Directed by Joe Calarco (Shakespeare's R&J), the reading will star Michael Rupert and Donna Lynne Champlin. Book is by Andrew Garle and Eddie Sugarman, with lyrics by Sugarman and music by Garle.

  This jazz-driven show tells the story of greed, lies, ideals and a media battle for the heart of the American people.  When newspaper reporter Ann Mitchell loses her job at the height of the Great Depression, she uses her last column to print a phony letter from a "John Doe" who plans to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the state of the society.  Ann never imagines her prank will spark a nationwide movement, leaving her and the country, forever changed.

  According to a festival spokesperson, last year's event directly led to five of the eight shows securing productions. They were: The Drowsy Chaperone (to be done at the Ahmanson Theatre, November 2005), The Flight of the Lawnchair Man (Goodspeed Musicals, May 2005), The Girl in the Frame (Goodspeed Musicals, November 2005), Striking 12 (TheatreWorks Palo Alto, December 2004) and Winesburg, OH (The Arden Theatre Company, October 2005).

  Admission is by invitation only and closed to the general public. For more information, visit www.NAMT.net.