Atlanta Actors Hobbs, De Maria Launch KickStarter to Take New Show to NYMF

THE LAST TIME WE WERE HERE, a new musical by Atlanta performers Jeremiah Parker Hobbs and Jessica De Maria, was recently selected as an invited show to perform at the prestigious New York Musical Theatre Festival. The musical will will play at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York City on July 25th and 26th. Check out a preview of the show, below.

To help finance this once in a lifetime opportunity, Hobbs and De Maria have launched a KickStarter. The duo is hoping to raise $9,500 by May 9th. In exchange for contributions, the campaign offers rewards from their "Original Cast" recording to having a character named after you in Hobbs and De Maria's next musical. To learn more about the project and to contribute, visit their KickStarter home.

ABOUT THE LAST TIME WE WERE HERE

The show is an intimate new folk rock musical, transports audiences to a world of dimly lit bars in which a single moment can be transformed into a lingering memory by no more than a guitar and a mic. Jacob, a singer-songwriter on a path toward superstardom, struggles to make sense of the big moments in his life - most notably the end of his relationship with Grace, a passionate woman fascinated by a romance from the past. Two other performers weave the stories of other couples into this powerful blend of music, love letters and poetry that catapults us across time and out of our contemporary world of snapchats and shortcuts onto a journey of two hearts aching to be heard in a world too small for their words.

Jeremiah Parker Hobbs and Jessica De Maria met auditioning around town in Atlanta. Jeremiah had been working on a musical for close to seven years. When Jessica offered to give the script "a look," she was immediately swept up in Jeremiah's unique songwriting, and that look very quickly turned into a dynamic partnership. They realized they had a story to tell. The two began furiously working to totally re-design and re-create the script and bring the songs to a place where they felt comfortable sharing what they'd made with their community. With the addition of new songs, new words and new voices, THE LAST TIME WE WERE HERE was born. After two very successful concert performances, a sold-out staged reading at Actor's Express, and the encouragement of their peers, they realized their show had a special kind of magic-and the team began to feel that it was ready for a wider audience.

Last fall, BroadwayWorld's Matt Tamanini shared his thoughts after attending a concert performance of the show. He said, "Hobbs and De Maria are developing a captivating original musical, in every sense of the term. The music and lyrics are packed with nuanced emotions, exciting melodies, and creative surprises at every turn. Though only played by Hobbs on either piano or guitar, the songs had a naturally lush quality that will assuredly lend themselves nicely to future, fuller orchestrations."