Stew to Write Music for CLEAR at Dixon Place, 2/3-19

Dixon Place in association with Hendel Productions, Wayne Brady,  Michele Crowley, Shotgun Productions and Earl Dax presents the New York workshop debut of CLEAR: A new musical experience. CLEAR features a book, music & lyrics by Paul Oakley Stovall, with additional music by Stew, Ryan Link, Christo Willis and Irv Johnson.  DanieAl Goldstein will direct the production.

CLEAR will take place Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, February 3-5, 10-12, 17-19 at 7:30. Tickets are $15 (advance); $18 (door).

Paul Oakley Stovall's Clear takes as its backdrop Stovall's real-life transition from an actor/retail clerk in NYC to a member of a Presidential advance team. In this loosely-fictionalized musical, an unlikely female candidate for President surges ahead in the polls and eventually wins the Presidency, while members of her advance team are drawn together in unexpected and explosive ways. From the slave castles of Ghana to the winding streets of Istanbul; from the banks of the river Seine to a star-filled night sky over the suburban midwest, our storytellers continue to discover that change is inevitable... and (r)evolutionary. Stovall's rousing score -- with contributions from Stew (Passing Strange), Ryan Link, Christo Willis and Irv Johnson -- fuses music, memory and pure love to remind us how to live fully and thrive. Clear sings a tale of destiny, luck and The Commonality of the human experience -- a spiritual quest through music for our decidedly computerized times.

CLEAR is presented by Dixon Place with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and with private funds from the Peg Santvoord Foundation. CLEAR was also developed at the 2010 Eugene O'Neill National Music Theatre Conference and at the 2010 About Face Theatre XYZ Festival.

Paul Oakley Stovall's first play, Love Rules, received its world premiere at DePaul University Theatre School. His second, As Much As You Can, was produced to acclaim at Chicago's Dog & Pony Theatre Company, NY's International Fringe Festival, Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles (Ruth & Steve Hendel, Producers -2009 GLAAD Media Award nomination) & at San Diego's Diversionary Theatre. He currently supports the Obama administration as a White House Advance Associate.