Tatiana Wechsler, Ian Gallagher Fitzgerald & More to Star in BLOCKED, A New Musical Industry Presentation

TheaterWorksUSA will present an invite-only Industry presentation of the new musical BLOCKED, A New Musical with a book by Sinead Daly and music and lyrics by Ben Wexler on June 8 & 9, 2023. 

Social media has become central to our society, especially with teens. On the one hand, it allows people to connect, to create, to learn, and explore, all from the comfort of their home or phone. On the other hand, it can be addictive and easily give you a way to stop living in the real world.

As our society continues to grapple with its relationship to social media, BLOCKED presents a nuanced, intergenerational look at how to live with this new reality: the Apps aren’t going anywhere, and we are at our best when we accept where we’re at and learn to thrive within it.

In addition to projects like Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical premiering this summer at The Lucille Lortel Theater, TheaterWorksUSA continues to expand its repertoire to include innovative and relevant content for multi-generational and culturally diverse audiences and collaborating on new work initiatives. 

Cast for this reading includes Diego Enrico (Regional: In The Heights), Ian Gallagher Fitzgerald (Broadway: Kinky Boots), Kelly Grago (NY:  The Jury), Amy Keum (Broadway: KPOP), Jamie LaVerdiere (Broadway: Motown The Musical, The Producers), and Tatiana Wechsler (Broadway: Mr. Saturday Night).  

BLOCKED has previously undergone a staged workshop produced by Kidoons and WYRD Productions in association with TheaterWorksUSA at the University of Toronto’s Robert Gill Theatre. The workshop was directed by Rick Miller and Craig Francis. The reading is made possible with support from Kara Unterberg. 

About the Creative Team:  

SINEAD DALY

is a bicoastal playwright and television writer/producer. Her plays have been seen at Ensemble Studio Theater, New York Fringe Festival, Ars Nova, Naked Angels, and LMU, among others. In 2019 she was commissioned by Waterwell to write the New Works Lab, June, July, August, which has now been performed across the country. Sinead’s television writing work includes Amazon’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies,” HBO Max’s “Raised By Wolves,” AMC’s “Walking Dead” franchise, and Netflix’s “Dirty John,” among others. She’s also currently adapting several books for television, including the “Twilight” series. Sinead has a B.A. from Yale University in Theater Studies. 

Ben Wexler

is a New York-based songwriter. He is the recipient of the 2019 Jonathan Larson Grant. He was founding artistic director of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, awarded a 2020 special Tony Award, and currently serves on the Tony nominating committee. His work has been performed by Billy Porter, Idina Menzel, Victoria Clark, Titus Burgess, and many more. Recent projects include Maestro (Whitman/Grove New Works Commission), Saturday Night Seder (with Benj Pasek), BLOCKED (TheaterWorksUSA Commission), and Washington Square (with Kristen Childs). He arranged and Co-produced new music for the feature film Speech and Debate with a screenplay by Stephen Karam (Sycamore Pictures, 2017) and scored the “Space Out” episode of “Immersions” for Discovery Channel. He was the music supervisor and arranger for Fun Homes Spotify section and the first-ever featuring a Broadway Musical. His work on “Artist in Residence” (featuring Victoria Clark) was added to the Library of Congress in 2022. Ben trained through the New Dramatist Composer-Librettist Studio, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Writing Workshop (Harrington Award Winner), and was the Dramatist Guild Fellow (2015-16). He holds a B.A. in musical composition from Yale University (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Betta Kappa). http://www.benwexler.com

THEATERWORKSUSA

(Barbara Pasternack, Artistic Director; Michael Harrington, Executive Director) has led the Theater for Young and Family Audiences movement in New York City and across North America for over half a century. At TWUSA, we believe that access to art—and theater, in particular—is vital for our youth. Since 1961, the 501(c)3 not-for-profit has captured the imaginations of 100 million new and veteran theatergoers with an award-winning repertoire of over 140 original plays and musicals. Acclaimed alumni include Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Disney’s Frozen), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Jerry Zaks (The Music Man), Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen), Miguel Cervantes (Hamilton), Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America), and Chuck Cooper (Tony award-winning actor, The Life). www.TWUSA.org

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