Winners of the prestigious international Search for New Musicals were announced today at the Academy for New Musical Theatre.
- First Prize goes to It Happened in Roswell (formerly titled I Come For Love) by Terrence Atkins and Jeffery Lyle Segal.
- Second Prize goes to The Looking Glass Wars by Kurt Kuenne, based on the novel by Frank Beddor.
- Third Prize goes to Infamous, with book by Karen M. Cohen, music and lyrics by Stephen Kingsbury, and additional music and lyrics by Karen M. Cohen.
The Search for New Musicals accepts entrants from around the globe; winners receive awards worth up to $25,000 in workshop productions, concert readings, feedback, and developmental support.
'We are thrilled to sponsor the Search,' says Elise Dewsberry, Artistic Director of the Academy. 'We love seeing what writers are creating; and of course our mission is to nurture the folks who are writing musicals, so announcing the winners of the Search is one of my favorite things to do all year!'
It Happened in Roswell tells the story of an ambitious reporter who cooks up a bogus UFO story in Roswell, New Mexico (just after World War 2); and is thrown for a loop when he finds himself falling in love with an actual alien who has come to earth looking for the emotions she has heard about through radio transmissions but can't find on her home planet. This new musical will receive a workshop with the Academy Repertory Company, and a concert reading in Los Angeles in 2014.
The Looking Glass Wars is a musical adaptation of the popular trilogy which tells the "real" story behind
Lewis Carroll's "distorted" version. The Looking Glass Wars will receive an ANMT staff table reading and evaluation.
Infamous tells the story of a rock star on the decline who runs into a rock star on her way up to stardom. This new muscial will receive an in-depth analysis from the ANMT dramaturgical staff.
2013 is the sixth annual Search for New Musicals. Previous winners have included: The Water by
Jeff Hylton, Tim Werenko, and
Georgia Stitt (2008); Greenbrier Ghost by
Susan Murray and
Clay Zambo (2009); Gilbert & Sullivan on Wall Street by Charles Veley and
Arthur Sullivan (2010); Emerald by Chris Burgess and Denise Wright (2011); and Mad Bomber by Charles Monagan and
Richard DeRosa (2012).
ANMT is committed to an ongoing search to find and nurture promising new musical theatre. If you've written a musical, and you would like some honest, constructive, detailed feedback on how to make your musical better, you can submit your musical to ANMT for dramaturgical feedback at levels from evaluation to analysis to table reading to workshop to concert reading.
All musicals submitted (at any level) to ANMT by JULY 15, 2014 will be automatically entered in the Search for New Musicals for next season.
Winners of the 2014 Search will be announced by November 15, 2014. The winner of the Search receives a workshop with the Academy Repertory Company, detailed feedback from the ANMT staff, and a concert reading in Los Angeles.
ANMT has a development process which has been around for four decades, guiding writers in the craft of writing musicals through a number of stages, including outlines, rough drafts, table readings and concert readings.
Information on submitting to the Search is available online via ANMT's website:
www.anmt.org. ANMT is located at 5628 Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood, California (91601). Writers who have questions may email academy@anmt.org.
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