Prospect Theater Company to Present New York Premiere of Ryan Scott Oliver & Hunter Foster's JASPER IN DEADLAND, Begin. 3/16

Prospect Theater Company will present the New York premiere of JASPER IN DEADLAND, a new musical with music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver and a book by Hunter Foster and Ryan Scott Oliver. Performances begin March 16 at the West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew.

The announcement was made today by Cara Reichel and Melissa Huber, the Producing Artistic Director and Managing Director of Prospect Theater Company.

In this original musical, 16-year-old Jasper journeys through the Afterlife on a mission to save his best friend, Agnes. On his thrill-ride through a hybrid underworld, Jasper encounters demons, gods, mortals and monsters from Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Norse mythology, learning what it means to die and questioning what it means to live.

Ryan Scott Oliver is the recipient of both the Jonathan Larson Award as well as a Richard Rodgers Award for musical theater. Hunter Foster has previously written the books to four musicals including the Outer Critics Circle-nominated Summer of '42 and the upcoming Circus in Winter, in addition to his career as a Tony Award-nominated actor.

JASPER IN DEADLAND will be directed by Brandon Ivie, the assistant director of Broadway'sNext to Normal, Catch Me If You Can and A Christmas Story. Ivie received a Drama League Directing Fellowship and is the Gregory Award-winning artistic director of the Seattle non-profit theater Contemporary Classics.

The production will be choreographed by Lorin Latarro, who recently choreographed Broadway's Waiting For Godot with Sir Patrick Stuart and Sir Ian McKellen and Scandalous. Latarro was also the associate choreographer of Green Day's American Idiot on Broadway.

JASPER IN DEADLAND was originally commissioned in 2011 by the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program. It has received subsequent developmental readings through Pace University and the York Theatre Company's NEO Reading Series, as well as a recent one-night concert presentation at 54 Below as part of RSO Fest, presented by Very Intense Productions and Your Theatrics, starring Jay Armstrong Johnson as Jasper.

Performances will begin March 16, 2014 and continue through April 13 at the West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 West 86th Street, NYC.

Tickets for JASPER IN DEADLAND will go on sale January 1. For tickets and more information, visit www.ProspectTheater.org or call 212-352-3101.