Casting Announced for O'Neill Center's 2014 National Music Theater Conference's THE WAR DEPT. and THE WHITE CITY

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announced today casting for the 2014 National Music Theater Conference. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Paulette Haupt, the Conference runs from June 28 to July 11, and will be instrumental in the development of two new musicals.

Bringing the musicals to life will be two hand-selected casts, including Broadway and Off-Broadway regulars, O'Neill veterans, and exciting newcomers.

This year's National Music Theater Conference will be a highlight of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 50th anniversary season. Celebrating its 37th year, the National Music Theater Conference has been the breeding ground of dozens of new musicals for the stage, and has developed some of musical theater's best known hits, including Avenue Q (NMTC 2002); The Wild Party (NMTC 1997); In the Heights (NMTC 2005); and Violet (NMTC 1994), now in a Tony Award-nominated Broadway revival in a production by the Roundabout Theatre Company.

"We are very pleased to have two exceptional casts to participate in the development of The War Dept. and The White City this summer," says Ms. Haupt. "Casting for the O'Neill is a concerted effort in collaboration with the creative teams, directors and music directors with the inestimable advice and recommendations from our casting director, Alan Filderman."

This year's Conference selections include:

The War Dept. by Jim Bauer & Ruth Bauer, directed by Melia Bensussen and musical direction by Dominick Amendum, with public staged readings June 28 & 29 and July 2 & 4, featuring Cole Burden, Alan H. Green, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, James Judy, Denise Summerford, Jessica Vosk, Zakiya Young, and Lauren Zakrin.

The White City by Julia Gytri & Avi Amon, directed by Tim Seib and musical direction by Kenneth Gartman, with public staged readings July 5, 6, 9, & 11, featuring Jordan Barbour, Charlie Brady, Angel Desai, Mallory Hawks, Caitlin Kinnunen, Kate Loprest, Tommy McDowell, William Parry, Caesar Samayoa, and Scott Wakefield.

Schedule is subject to change. All performances are at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, 305 Great Neck Road, Waterford, CT 06385. Tickets for the National Music Theater Conference may be purchased online at www.theoneill.org or through the O'Neill Box Office at (860) 443-1238.

About the O'Neill: Founded in 1964, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014. It is the country's preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for American theater. In the bold tradition of its namesake Eugene O'Neill - four-time Pulitzer Prize Winner and America's only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature - the O'Neill has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and to more than 2,500 emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full production at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, and major regional theaters.

Recipient of a 2010 Tony Award for Regional Theatre and 1979 Tony Award for Theatrical Excellence, O'Neill programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute (NTI). NTI offers intensive theater training programs for academic credit, including the brand-new National Music Theater Institute, the Moscow Art Theatre Semester (MATS), a semester of study abroad, and six-week Theatermakers Summer Intensive.

The O'Neill owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. The childhood summer home of Eugene O'Neill, the Cottage is a National Historic Landmark.