LEARNING HOW TO DROWN Reading Set for Pearl Studios, 5/29-30

Industry readings of the new musical Learning How to Drown will be presented in Manhattan May 29-30 at Pearl Studios.

Directed by Igor Goldin with music direction by Ian Weinberger, the cast includes Molly Ranson (Carrie, Bad Jews), Brandon Andrus (Jersey Boys National Tour), Donna Lynne Champlin (Billy Elliot, Sweeney Todd), and Mia Sinclair Jenness (Les Miserables, NBC's Sound of Music). Naomi Anhorn stage manages.

Learning How to Drown features book and lyrics by Patricia Noonan and music and lyrics by Amanda Jacobs.

From an original story by Noonan, Learning How to Drown is a multi-generational love story inspired by the Irish myth of the Selkies, seal people who can shed their skin and become human.

A brewing hurricane has left Emma and John stranded together in Emma's apartment in NYC for the weekend. John proposes, but when Emma turns him down, their weekend takes an unexpected turn as Emma takes John into the story of her grandparents' love affair. Suddenly, Emma's apartment becomes the coast of Ireland, where the lives of a sailor named Aidan and a Selkie named Claire collided 70 years before. Shifting between the present, Emma's memory, and the love story that has forever shaped her family,Learning How to Drown is a musical that delves into the struggle between commitment and independence in relationships and asks do we let the stories our families tell us trap us or set us free?

Noonan has created roles in new musicals such as Death Takes a Holiday, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Neurosis, Baby Case, Little House on the Prairie, and Signs of Life and seen her plays The Storykeeper and Mermaid People produced by her Alma Mater Boston College.

Jacobs is an award-winning composer and writer whose works include Lily, Truth in Beauty, and Daniel. She is best known for her work on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which swept the NYMF awards in 2011 and is premiering at La Mirada Theater in 2015.

This invitation-only reading of Learning How to Drown is self-produced by its creators through crowd-funding via Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1582144598/learning-how-to-drown-a-musical?ref=email).