Katie Rose Clarke & More Broadway Vets to Lead THE OLIVER EXPERIMENT at TN Shakespeare Co.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company, in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Theatre & Dance, presents its third and final developing musical reading on the University of Memphis mainstage with The Oliver Experiment by Jeremy Desmon and Jeff Thomson on August 15 at 7:00 pm.

Tickets for the reading are just $15, or $10 for Students and Seniors.

The Oliver Experiment, directed by Jen Bender and with music direction by Joshua Stephen Kartes, is the latest developing musical in TSC's inaugural Showplace Memphis: Musical Works in Progress.

Showplace Memphis is sponsored by one of Broadway's elite musical licensing companies, Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW) and President/CEO Steve Spiegel, based in New York City. Showplace Memphis has been devised as the next creative stage for three musicals en route to full productions in New York and on the regional theatre circuit. The first two musicals in the festival included Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical and Midsummer Night. The project director is E. Frank Bluestein.

The Oliver Experiment

What if your entire life were a Broadway musical... and you had no clue?

Unbeknownst to young Ollie, he is the beloved star of The Oliver Experiment - "Now in it's 19th year!" - a fanciful piece of theatre magic concocted by his over-protective father to give his son a life of music and innocence and Happily-Ever-Afters. With its colorful cast and ever-evolving storylines, the magnificent secret is maintained at all costs... until the night Ollie notices a beautiful, young understudy in the chorus.

Writers Jeff Thomson and Jeremy Desmon explore the lengths we go to in order to protect the ones we love in this funny, tuneful, and theatrical coming-of-age story.

Directed by Ms. Bender (Broadway's The Lion King, Honeymoon in Vegas, Avenue Q, The Wedding Singer, and Steel Magnolias), the cast includes Michael Campayno - last seen in NBC's Sound of Music; Katie Rose Clarke of Broadway's Wicked, Light in the Piazza, and the upcoming Allegiance; Ramona Keller of Broadway's Smokey Joe's Café and the original cast of Caroline, or Change; Molly Ranson of Broadway's August: Osage County, Jerusalem, and Fish in the Dark as well as Off-Broadway's Carrie, Bad Jews, and The Burnt Part Boys; and Edward Watts currently starring as El Gallo in The Fantasticks in NYC, and recently in Scandalous on Broadway, also Show Boat at Lincoln Center.

The Oliver Experiment creators and cast will collaborate and rehearse at the U of M for five to ten days leading up to its reading. Though it will be going through both script and music changes, The Oliver Experiment will be played and sung in its entirety and with musical accompaniment. Few other design elements (scenic/costumes/lights) will be integrated.

Audiences will have an opportunity to speak with the actors and creators of The Oliver Experiment immediately following its reading. Audiences also will inform the production by completing an audience survey that will help the creative team in future development phases.