Signature Theatre Launches New Musical Theater Lab

The Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre continues its commitment to new work by launching the SigWorks: Musical Theater Lab, a new developmental workshop for musical theater writers. The Lab offers writers an opportunity to focus on the artistic development of their piece in one of the nation's most vibrant theatrical communities. Signature Theatre invites writers from across the United States to submit their new musicals to be chosen for development in the summer of 2016. Two musicals will be chosen for a two week workshop where each project will receive public readings at the end of each week. The projects, under the leadership of Signature's Director of New Works Joe Calarco will each receive a director and assistant director, a musical director, actors, stage manager and a dramaturge. The writers of the chosen musicals will receive housing, travel and an honorarium.

"Signature Theatre has become known as an incubator for new exciting and challenging musicals in this country over the past 25 years," said Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer. "We felt it was time to provide more opportunities to artists to help them get their work produced on American stages. With SigWorks and Joe Calarco, we are committing to an entire new level of development that will nurture and give the creative freedom to artists to explore their stories in a safe environment with the support of the entire Signature Theatre staff."

"When I first took the position of Director of New Works at Signature Theatre, Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and I talked about ways to give writers more opportunities to develop their work," said Calarco. "With our SigWorks: Musical Theater Lab open submission policy, we'll be giving writers all over the country the chance to have their work developed at one of America's leading producers of new musicals. ?"

For complete submission guidelines and all requirements please visit our website http://www.sigtheatre.org/about/work/submissions/

SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Reading's at Ali's Bar

Signature Theatre also announces the five new plays by DC area playwrights chosen out of 91 submissions to have readings as part of the SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Reading's at Ali's Bar series - The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly, Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Masterpieces of the Oral and the Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Heather McDonald, Accepts with Pleasure by Dani Stoller, and To Defend Freedom by Annalisa Dias.

SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings at Ali's Bar is a new initiative which highlights and supports the work of DMV and regional playwrights. Each play will receive a one day mini-developmental workshop with professional actors the day of the reading. This series is an opportunity for playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and patrons to explore new plays in a fun and informal environment. Each reading will be followed by a dialogue with the audience and the artists.

The Monday Night New Play Reading Series will be hosted at Ali's Bar in Signature Theatre's Mead Lobby on the first Monday of every other month beginning October 5th, 2015 and going through June 2016 (see full schedule of featured plays below). Ali's Bar will be open before and after each reading and audience members are invited to come early for drink specials.

The readings are free and open to the public, no reservations are required.

The Gulf
by Audrey Cefaly
October 5 at 7PM

On a quiet summer evening, somewhere down in the Alabama Delta, Kendra and Betty troll the flats looking for red fish. After Betty begins diagnosing Kendra's dead-end life with career picks from What Color is Your Parachute, their routine fishing excursion takes a violent turn.

Br'er Cotton
by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm
December 7 at 7PM

Lynchburg, Virginia. The former site of a thriving cotton mill is now an impoverished neighborhood. Deeply affected by all the recent killings of young black men like himself, Ruffrino, a 14-year-old "militant," incites riots at school and online. More and more at odds with his mother and grandfather, the boy's anger grows beyond containment while the family home literally sinks into the cotton field, and no one seems to notice but him.

Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
by Heather McDonald
February 1 at 7PM

A hundred years war. The Museum of Art & Antiquities is being used as a prison. When negotiations between three women, a soldier, a student, and an art restorer take a violent turn, the restoration of a Rembrandt painting causes them to redefine their ideas of culture, barbarism, and forgiveness.

Accepts With Pleasure
by Dani Stoller
April 11 at 7PM

A group of college friends gathers for the wedding of two of their own. Alcohol. Drugs. Spin the bottle. Hook ups. Long-held secrets. Confessions. It's your best friend's seriously screwed up wedding.

To Defend Freedom
by Annalisa Dias
June 6 at 7PM

On August 29, 2013, two Algerian detainees were released from Guantanamo Bay Detention Center after being held captive for 12 years without charge. Meanwhile, United States and international newspapers published sparse information about the event. Centered around the lives and histories of one of the detainees and his American lawyer, To Defend Freedom bears witness to the struggle for both men to retain a grasp on their humanity amid the vast complexity of the American system.

Readings are free and open to the public with no reservations required. Ali's Bar will be open with a full food and beverage menu.

The series is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. For more information about the series visit www.sigtheatre.org.

New Work at Signature Theatre is sponsored by The Reva & David Logan Foundation.