27th Annual Festival of New Musicals Sets Songwriters Showcase & Cabaret Lineup

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the lineup for the SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE and the SONGWRITERS CABARET at the 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS on Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16. Both events take place at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Registration for Industry members is free and now open at www.namt.org/festival. (Please note the admission process for each event in the individual descriptions.)

SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE

Thursday, October 15 from 2 - 3 PM

The SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE is open to registered attendees with a Premiere, Select or Access Pass. There is a day-of standby line for the general public for free admission.

The SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE is an informal introduction to new musicals currently in development. A host (TBA) welcomes each creative team and chats with them about their show accompanied by two songs performed by Broadway talent(casting to be announced).

This year's SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE features:

THE HUNTER AND THE BEAR created by PigPen Theatre Co.

The seven young actor/musician/playwrights of the multiple award-winning PigPen Theatre Co. (The Old Man and The Old Moon, The Nightmare Story, The Mountain Song) will showcase their newest original play with music. The Hunter and The Bear is the ghostly tale of a father who every day ventures into the woods in search of the monster who devoured his son. Commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club and Ars Nova.

MORTALITY PLAY by Scotty Arnold and Alana Jacoby

Mortality Play is a rock musical about Todd, a 16-year-old in 1349 London trying to justify his desire to make music in a time of great need. The plague has just broken out, claiming his band mate John as one of its first victims. His ghost becomes a guide for Todd as he tries to navigate his responsibilities as a son, boyfriend, doctor's apprentice, and aspiring rock star. The show is a modern take on a medieval morality play that follows a young man's struggle to decide between what he wants to do and what he believes the world needs of him.

THEORY OF RELATIVITY by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill

Fresh from a wildly successful run at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre, Relativity is a bold new song cycle inspired by true stories told by today's millennial generation as they search for a place in the cosmos. Neil Bartram's hilarious and heart-wrenching songs, blended with scenes and monologues by Brian Hill, celebrate the perennial pursuit of human connection. As Albert Einstein put it, "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY by Marshall Pailet and Jason Michael Snow

Zombies on Broadway, inspired by the RKO b-movie you've never heard of, is a new musical comedy featuring an original Golden Age-style score, a mid-western township with a gun-toting mayoress, and two snake oil salesmen with banter to spare. And then the zombie apocalypse happens. (Note: zombies do not sing and dance in this musical. They are very scary and they eat people.)

SONGWRITERS CABARET

SONGWRITERS CABARET is open to registered attendees with a Premiere or Select Pass. There will be a day-of standby line for Access Pass holders. (Due to space limitations, there is no standby line for the general public or General Pass holders for the Songwriters Cabaret).

The SONGWRITERS CABARET gives songwriters the opportunity to highlight selections from their recent and in-progress shows in the intimate setting of the Green Room Lounge.

This year's SONGWRITERS CABARET features:

Thursday, October 15 12.30 PM - 2 PM

Brian Lowdermilk & Kait Kerrigan (The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, Party Worth Crashing)
Kim Sherman & Darrah Cloud (Heartland­-NAMT Fest '97, Makeover)

Friday, October 16 12 PM - 1:30 PM

Douglas J. Cohen (Barnstormer-NAMT Fest '08, Glimmerglass-NAMT Fest '00, The Gig-NAMT Fest '94)

Ty Defoe & Tidtaya Sinutoke (Clouds are Pillows for the Moon, In the Cards)

These two special events join the previously announced mainstage festival line up: COSTS OF LIVING (book, music & lyrics by Timothy Huang); IMAGINE HARRY (music & lyrics by Will Van Dyke, book & lyrics by Jeff Talbott); THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN (book by Harrison David Rivers, lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik, music by Jacob Yandura); LEGENDALE (music by Andrea Daly, book & lyrics by Jeff Bienstock, story by Bienstock & Daly); lift (book & lyrics by Daryl Lisa Fazio, music by Aaron McAllister); NOIR (music & lyrics by Duncan Sheik, book & lyrics by Kyle Jarrow); ON THE EVE (story by Michael Federico, Shawn Magill & Seth Magill, music & lyrics by Shawn Magill & Seth Magill, book by Michael Federico); and OTHELLO: THE REMIX (by The Q Brothers).

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Their mission is to advance musical theatre by nurturing the creation, development, production and presentation of new musicals, and to provide a forum for musical theatre professionals to share resources and exchange information. Our 200 members, located throughout 34 states and abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers. Among the 228 musicals launched by NAMT's annual Festival of New Musicals are Thoroughly Modern Millie, Children of Eden, Honk!, The Drowsy Chaperone, It Shoulda Been You, Songs for a New World, I Love You Because, Striking 12, Vanities, Ordinary Days and many others, representing 420 writers.

NAMT's FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is the cornerstone of NAMT's mission to nurture the creation, development and production of new musicals. The Festival presents eight musicals in 45-minute presentations before an audience of over 600 industry professionals. In the short run, the Festival's goal is to connect producers with writers, so that their shows can continue their development trajectory. The long-term goal is to expand the musical theatre repertoire, bringing new musical theatre to thousands of audience members around the world.

The 27th ANNUALFESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is overseen by NAMT New Works Director and Festival Producing Director Branden Huldeen and Festival General Manager Lisa Dozier King.

NAMT thanks the following foundations, government agencies and organizations for their ongoing support of our programs: ABE Charitable Foundation, The Alhadeff Family Charitable Foundation, The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York Creative Space Grant, ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, BMI Foundation, The Dramatists Guild Fund, Friars Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, The Purple Plume Foundation, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, Stacey Mindich Productions and The Shubert Foundation.