Canadian musical theatre writers, get ready for a little more encouragement. A new group of homegrown theatre professionals, the Association of Canadian Librettists, Composers and Lyricists, will introduce themselves to the press and their peers June 21 at the Epicure Cafe in Toronto.

The fledgling company of musical writers first came together in 1998 to discuss Canadian theatre and make contacts. Since then, they have grown to a membership of 44 with composer-lyricist Leslie Arden (The House of Martin Guerre, The Last Resort), playwright Norm Foster (The Melville Boys, The Affections of May), composer Joey Miller (the X rated Outrageous), Jon Vanderkolff (London's Blast!) and the Larry's Party team, Marek Norman and Richard Ouzounian in the ranks.

Composer-director Vincent de Tourdonnet heads the organization; Frankenstein...do you dream composer-lyricist Robert George Asselstine is the vice president.

The Epicure Cafe is located at 512 Queen Street. The ACLCL is on the web at http://www.geocities.com/canadianmusicaltheatre/aclcl.html.

-- By Christine Ehren