Disney Imagineering & New Musicals, Inc. Seek Musical Theatre Writers for 'New Voices' Project

If you're under the age of 26, and you're writing for musical theatre, Walt Disney Imagineering and New Musicals Inc. are looking for you!

New Musicals Inc. in Los Angeles is sponsoring its fourth annual New Voices Project, in which young playwrights, composers and lyricists receive workshops and concerts of their work, with feedback sessions from executives from Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment and New Musicals Inc. Selected finalists will have their work critiqued in an in-house workshop in March of 2016; and then presented in concert in Los Angeles in April 2016.

Writers are encouraged to submit up to three selections, either from a single work, or separate works, for a total of 20 minutes of material. The staff of New Musicals Inc. selects up to six writers' works to present to executives at Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Engineering.

The finalists work will receive feedback from the NMI staff and representatives from Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, and the writers will then be given an opportunity to rewrite and resubmit in time to be presented in concert at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, as part of NMI's annual showcase, "got musical," which features highlights of musicals in development at NMI.

"We're looking for writers in whom we see potential," says NMI's Executive Director Scott Guy. "We're not pigeon-holing that potential: that is, we're not looking for 'Broadway musical' writers per se, or 'ground-breaking' or 'commercial' or 'avant-garde'. We're looking for writers who are exploring their voices through the blend of music and voice. The stronger your voice and vision are, the more likely we're going to respond to your work."

The 2015 New Voices Project winners were: Jacob Combs & Madeline Myers, Bill Nelson and Joseph Trefler, and Michael Finke. The Merit Award Recipients were: Mark Sonnenblick, Andre Catrini, Sam Chanse and Bob Kelly, and Ben Boecker. Three writers were selected in 2014: Danny Bernstein, Santino DeAngelo, and Zack Zadek. The writers selected in 2013 were Amar Benkhoukha, Ion Constantine, Nick Jester, Christopher Byron Pratt, and Noah Reece.

"I'm really excited about the structure of our fourth season, which will give writers an opportunity to revise their work before it gets presented at the got musical concert," says Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry. "So many of the workshop opportunities available right now present writers' original material and then ask the writers to sit through a critique without having the chance to respond with a revision. The support of the Disney organization will allow us to lengthen this process and give the writers a chance to respond to feedback."

Writers may apply online at nmi.org/develop/new-voices-project. There is no application fee. NMI is hopeful that funds will be available to fly the winning participants to Los Angeles for the got musical presentation in April, but such funding is not yet secured.

For more information, consult either the link to the project, or contact Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry at admin@nmi.org; www.nmi.org; 818.506.8500.