Applications Open For Rhinebeck Writers Retreat Summer Residencies

Kathy Evans, Founding Executive Director of Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, announced applications are open for this summer. Nine musical theatre writing teams will be awarded nine consecutive weeklong residencies in the Hudson Valley between June 30 and September 1. Each team gets a private retreat to focus solely on writing their new musical. All writers are eligible and their musical can be at any stage of development. All costs are covered including travel up to $750, and each writer gets a $500 stipend. Writers with children are welcomed to apply. There is no fee for applications received by February 6 and there is a fee of $20 for the final deadline of February 16. More information and the online application can be found at https://www.rhinebeckwriters.org/2019-residencies.

Past Rhinebeck writers and musicals include Kirsten Childs, Bella: An American Tall Tale, Frederick Loewe Award winner; Max Vernon, The View UpStairs; Joe Iconis, Lance Rubin, and Jason "SweetTooth" Williams, Broadway Bounty Hunter; and Sam Willmott, Mike Lew, and Rehana Lew Mirza, Bhangin' It. Three musicals developed at Rhinebeck will be seen at Goodspeed Musicals this year: The Proxy Marriage, by Adam Gwon and Michele Loewe; Devotion, by Mark Sonnenblick; and Passing Through, by Brett Ryback and Eric Ulloa. Rhinebeck alumni writers who are recent Jonathan Larson Award winners include Andrew Butler, Andrew Farmer, Ben Bonnema, Zoe Sarnak, Maggi-Kate Coleman, and Erato A. Kremmyda.

Created in 2011, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat provides a sanctuary for musical theatre writers to focus solely on writing their new musicals in the heart of the Hudson Valley. Musicals developed in Rhinebeck have been seen at The Public Theater, Barrington Stage, Second Stage Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, The Old Globe, and Paper Mill Playhouse. All costs are covered by donors, including National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund, The Frederick Loewe Foundation, and The Noël Coward Foundation. Major individual support comes from Liz Armstrong; Cathy Cabrera & Rick Ungar; Amy & Roger Faxon; Liz & Bill Mills, Steve Reynolds; Peter Risafi & Steven Wheeler; and Jacqui & Lew Rose. www.rhinebeckwriters.org.