2013 YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE
2013 YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE
THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN AND MRS. HUGHES
OPEN REHEARSAL READINGS IN NEW HAVEN JUNE 15 & 16
The YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE (Mark Brokaw, Artistic Director) has selected two original book musicals, The Last Queen of Canaan, with music by Jacob Yandura and book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik, and Mrs. Hughes, with music and lyrics by Sharon Kenny and book by Janine Nabers, to be developed in an intensive lab setting in New Haven, June 4-16. The residency culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as a part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, on June 15 and 16, 2013.
2013 INSTITUTE
THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN
Music by Jacob Yandura
Book and Lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik
Directed by Mark Brokaw
Music Direction by Matthew Gallagher
Cast: Bonnie Antosh, Ato Blankson-Wood, Kecia Lewis, Corey Mach, Marissa McGowan, Aaron Ramey, Nicolette Robinson, Melvin Tunstall, Carmen Zilles
Open Rehearsal Readings: June 15 at 1PM and June 16 at 5PM at the
Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadwday, New Haven, CT
Kay McKenna, an eager young writer hired by the WPA, travels to Virginia on a mission to collect narratives from former slaves. In Canaan, she meets Cora Skye, a sharecropper who still farms the land she worked as a slave. Each woman wants nothing more than to forget her past. But, in this deeply haunted and slowly healing South, secrets are unearthed, and past and present collide. The Last Queen of Canaan is a powerful tale of legacy and forgiveness with a rich, gospel-infused score.
Rebekah Greer Melocik (Book and Lyrics) is a proud graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program and a current Dramatist Guild Fellow. She is grateful for the opportunities provided to her by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, CAP21’s Writer’s Residency, and Ars Nova’s Uncharted Series. Current projects include The Last Queen of Canaan and The Disillusionist, both with Jacob Yandura (music), and a post-capitalist talk show, Burton UnBurtoned. She is a member of the artist collective PVBLIC BATH.
Jacob Yandura (Music) holds a BA in music composition from Kenyon College and an MFA from New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program. In 2009, his musical Morning’s Song premiered at Kenyon College. His current projects include The Last Queen of Canaan and The Disillusionist (both with book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik). Recognitions and residencies include the 2012-2013 Dramatists Guild Fellowship, the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, CAP21's Writers Residency, and Ars Nova's Uncharted Series. Jacob is a founding member of PVBLIC BATH.
MRS. HUGHES
Music and Lyrics by Sharon Kenny
Book by Janine Nabers
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Music Direction by Zach Dietz
Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Monique Bernadette Barbee, Kelli Barrett, Nick Corley, Robert Lenzi, Betsy Morgan, Eric Morris
Open Rehearsal Readings: June 15 at 5PM and June 16 at 1PM at the Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadway, New Haven, CT
Writer Sylvia Plath yearns for an identity separate from her famous poet husband Ted Hughes. Assia, his mistress, wants nothing more than to be his wife. As their lives become tangled, each must face the high cost of blindly pursuing love, career, and fame. With an intricate, contemporary score, Mrs. Hughes explores one of the most sensational—and tragic—literary love triangles in history.
Sharon Kenny (Music and Lyrics) A New Jersey native, songwriter Sharon Kenny's solo projects can be heard on iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify. She has performed her original material across the country at venues ranging from Ars Nova to the Kennedy Center and has sold out shows at Joe's Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, and many others. Her songs have been prominently featured in television, with "Hotel Heart" landing at #68 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. A member of the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project and a resident at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Sharon wrote the 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival Fellowship musical Mrs. Hughes with playwright Janine Nabers. www.sharon-kenny.com
Janine Nabers (Book) is a 2012-2013 New York Theatre Workshop Playwriting Fellow. Her plays include Welcome to Jesus, Serial Black Face, Annie Bosh Is Missing, A Swell in the Ground, Juniper, and Jubilee. Janine is currently a member of MCC Playwrights Coalition and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer's Group at Primary Stages. She was Page 73’s 2011 Playwriting Fellow and is an alumna of Ars Nova Play Group, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, The Dramatist Guild Playwriting Fellowship, the MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and the 2010 and 2011 Sundance Theatre Labs. Presently Janine is working on commissions from Playwrights Horizons and Berkeley Rep and is a second-year Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for each open rehearsal reading are $20 and can be purchased online at www.artidea.org, by phone at (203) 562-5666, and in person at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas Box Office (Shubert Theater, 247 College Street).
ABOUT YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE
Originally established in 2009, the Yale Institute for Music Theatre is a program of Yale School of Drama that bridges the gap between training and the professional world for emerging composers, book writers, and lyricists. The Institute seeks distinctive and original music theatre works by emerging composers and writers to be developed in an intensive lab setting. During a two-week summer residency in New Haven, the Institute matches the authors of the selected works with collaborators, including professional directors and music directors, as well as a company of actors and singers that includes professionals from NYC and current Yale students. The residency culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre provides support for the Institute.
MARK BROKAW (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) Broadway credits include Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, as well as The Lyons, After Miss Julie, Reckless, The Constant Wife, and Cry-Baby. New York premieres include works by Douglas Carter Beane, Eric Bogosian, Julia Cho, Lisa Kron, Kenneth Lonergan, Craig Lucas, Nicky Silver, and Paula Vogel. His regional credits include the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center, the Guthrie, Center Theatre Group, Steppenwolf, Seattle Rep, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Sundance Theatre Lab, and the O’Neill Theatre Conference. His work has also been seen at London’s Donmar Warehouse, Dublin’s Gate Theatre and Sydney Opera House. Mark is an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre in New York and a Yale School of Drama graduate.
YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE HISTORY
2009 Selections
Invisible Cities
Score and Libretto by Christopher Cerrone
POP!
Book and Lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman
Music by Anna K. Jacobs
sam i was
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Sam Wessels
2010 Selections
The Daughters
Music and Libretto by Shaina Taub
Stuck Elevator
Music by Byron Au Yong
Libretto by Aaron Jafferis
2011 Selections
Maren of Vardø
Music by Jeff Myers
Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Pregnancy Pact
Music by Julia Meinwald
Book and Lyrics by Gordon Leary
The Profit of Creation
Music by Tim Rosser
Book and Lyrics by Charlie Sohne
2012 Selections
Mighty Five’s Infinite Funk Odyssey
Music and Lyrics by Zach Abramson and Derek Muro
Book by Phil Aulie and Xaq Webb
Mortality Play
Music by Scotty Arnold
Book and Lyrics by Alana Jacoby
FRIENDS OF YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE
This group of industry artists, producers and generous patrons support the Institute at Yale and serve as mentors for Institute artists.
Debbie Bisno, Chair
Merritt Forrest Baer
Walter Bobbie
Michael DeSantis & Patrick Baugh
Ruth Hendel
Stacey Mindich
Janet Pailet
Eva Price & Avram Freedberg
Hal Prince
Susan Stroman
Kara Unterberg
Barry & Fran Weissler
SUBMISSIONS
The Yale Institute for Music Theatre is not currently accepting submissions. Information on submitting work for the 2014 Institute will be posted on this website in Fall 2013. Please check back for more information.
CONTACT
For any questions regarding the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, please e-mail yimt@yale.edu.
