Project Footlight Festival & Network

A Tale of Two Weekends

2009-03-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

Project Footlight had a smashing inaugural performance Monday night. After brainstorming and writing over a single weekend in February, eighteen musical theater writers created a full-length musical in three perspectives on a theme. Each act of the musical (Mei Yu, Dead Man Blogging, Office Babe) describes the journey of the lonely and unfulfilled American finding a kind of instant fame on the Internet that reinvents the landscape of their personal relationships. This past weekend, the Project Footlight company and crew collaborated with the writers to learn and interpret the material. After a marathon rehearsal period of two and a half days, the company performed the musical in a staged reading format for an audience of friends, family, and Project Footlight fans. Thanks to an extremely talented cast, two awesome stage managers, the wonderful writers, a superb pianist, and of course Dixon Place for making this improbable and exhilarating experiment in musical theater possible.

Read more about this year's show, learn about the writers, cast, and production team, and get to know the venue. Stay tuned to the blog for upcoming events and Project Footlight participant news. If you are a producer, director, or musical director with an interest in developing new musical writers and their work, let's chat. And last but not least, help us continue to grow by contributing to Dixon Place!

Putting It Together & How: First Draft Reading!

2009-02-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

Late this afternoon, the entire writing crew gathered at 161 Chrystie and got their creative groove on. The musical mojo was on display as all nine teams presented their scenes and songs, written in only two mad-cap, sleep-deprived days. Without getting into detail, we will venture to say that with eighteen voices like these, this show will offer a lot of something to everyone. With only two chances to see this totally unique musical event, don't dawdle, dither, or dilly dally - buy your tickets to Project Footlight today!

Writers Get Writing

2009-02-01T13:45:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, the Project Footlight team announced the theme to this year's writers and their roles and pairings. On Saturday morning, we all came together to collectively brainstorm (and freak out!). Then we figured out how much creative talent had gathered in the room and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We did some yoga poses (and by "do" we mean "eat," and by "yoga poses" we mean "donuts") and got to work. On Monday night, the writers will share their first drafts with the directors, and then we'll be off to the races.

And (prototypical drumroll please), this year's Project Footlight teams are...

Will Aronson : David Hilder
Melissa Li : Leslie Kramer
Mitch Kess : Pia Wilson
Ken McCarthy : Scott Ritter
Alan Cancelino : Owen Robertson
Mark Weiser : Michael Maiello
Jeffrey Smith : Rachel Rubin Ladutke
Brad Howell-Houghton : Daria Polatin
Adam Cohen : Noel Katz

The Project Gets Moving: Our Choreographer

2009-02-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

Project Footlight is bursting with enthusiasm for Luis Salgado who joins the festival as our choreographer. Luis is the Latin assistant choreographer and cast member of the Tony Award-winning In the Heights. He has performed in and choreographed for many other shows and films, including The Mambo Kings, Enchanted, and the new musical Shakira the White Girl. Luis is also the founder/director of R.Evolucion Latina, a non-profit arts organization. Alison Solomon, who has performed in Thoroughly Modern Millie, West Side Story, and Serenade, and choreographed SWING!, will work with Luis as the assistant choreographer.

In the Details: Our Stage Managers

2009-01-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Project Footlight is very pleased to announce that Emily Andres has joined the festival as our production stage manager. Emily has worked on Broadway as a production assistant and script supervisor for Billy Elliot and Young Frankenstein, among other productions. David Steriti, is musical theater performer and was a stage manager for Galveston Island Musicals, will be the assistant stage manager.

You're in Good Company: the 2009 Cast

2009-01-23T12:54:00.000-08:00

The Project Footlight Team is oh so psyched about our killer cast for the 2009 festival. Keep an eye on the Actors page for their updated bios and pictures.

The Keys to the Kingdom: Our Pianist

2009-01-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

Project Footlight welcomes Christopher Chung to the 2009 festival as the company pianist. Christopher recently graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with degrees in piano performance and has worked with many Broadway performers in the last six months. In March, Christopher will join the Wicked national tour as a keyboardist.

Announcing the 2009 Project Footlight Writers

2009-01-18T15:10:00.000-08:00

We are pleased as punch to announce the composers and librettists who will write the 2009 Project Footlight show:

Project Footlight Direction Team

2009-01-14T17:48:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to announce that Sarna Lapine and Andy Einhorn have joined the Project Footlight Festival as director and musical director, respectively. Sarna has directed both film and theater, was the assistant director for Light in the Piazza, Awake and Sing!, and South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater, and is the dramaturge for a new musical about Bruce Lee. Andy worked on Light in the Piazza both on Broadway and for the national tour and was the resident music director for the national tour of Sweeney Todd, among other productions, has coached Audra McDonald, and is working on James Lapine's upcoming review, iSondheim.

Notifications Go Out Today

2009-01-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

We will start notifying writers today, Wednesday, January 14. We hope to post the participating artists by Friday.

Project Footlight Deadline Looms!

2009-01-02T20:52:00.001-08:00

Time's a wastin'! Applications for the Project Footlight 2009 Festival are due on January 5. It's just a one page application (and we also want stuff like your resume and some songs) and the festival will be oh so much fun. With just one short week of commitment, a beautiful brand-new state-of-the-art theater, directors and Broadway actors milling about, and seventeen other super-hip musical theater writers, you'll practically be in Nirvana. Apply today!

Announcing the Project Footlight Festival Winter 2009

2008-12-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

What: Musical Theater Festival
When: 1/30/09-2/7/09
Where: Dixon Place Theater at 161 Chrystie Street in downtown NYC
How: Submit application (fill-in PDF) by 1/5/09

How do you beat those inevitable winter blues that will settle in shortly after the inauguration? Don't pin your hopes for entertainment on the New York Times's coverage of Obama's first 100 days; join Dixon Place for our annual musical theater festival, now called Project Footlight. This year we will pair eighteen musical theater writers – nine composers and nine librettists – give them a theme and a week to brainstorm, write, rewrite, cast, rehearse, and produce a single ninety-minute musical in our brand-new, sparkly theater on Chrystie Street. Jump into this wild experiment, this bubbling cauldron of ideas, for seven days of hair-raising, mad-cap adventure that could only happen at Dixon Place.

The Project Footlight festival is a camp for emerging musical theater writers that focuses on the developmental process and the art of collaboration. The festival asks participating artists how we unify a work across a collection of different artistic perspectives while always keeping the audience in mind. We especially encourage those composers or writers from other genres and those pushing the boundaries of musical theater to apply. In keeping with the laboratory environment of Dixon Place, Project Footlight seeks to attract and cultivate new voices in musical theater while sponsoring a unique work of art.

Project Footlight will begin on Friday, January 30 and will end with two shows, one on Friday, February 6 and the other on Saturday, February 7 in the new Dixon Place state-of-the art theater located at 161 Chrystie Street. The festival will provide directors, actors, a pianist, rehearsal space, and of course, the performance venue. New York City metro area artists, either composers or lyricists/bookwriters, interested in applying should submit the completed one-page application by January 5, 2009. We will announce acceptance into the festival the following week.

Dixon Place, founded in Ellie Covan's living room in 1986, is dedicated to supporting the creative process by presenting original works of theatre, dance, and literature at all stages of development. An artistic laboratory with an audience, we serve as a safety net, enabling artists to make challenging and questioning work that pushes the limits of artistic expression. Dixon Place is a local haven for creativity, as well as an international model for the open exploration of the process of creation. We are now holding performances in our new theater, which the New York Times recently called “astonishing.” 2009 is an exciting year to be a part of Dixon Place, the new Project Footlight festival, and the downtown theater scene.