the creators of today, we protect the stories of tomorrow.

To make a contribution to DGF and support the Fellows program, visit dgf.org/donate

Dramatists Guild Foundation

520 8th Avenue, Suite 2401 New York, NY 10018

Tel: (212) 391-8384

www.dgf.org