Jenn Colella to Star in NEARLY NEIGHBORS Developmental Reading

Tony Award nominee Jenn Colella (Come From Away, Suffs) will star as Stacy in an upcoming developmental reading of NEARLY NEIGHBORS, a new chamber musical featuring book, music, and lyrics by Joshua Vranas.

In conjunction with Colella's casting, Lead Producers Nikita Chernin and Ash Marie Alina have announced THE SEARCH FOR RACHEL, a nationwide open casting call to find the actor who will play Rachel, the second of the musical's two leading roles. Represented and self-represented performers from across the country are invited to submit virtually through October 31, 2026.

The November reading will be directed by Jade King Carroll, with Sujin Kim-Ramsey serving as Music Director and Halle Hart serving as Stage Manager. The developmental week will culminate in invite-only industry presentations on November 20.

'I'm so excited to be part of Nearly Neighbors,' said Colella. 'I was immediately drawn to the heart and humor of the piece, and to Stacy, who is funny, complicated, and so deeply human. I'm also really excited that we're using this process to open a door for someone new. There are so many extraordinary actors who haven't yet had access to the rooms where these opportunities usually happen, and I love that we're widening the search for Rachel. I can't wait to find the person who will bring her to life opposite me.'

A chamber musical in twelve months, Nearly Neighbors is a story about the power of proximity and what happens in the space between.

Set across two opposing balconies in Hell's Kitchen, the musical begins when Rachel, a recently successful tech founder, moves into a new luxury apartment and comes face-to-face with Stacy, a longtime New Yorker who has little interest in being impressed. Over the course of a year, irritation gives way to conversation and eventually reluctant collaboration when Rachel pulls Stacy into developing a new business idea.

At the center of the musical is the experience of witnessing another person and, in turn, allowing yourself to be witnessed. Through an intimate, piano-driven score, Nearly Neighbors traces the humor, tension, and fracture lines of a relationship between two people who might otherwise have remained strangers.

'Nearly Neighbors is a show about connection and the intimacy of developing a relationship with someone you live so close to and yet know nothing about,' said Vranas, the musical's writer and composer. 'It's about two women who irk each other but turn out to be exactly what the other needs. Jenn Colella has this beautiful ability to make you feel like you're the only person in the room, connecting meaningfully with every word, note and emotion. I'm so excited she's giving life to Stacy, and I can't wait to find who will move in across from her and become our Rachel.'

The Search For Rachel

Rachel is a recently successful tech founder settling into a new luxury apartment in Hell's Kitchen. Smart, exacting, and accustomed to moving faster than everyone around her, she finds an unexpected match in the neighbor across the courtyard.

For The Search for Rachel, the production is seeking a compelling actor-singer in her 20s to early 30s with sharp comic instincts, emotional specificity, and a strong connection to new work. The search is open nationwide to both represented and self-represented performers.

Open casting calls have a long history in American musical theater as a way of widening the pool of artists considered for major opportunities. Thousands of performers famously lined up for Rent in the 1990s as its creative team searched beyond the usual casting pipelines. Legally Blonde later took its search for a new Elle Woods to open calls across the country, ultimately casting Bailey Hanks, who made her Broadway debut in the role.

That tradition has continued in New York. Earlier this year, the upcoming Off-Broadway revival of Spring Awakening drew 2,532 performers to its open casting call. The search ultimately resulted in Jack Bateman and Antonio Porciello being cast in the revival, offering a recent example of a professional production using an open call as a genuine pathway into the company.

For the Nearly Neighbors team, that distinction is important. The Search for Rachel is not intended as a publicity exercise or an alternative route into a casting process whose outcome has already been determined. The role remains open, and the team is approaching the call with the belief that the performer who should develop Rachel opposite Colella may be someone they do not already know.

For Ash Marie Alina, the open call is closely connected to her own experience as an actor and her work as founder of Blank Canvas Collective.

'As an actor, I have felt the discouragement of going to an audition you know is already cast. I know the feeling of not even showing up in the first place,' said Alina. 'This is why a true and fair open call is important to me. I want to be a beacon of hope that says, 'There are people looking for you still.''

'I started my company, Blank Canvas Collective, as a way to empower young actors to run their career like a business, build a strong network and create opportunities instead of begging for a place at the table. Producing Nearly Neighbors feels like an extension of that mission.'

