Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther Open O'Neill Center's Music Theater Conference With When We Met

By Adam Hetrick
June 20, 2012

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Music Theater Conference launches June 20 with the new musical When We Met, featuring Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther.

The 2012 conference, running through July 13, showcases four new musicals in development. The O'Neill unites professional actors, directors, and music directors, to present the work of new writers to the general public.

Here's a look at the musicals:

When We Met
Book by Dan Collins
Lyrics and music by Julianne Wick Davis
in collaboration with Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther, who also star.
Directed by Sheryl Kaller with musical direction by Matt Castle.
(Performed June 20, 22 and 24)

"When We Met is a story about two comfortably single, middle-aged people who reluctantly meet on a blind date. Their encounter throws all their certainty about being alone into question. In a world that pits theory against faith, When We Met explores how a quantum physicist and animal communicator struggle to understand one of the greatest intangibles of all: love."

String
Book by Sarah Hammond
Lyrics and music by Adam Gwon
Directed by Mike Donahue with musical direction by Ray Fellman
Featuring Jill Abramovitz, Joe Cassidy, Amanda Jane Cooper, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Ryan Link, Margot Seibert, Jason Tam, Katie Thompson, Price Waldman and Betsy Wolfe.
(Performed June 23, 25, 27 and 29)

"A workaholic Greek god gets tangled up with a security guard in the basement of the tallest building in the world. One mistake leads to another - a lost pair of scissors, a kiss, a stolen string - and soon Atropos is breaking her own rules to offer forever to an ordinary man. Can the fabric of the universe stand a flaw? An original musical about the three Fates in the modern city."

A Good Man
Book and lyrics by Philip S. Goodman
Music by Ray Leslee
DirectedJerry Dixon and musical direction by William Foster McDaniel;
(Performed June 30, July 1, 3 and 6)

"Just after World War II in rural Mississippi, Albert Clayton, a black sharecropper, decides to paint his tenant house white, and his world turns upside down. He struggles with a desperate wife, a frightened landlord, a sexy sister-in-law, and a furious, closed-minded town."

The ToyMaker
Book, lyrics, and music by Bryan Putnam
Directed by Joe Calarco with musical direction by David Libby
(Performed July 7, 8, 11 and 13)

"An 'uncommonly powerful' tale of enduring passion and hope, The ToyMaker tells the story of Sarah Meeks, a young woman who is struggling in her marriage after two failed pregnancies. Rumors of a childless toy maker of the past set her on a desperate search for the last toy made by this man. Thus begins a journey that spans the globe and time itself. Sarah's quest to find the 'childless toy' and solve the mysteries of a village destroyed by war lead her to a destiny of fulfillment she once thought impossible."

Casting for A Good Man  and The ToyMaker will be announced at a later date.

Phone (860) 443-1238 or visit www.theoneill.org.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center was founded in 1964 and is based in Waterford, CT. Programs at the Center include the Puppetry Conference, Playwrights Conference, Critics Institute, Music Theater Conference and the National Theater Institute. The Monte Cristo Cottage, O'Neill's childhood home, is also owned and operated by the group.