New Musicals CROSSING OVER and ALICE, WENDY, DOROTHY Headline New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series

The eleventh season of New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series launches on Monday, February 5th, 2018 with pre-premieres of 2 new musicals: Crossing Over and Alice, Wendy, Dorothy. Theatre Barn's eleventh season will explore "Foreign Cultures and Fractured Fairy Tales." Casting for both shows is by Eisenberg/Beans Casting (Daryl Eisenberg,CSA; Ally Beans, CSA).

Featured in Theatre Barn's 2017 Choreography Lab, Crossing Over is a new musical with book and lyrics by Deborah Brevoort, and music and lyrics by Stephanie Salzman. Rebecca, an Amish girl, loves to sing but she lives in a world where solos and self-expression are forbidden. When she meets Reverend Blue, an itinerant hip-hop preacher - and former gang member - she connects with his music and joins him in his street corner "Hymn Hop" only to draw media attention and the anger of her family and community. Rebecca and Reverend Blue land a recording deal in NYC; Rebecca is thrown headlong into the world of pop culture with its idolization of celebrity, narcissism and materialism - values that are in stark contrast with her Amish way of life. Crossing Over explores the conflicts and cross-cultural relationships at the heart of contemporary American life. The presentation will be directed by Steve Broadnax (The Hip Hop Project), with music direction by Benji Goldsmith and Willem Oosthuysen (#MARS). The cast includes Phillip Arran (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), Jenny Rose Baker (Fiddler on the Roof), Jonathan Christopher, Jesse Corbin, Denzel Fields, Matthew Gumley (The Addams Family), Audrey Heffernan Meyer, Janet Krupin (If/Then), Forest Van Dyke, and Kendra Vernon (Freedom Train).

Alice, Wendy, Dorothy is a new musical with a story by Christina Brosman, Benny Gammerman, and Dylan Hartwell, book by Christina Brosman, music by Benny Gammerman, and lyrics by Dylan Hartwell. London is on the brink of World War II. Wendy Darling and Dorothy Gale, now grown women, have been tasked with sending orphans to Neverland and Oz in an attempt to get them out of harm's way. When Queen Alice of Wonderland thinks that her kingdom has been threatened by some of these outsiders, she vows to stop at nothing to protect it. Alice, Wendy, Dorothy forces these three very different women to reckon with living in a time when the idea of female strength was often dismissed and diminished. They've all been made to believe that the most notable thing about their lives is already behind them, but their stories are far from over. The presentation will be directed by Shea Sullivan (Pageant, Barrington Stage's Ragtime), and music direction by Jane Cardona. The cast includes Hannah DeFlumeri (Bullets Over Broadway), Brittney Johnson (Sunset Boulevard, Beautiful), Tari Kelly (Groundhog Day), Raleigh Shuck (Beaches), and Greg Sullivan.

The February 5th installment includes presentations of both new musicals at 7PM and 9PM at The Cell, located at 338 West 23rd Street in New York City. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, and can be purchased on New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.

Through an education initiative sponsored by Theatre Barn's board of directors, a limited amount of free tickets are available to high school students. To request a student ticket, email Associate Artistic Director Katharine Pettit: katie@nytheatrebarn.org.

Under the artistic direction of Joe Barros, New York Theatre Barn is a Manhattan-based non-profit theatre company, founded in 2007, dedicated to incubating and producing new musicals that tell untold stories. Our stories are inspired by the lives of real people and actual events that challenge our preconceived ideas, and promote inclusion and positive social change. Theatre Barn's core program is the New Works Series which presents bi-monthly "pre-premieres" of new musicals in the early stages of development. With each installment, 2 new musicals are showcased before a live audience and a worldwide virtual audience. Since the series' inception, we have presented more than 400 writers in 100 pre-premieres, and have amassed a catalogue of nearly 2,000 videos with a million views. For more information: www.nytheatrebarn.org.

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