Staged readings of two new works, 90 North and Letters from 'Nam, will take place at the Kennedy Center on July 28-29, featuring Maureen McGovern, Liz Callaway and Keith Buterbaugh.
Developed through “In the Works,” a joint musical theater development program of the ASCAP Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the plays are being launched with support from both Walt Disney Feature Animation and the Buena Vista Theatrical Group.
90 North , by composer Daniel Sticco and lyricists/librettists Doug Frew and Patti McKenny, will be directed by Douglas Anderson. Liz Callaway and Keith Buterbaugh lead a cast of 18 New York and Washington area actors. Based on a tragic historic incident from the early exploration of the North Pole, 90 North will be presented at the Kennedy Center’s Opera Rehearsal Room No. 1 on Fri., July 28 at 2 PM and 7 PM, and Sat., July 29 at 2 PM.
Letters from ‘Nam, by composer and adaptor Paris Barclay, was adapted from the best-selling book, "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam." Starring Maureen McGovern, who leads a cast of seven, the staged-reading for Letters takes place at the Kennedy Center’s American Film Institute Theater on Fri., July 28 at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM, and on Sat., July 29 at 2:30 PM.
Letters from ‘Nam composer Paris Barclay (the Emmy-winning director of "NYPD Blue") and the creative team behind 90 North (Daniel Sticco, Doug Frew and Patti McKinney) are all alumni of the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theater Workshops. Other workshop graduates have achieved Tony-winning success, including Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime) and the late Jonathan Larson (Rent.) "In the Works," will provide outstanding graduates of the long-running ASCAP Foundation Musical Theater Workshops with a continuing step in building their careers. Producers and representatives of regional theatre companies will be invited to attend the musicals, which will each be performed three times at the Kennedy Center following the development process.
As reported earlier, composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz serves as artistic director of "In the Works." The award-winning composer and lyricist is also a Grammy winner whose credits include Godspell, Pippin, and the Disney animated films Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Schwartz has been directing the ASCAP East Coast Musical Theater Workshop for the past eight years.
For further information on the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop call (212) 621-6234. For further information on the Kennedy Center call (202) 467-4600, (800) 444-1324 (from outside the Washington, DC, metropolitan area) or TTY: (202) 416-8524.
-- By Murdoch McBride
