Mark Brokaw (The Lyons, Cry-Baby) serves as artistic director of the organization, founded in 2008, which workshops new musicals by emerging writers over the course of two weeks in New Haven. It is a joint venture between the Yale School of Drama and the Yale School of Music that seeks to develop the work of graduate and recent post-graduate students. Public performances will take place June 4-17.
Mighty Five's Infinite Funk Odyssey has music and lyrics by Zach Abramson and Derek Muro, with a book by Phil Aulie and Xaq Webb.
According to Yale, "The time: the present. The setting: Dimension F, a spacey place powered by the Non-Stop Dance Party. Mighty Five's Infinite Funk Odyssey follows the journey of FunkBot, a robotic dance instructor without a soul, whose sexy software inadvertently creates a love triangle that threatens to destroy the relationships and friendships around him. Colonel Bootyshaker must lead the audience to help reactivate FunkBot's Soul Circuit. Only then can he save himself, his friends, and the greatest dance party in the universe."
Mortality Play has music by Scotty Arnold, with book and lyrics by Alana Jacoby.
Here's how its billed: "Todd wants to be a rock star, but he's living in London in 1349, and the plague keeps getting in his way. With ultimatums from loved ones getting him down and the ghost of his former bandmate pressuring him to make a choice, Todd tries to navigate the dangers around him and to balance the forces of art and service in his life. Half rock show and half medieval morality play, this new musical follows a young man's struggle to decide between what he wants to do and what he thinks the world needs from him. Which comes first?" Musicals previously developed at the Yale Institute for Musical Theatre include Maren of Vardø, Pregnancy Pact, The Profit of Creation, The Daughters, Stuck Elevator and the Andy Warhol musical POP!, which will be staged the City Theatre in Pittsburgh this spring.
