Live & In Color Will Develop WETLANDS and HOWDYLAND! at 2022 Fall Retreat

Live & In Color returns to the Bingham Camp in Salem, CT after recently producing the award winning Off-Broadway musical this past winter: LITTLE GIRL BLUE. Now entering their 8th season, Live & In Color is an innovative theatrical program during which artists spend time in a rural setting creating work that gives voice to underrepresented communities onstage.

Live & In Color will develop the new play WETLANDS by AriDy Nox under the June Bingham New Playwright Commission. This commission opportunity provides resources and support toward the creation and development of a new play by early-career women/femme and/or non-binary storytellers. AriDy Nox, this year's recipient, is working on a new play entitled WETLANDS. In this piece, Tara, a young, determined environmental scientist, is on the verge of a major breakthrough despite being haunted by her ancestor, Nita. However, Nita holds wisdom that challenges Tara in ways she never imagined possible. This piece will be directed by Ava Elizabeth Novak and features Mariyea as Tara, Enette Fremont as Nita, and Shantez Tolbut serves as the production stage manager and will be reading stage directions. Abigail Grubb serves as the Program Director and Co-Founder. WETLANDS will premiere on September 7th at 7:30pm at the Bingham Camp.

The musical selected to be developed at this year's retreat is HOWDYLAND! by JB Tang Jackson and Dominique Gélin. Two writers are magically transported into a 1960s cowboy TV show called Howdyland! As they adventure through the world of Hollywood westerns trying to find their way home, they showdown against the big question: who gets to be a hero in the wild west? HOWDYLAND! is a charming and hilarious musical romp through the hidden stories of a more queer and colorful frontier Directed by Dennis Corsi and featuring Kataka Corn as Iris, Aria Renee Curameng as Lou, Dylan Glick as Boss and Michael Lazarus as Chow, this musical will run from September 10th -11th at the Bingham Camp.

Live & In Color is led by Artistic Director Devanand Janki whose career spans all facets of the performing arts - theatre, opera, ballet and corporate entertainment. Janki began as a performer, appearing in numerous productions including Broadway's "Miss Saigon," "Cats," "The King and I," and "Side Show." For the past 15 years, he has been a freelance director, working regionally and in New York on over 50 shows including "Aladdin," "Junie B. Jones," "Man of La Mancha," "Rent," "The Full Monty" and Off-Broadway's "Zanna Don't" for which he won the Lucille Lortel Award.

Tickets to the events are free, but donations are appreciated. For tickets to Live & In Color's 2022 productions, visit https://www.theatreincolor.org/tickets.

WETLANDS premieres on 9/7 at 7:30pm at the Bingham Camp

HOWDYLAND! premieres on 9/10 at 3:00pm and 9/11 at 2:00pm at the Bingham Camp.

The Bingham Camp is located at 490 East Haddam Road, Salem CT 06420