Musical Theatre Factory Presents THE DISAPPEARING MAN Folk Opera This Weekend

Musical Theatre Factory, under the direction of Artistic Director, Shakina Nayfack, has announced that it will present four developmental presentations of THE DISAPPEARING MAN, a new folk opera with book, music and lyrics by Jahn Sood, direction by West Hyler and musical direction by Max Mamon, today, January 19th, at 2pm and 7pm and Saturday, January 21st, at 3pm and 8pm at the Robert Moss Theater, 440 Lafayette Street, 3rd floor.

THE DISPPEARING MAN takes place backstage at a small-time circus in 1936. While the magician and his lovely assistant fight to break free of the roles they've always played and start anew, the liontamer, ringmaster, acrobat and clown make a desperate attempt to keep the circus family together, all against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the spread of fascism abroad.

The cast features Jorge Acosta, D. C. Anderson, Catherine Cox, Eric William Morris, Mary Kate Morrissey and Luke Wygodny.

The production also features Music Supervision by Brian Cavanagh-Strong and Dramaturgy by Jeremy Stoller. The presentation is Stage Managed by Louisa Pough.

Jahn Sood is the creator of new folk operas The Disappearing Man and In A Sea of Faces and lyricist-librettist for musicals With You Always, Vital Signs, and Ernesto. Jahn was a founding member of Ezra Furman & the Harpoons and toured nationally with the group. He also assisted composer Pat Irwin on the scores of AMC's Feed the Beast, Showtime's Nurse Jackie, HBO's Bored to Death. Recently he completed the manuscript for a book about his family history surrounding the Partition of India in 1947. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch and Tufts University and lives in Brooklyn.

Presentations of THE DISAPPEARING MAN are on: Thursday, January 19th at 2pm; Thursday, January 19th at 7pm; Saturday, January 21st at 3pm; amd Saturday, January 21st at 8pm. THE Robert Moss THEATER is located at 440 Lafayette Street 3rd floor.

Musical Theatre Factory was founded by Artistic Director Shakina Nayfack in January 2014 as a collective for early-career musical theatre makers interested in changing the way new musicals are developed in New York City. The mission of the Factory is to develop and present new Musical Theatre Works in a collaborative environment free from the pressures of critical or commercial success. With a focus on peer-evaluation and process-driven volunteer support, MTF's assembly line of development programming directly addresses the needs of today's musical theatre artists and is intended to nurture new work from initial concepts to full drafts and, occasionally, first productions.

In its first two years MTF has assisted in the development of over 90 new musicals with more than 900 volunteers contributing over 16,000 combined hours of service. The organization has partnered with a number of other theatre companies throughout NYC, including Joe's Pub at The Public Theatre, The People's Improv Theatre, Poetic Theatre Productions, and Playwrights Horizons, where they will begin a three-year residency this coming fall.

MTF members include some of today's most exciting composers, lyricists, book writers, directors, choreographers, music directors, dramaturgs, performers, and arts administrators. The organization is overseen by General Managers Frankie Dailey and Joey Monda, with Creative Producer Aaron Glick serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

MTF's Developmental Residencies are selected by the artistic staff from the works that have participated in the 4x15 series or other assembly line programming and provide writers the unique opportunity to explore their work in a focusEd Manner over the course of an intensive two week workshop. Following an individual needs assessment, residencies choose the form that works best for them, from a presentation of solely one act, to a fully staged reading, choreography lab, or even an orchestration, vocal arrangement, or production design workshop. At the end of every residency there is an invited showing of the work-in-progress.