Marc Kudisch, Morgan Lynne Dudley and More to Star in GRUNGE Industry Reading

An invitation-only industry reading of Grunge: A Memory Musical, by writer Leyna d’Ancona and composer Paul Martin Siegel, will be presented in Manhattan on Friday, March 27, 2026.

Inspired by the rediscovery of a box of cassette tapes containing a fully produced but never-released 1995 album by the indie band Charley Django, GRUNGE reimagines the story behind a nearly lost record and the world it came from.

Directed by Joe Calarco, the cast will feature Marc Kudisch (Floyd Collins, Girl From the North Country, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Morgan Lynne Dudley (Jagged Little Pill, Hadestown), Carey Brown (Ragtime), Brandon Dial (A Raisin in the Sun, The Public Theater), and Alaina Surgener (The Housemaid), among others.

During pandemic lockdown, Phoebe, a lonely college freshman, escapes isolation through music, daydreams, and one night, greening out just as she discovers a mysterious cassette tape that pulls her into the 1990s alt-rock scene she has always imagined. There, in a warehouse rehearsal studio where a band lives, plays, and self-records, she is drawn into a chosen family led by Charley, their brooding frontman. But as Phoebe’s ties to this analog world deepen, the experience begins to reshape her understanding of where and with whom she truly belongs.

A “memory musical” rooted in the cultural shift from the analog 1990s to today’s digital and increasingly artificial world, GRUNGE explores how belonging is formed, inherited, and ultimately chosen.

Blending time-slip storytelling with an original score drawn from the spirit of 90s alternative rock, the musical serves as both a resurrection of a lost album, Outside the Market, and a meditation on the generations shaped in the wake of its era.

Music direction is by Drew Wutke, with stage management by Nia J. Blizzard. Evan Bernardin Productions serves as General Manager. More information: GrungeMusical.com