2005 Music Theater Conference season

(Waterford, CT) The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center announced today its 2005 Music Theater Conference season. In its 28-year history, the Music Theater Conference (OMTC) has advanced the development of more than 100 new works, including the early works of award winning talents such as Tan Dun, Kirsten Childs, Andrew Lippa, Brian Crawley and Jeannine Tesori. The three teams of writers and composers selected this year will each spend two weeks at the O’Neill’s Waterford campus, developing their work with highly acclaimed actors, directors and music directors in an intensive series of rehearsals, discussions and public readings.

Artistic Director Paulette Haupt commented: “This summer, we celebrate a broad range of culturally diverse talents who represent the infinite spectrum of music theater. Each writer and composer has a unique, individual voice. As collaborators, their stories speak and sing to our universal need to explore transformations and to celebrate family and community. Above all, they add a dash of humor to elevate us beyond the mundane and into the future with hope.”

Executive Director Amy Sullivan commented: “For nearly 30 years, the O’Neill Music Theater Conference has been a vital influence on the uniquely American world of musical theater, from its development of Tony Award winning Nine in 1979 through its recent launch of the 2004 Tony Award winning Avenue Q. This summer, the O’Neill will bring three new musicals to Waterford, Connecticut providing each of the talented writers, composers and librettists with the opportunity to take new creative risks and further develop their work; and affording our audiences with a thrilling 2005 season.”

BLOOD DRIVE: A MUSICAL TRIPTYCH
Book by Rachel Sheinkin, Music by Joel Derfner
Performances: July 10th at 3:00 pm & July 15th and 16th at 8:00 pm, July 17th at 3:00 p.m.
Three interrelated musical short stories exploring connections made and missed. Through a blood donation, an employment application and a special TV offer, characters seeking transformation encounter the miraculous in the mundane.

IN THE HEIGHTS
Book by Quiara Alegria Hudes, Music & Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Performances: July 23rd at 8:00 pm, July 24th at 3:00 pm, July 29th at 8:00 pm, July 30th at 8:00 pm & July 31st at 3:00 pm
An original hip-hop-salsa-merengue musical about two days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant immigrant neighborhood at the top of Manhattan. From the vantage point of Usnavi’s corner bodega, we experience the joys, heartbreaks and bonds of a community. The eclectic Latin music reflects the rhythm of three generations as they struggle to define home.

WILLY & RUPERT
Book & Lyrics by Dina Gregory, Music by Sam Piperato
Performances: August 6th at 8:00 pm, August 7th at 3:00 pm, August 12th at 8:00 pm, August 13th at 8:00 pm & August 14th at 3:00 pm
Two eccentric lives, one extraordinary friendship and an ambitious quest: to secure a place in The London Times obituaries. Willy & Rupert’s mid-life existential crisis propels them into all manner of misadventures and forms the story of this poignant comedy with a big heart and a simple message: it’s not what you achieve in life that matters most, but whom you share it with.

Tickets will be on sale beginning June 7th. Please call the O’Neill Box Office at 860-443-1238 for reservations or additional information. Some material may not be appropriate for children.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, has been home to more than 1000 new works for the stage and 2500 emerging artists and is itself the winner of a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award of Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. Today, the O’Neill is home to the National Playwrights Conference, Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, National Critics Institute, and the fully accredited National Theater Institute, a 14-week theater intensive. In addition, the O’Neill owns the Monte Cristo Cottage, the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill.

For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O’Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860-443-5378, Ext. 0.