'I really believe young theater makers need to fight to protect the integrity of the arts, especially when it comes to casting. There is space for new faces, and even more so, we should be looking to give opportunities to those who wouldn't normally be thought of to tell certain stories. Rachel is a very relatable character for many actors, I think: an achiever who creates an identity around her success. I'm looking forward to seeing how actors infuse themselves into this role and hopefully teach us something new about Rachel.'

Submissions for The Search for Rachel are open now and will close October 31, 2026. Applicants are asked to submit their information, headshot and résumé, along with the requested initial audition materials.

Performers participating in The Search for Rachel are also encouraged to share clips from their auditions on social media, allowing participating artists to share their work and audiences to follow the search as it unfolds. Social media participation is entirely optional and will have no bearing on casting consideration.

The Search For Rachel: Casting Information

RACHEL: 20s-early 30s. A recently successful tech founder settling into a new luxury apartment in Hell's Kitchen. Smart, exacting, and used to moving faster than everyone around her, she meets her match in the neighbor across the courtyard. Seeking a compelling actor-singer with sharp comic instincts, emotional specificity, and a strong connection to new work.

Submissions Close: October 31, 2026
Submission Method: Virtual, nationwide
Representation: Represented and self-represented performers welcome

Casting information and submissions are available at nearlyneighborsmusical.com/search-for-rachel/.

November Developmental Reading

The developmental reading will take place in New York City from November 16-20, 2026, culminating in invite-only industry presentations on November 20.

The reading will be helmed by Jade King Carroll, Producing Artistic Director of Chautauqua Theater Company and a director with an extensive career developing and directing new work across the country. Carroll has directed more than 60 productions nationally, with credits including New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, McCarter Theatre Center, Hartford Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Alley Theatre. She is also among the small group of directors to have worked across all ten plays in August Wilson's American Century Cycle.

Sujin Kim-Ramsey will serve as Music Director. Kim-Ramsey previously served as Music Director of KPOP for its Broadway production at Circle in the Square Theatre and its Off-Broadway premiere at Ars Nova. Her credits also include Cats: The Jellicle Ball, The Last Match, The Apple Boys at Bucks County Playhouse, and I and You at McCarter Theatre Center. A composer as well as a music director, Kim-Ramsey has presented original work at Carnegie Hall and holds degrees in Classical Composition from Yonsei University, Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, and Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

The reading will also mark Halle Hart's New York City stage management debut. Hart's professional credits include Boston Lyric Opera's 80th Anniversary production of Carousel, where she served as Production Assistant, as well as Beauty and the Beast, The Addams Family, and The Pajama Game with Curtain Call Summer Youth Theatre, where she served as Production Stage Manager. Hart holds a BFA from Emerson College.

For Chernin, himself a working stage manager in addition to his producing work, bringing Hart onto the project reflects a broader commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for emerging artists and creatives throughout a production, not only onstage.

'Somebody has to give you the first room,' said Chernin. 'I know firsthand as a stage manager how much it means when someone trusts you with an opportunity before you have the credit that supposedly proves you can do it. That's what excites me about Halle making her New York stage management debut with us, and it's the same thing that excites me about The Search for Rachel.'

'There are extraordinary artists who never get considered because they aren't already in the right rooms, represented by the right people, or connected to the right circles. An open call gives us permission to say: maybe we don't know who Rachel is yet. Maybe the person who should be in that room isn't in our contacts, doesn't live in New York, or hasn't had the opportunity that puts her résumé on our desk.'

'We're asking someone to step opposite an actor as extraordinary as Jenn and become one half of the entire world of this musical. That's a huge opportunity. I think our responsibility as producers is to look as widely and seriously as we can for the person who should have it. Access can't just apply to the people audiences see onstage, either. If we're serious about creating opportunities for new voices, that has to extend to every part of the room.'

The November presentations will introduce Nearly Neighbors to members of the New York theater industry as the creative and producing team continues the musical's development toward future production.

About Nearly Neighbors

Nearly Neighbors is a chamber musical in twelve months featuring book, music, and lyrics by Joshua Vranas. Set across two opposing balconies in Hell's Kitchen, the musical follows Rachel, a recently successful tech founder, and Stacy, a longtime New Yorker, as irritation develops into conversation and reluctant collaboration over the course of a year.

Told through an intimate, piano-driven score, Nearly Neighbors explores the power of proximity, the experience of witnessing and being witnessed, and the question of whether, once someone sees you clearly, it is possible to return to being unknown.