The New York Musical Theatre Festival Partners With South Korea?s Daegu International Musical Festival With Production Exchange

Isaac Robert Hurwitz (Executive Director & Producer of NYMF) announced that The New York Musical Theater Festival will partner with South Korea's Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) by introducing a production exchange, beginning with this year's festival. Hurwitz and DIMF Executive Chairman Bae Sung Hyuck have selected the new musical My Scary Girl, with book and lyrics by Kyoung-Ae Kang and music by Will Aronson, for the inaugural partnership; the show, which was originally presented at DIMF in 2008, will be presented during the first week of the NYMF's three-week long festival this fall. In November at NYMF's annual gala, NYMF and DIMF will also award one of this year's NYMF musicals with a full production at DIMF's 4th annual festival in June 2010, with all production costs provided and an additional cash prize for the winning musical's creators.

NYMF and DIMF share a dedication to supporting and promoting the next generation of musical theater writers, ensuring that musical theater stays vibrant as an art form and an industry while celebrating the important role musical theater plays in their respective communities. Hurwitz says, "By collaborating on an international level, NYMF has an exciting chance to build on the significant impact we've had in our first five years. Our production exchange will provide NYMF not only the ability to introduce exciting new American musical theater talents to Korea's passionate musical theater fan base and burgeoning musical theater industry, but also the tremendous opportunity to introduce Korea's best new musicals to New York, the city known around the globe as the home of musical theater."

The Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) is the exclusive international musical theater festival in Korea. Established in 2007, DIMF features both "homegrown" Korean musicals and top-notch international productions, along with three weeks worth of exciting musical theater events. Over the past three years, DIMF has firmly established itself as a showcase for gifted artists and a diverse marketplace for the musical theatre industry, growing to be a major hub for Asian performing arts through the support of Korea's musical theater-going audiences and the citizens of Daegu.

My Scary Girl has enjoyed a successful commercial run in Seoul, South Korea under the leadership of producer Michael Yong Ho Park, who also produced the wildly popular Korean production of NYMF's 2004 alumni show Altar Boyz.

My Scary Girl, with book and lyrics by Kyoung-Ae Kang and music by Will Aronson is the story of Dae-woo, who has been saving his first kiss for someone like Mi-Na. But is she as perfect as she seems? Things get weird for a naïve professor when he realizes his new girlfriend may be a seductive serial killer. Based on the hit Korean film and featuring The cast of the award-winning Seoul production, this darkly unpredictable romantic comedy knows that love and trust should go hand in hand... even when there's a severed limb hiding in the kimchi fridge. Both Kang and Aronson are alumni of the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.

NYMF continues its commitment to presenting international musicals this year with productions from Mexico and Kenya. Previous NYMF international participants have included productions from England (Three Sides, NYMF 2006), Canada (Giant Killer Shark, NYMF 2008), and Australia (The Hatpin, NYMF 2008; The Good Fight, NYMF 2007; Virgins, NYMF 2006; Joe Starts Again, NYMF 2004).

Since its inception in 2004, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has premiered more than 175 new musicals - many of which have gone on to award-winning productions on and off-Broadway, in nearly every state, and in over a dozen countries. NYMF alumni include the Tony Award-winning musical Next to Normal, currently playing at the Booth Theater on Broadway; NYMF 2004 hit [title of show], which enjoyed a Tony Award-nominated run last season; and Altar Boyz, now in its fifth year Off-Broadway at New World Stages.

Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," the three-week annual festival works to revitalize one of America's greatest art forms by discovering, supporting and promoting new musical theater artists, producers, and projects, and by introducing a diverse audience to the vibrancy of contemporary musical theater. Widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery, NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization.

NYMF 2009 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Frank & Camille's Fine Pianos, HX Magazine, King Displays, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, The New York Blade, Next Magazine, Panasonic Astrovision, Queerty.com, Tekserve, and TheMENEvent. Major supporters include ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, with the support and encouragement of Jaimie Mayer, The Charlie & Jane Fink Charitable Fund, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Tickets to individual festival events will go on sale to NYMF Members on August 1 and to the general public on September 1. NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating, are currently available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org.