Lucille Lortel Theatre Reveals 2026 Recipients of The 121 Project

The Lucille Lortel Theatre has revealed that five new musicals will receive support through the 121 Project, the Lortel’s tailored development program for new musical works.

The 2026 recipients of the 121 Project are Bandit Queen with book & lyrics by Sami Horneff and book & music by Amanda D’Archangelis; Francois & The Rebels: A Punk Rock Ritual with book, music & lyrics by Jaime Cepero; Fusong with book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, music by Cecilia Lin, based on “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” by Geling Yan, and conceived and directed by Gabriel Barre; Next Year in Connecticut! with book & lyrics by Sarah Rossman and music by Sequoia Sellinger; Out There, co-created, directed, and choreographed by William Carlos Angulo, co-created and with a book by Isaac Gómez, and co-created, composed and with lyrics by Michelle J. Rodriguez.

Under the stewardship of Michael Heitzman, Artistic Director of New Musical Development, the Music Theatre Lab at the Lortel fosters the creation, development and presentation of new musicals. A signature program is the 121 Project, which further expands the Lortel’s impact on the Off-Broadway community and the field nationally. 121 submissions were received in this second year of the initiative, which provides up to $10,000 of tailored support for the specific needs of a project.

“The 121 Project is a tailored development program designed to meet artists exactly where they are in their process,”  says Heitzman. “Now in our third year, the depth and range of submissions continue to affirm what we’ve always believed: there is no single path to creating new work, and meaningful support must be as flexible as the artists themselves. We’re proud to have helped projects move forward in tangible ways, and we’re thrilled to support this year’s cohort as they take their next steps. Our hope is that the Lortel can continue to be a meaningful partner in their journey.”

Bandit Queen

Book & Lyrics by Sami Horneff
Book & Music by Amanda D’Archangelis
It’s 1902, and a troupe of traveling actors presents “The Arizona Female Bandit,” a play centering on Pearl Hart, the Wild West’s most notorious woman outlaw…and the older sister of playwright and star Katy Davy. But tonight, the real Pearl, freshly released from prison, bursts in on the performance, insisting the show’s ‘facts’ are fiction. The sisters step into their own roles, reliving their past shaped by abuse, crime, and addiction – and forcing them to finally mend old scars live, in real time. BANDIT QUEEN features nine versatile performers and an Americana-inspired score that blends the rich storytelling of the Old West with a contemporary pop theatre sound.

Francois & The Rebels: A Punk Rock Ritual

Book, Music & Lyrics by Jaime Cepero
Francois & The Rebels is a punk rock ritual performance piece that details the real history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution, as told through the inherent blackness of the rock and roll genre. Using the punk rock aesthetic and sound as our access, it follows the first successful slave rebellion in history that resulted in the creation of the first black led country in the western hemisphere, consequently leading to the ending of transatlantic slavery worldwide.

Fusong

Book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson
Music by Cecilia Lin
Based on “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” by Geling Yan
Conceived and directed by Gabriel Barre

Fusong tells the story of two Chinese women in two different centuries linked by their complicated destiny. As Fusong is kidnapped from her small village in China and thrown into the dark world of San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1866, Isabel, a novelist, grapples with her books being banned and how the truth of Fusong’s story impacts her own place in the divided America of 2025.  Their lives intertwine, leading them on a journey to discover their shared legacy of resilience and resistance to the status quo. Based on “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” by Geling Yan.

Next Year in Connecticut!

Book & lyrics by Sarah Rossman
Music by Sequoia Sellinger
The Stablemans are not like other families. Life is a game of mental illness musical chairs, no one has boundaries, and the status quo is anything but static. Next Year in Connecticut! follows the Stablemans over the course of one dysfunctional, hilarious Passover seder. As the family powers through seder, Olive represses an eating disorder, Sonya challenges her OCD by participating at the communal table, and Clem grieves for her therapy dog, Lionel (who was run over that morning). Normal levels of Stableman dysfunction devolve into chaos when Mom’s suicidal psychotherapy patient, Billy, shows up at the front door. Ultimately, it is Billy who helps everyone appreciate that being part of a collective craziness is better than being crazy alone.

Out There