ANMT Hosts Introductory Musical Theatre Workshops, Beg. Today

The Academy for New Musical Theatre will be holding open sessions for the first two months of the 2013-14 season of their famed Musical Theatre Writers' Workshop.

Bookwriters, lyricists, and composers can attend the September sessions and get put on collaborative teams right away. Presentations of those assignments will take place at the October sessions. Determinations for ongoing membership will be made after the October sessions. (There is NO FEE to try out the first two months.)

Beginning every September, ANMT's Core Curriculum meets one weekend a month (2:30-6:30 Saturday, 2:30-7:30 on Sunday), and is the foundation for all of the writing courses at ANMT. Along with discussions about the craft of writing for musical theatre, composers, lyricists and bookwriters are put together to form collaborative teams for a variety of musical assignments.

The following month, the work is presented and given highly constructive feedback from staff and peers. Then, participants are paired with a different set of collaborators and a new assignment is tackled.

Concurrently, each participant completes a craft-specific lab focusing on his or her main area(s) of concentration, i.e.; composing for the musical theatre, lyric writing, or book writing.

Before the end of the season, each participant will collaborate on an original 15-minute musical, which is cast with professional actors, directed, rehearsed, and then presented for a live audience. Following this rigorous experience, participants and staff meet to discuss the whole process.

"We're very serious about this program," says Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry. "It's not for the faint of heart. We expect our participants to be interested in a professional career in musical theatre, and we demand professional standards and committment."

Potential participants can view videos with testimonials from past participants, as well as a video endorsement by the Tony Award winning co-creator of Avenue Q, Jeff Marx, on the ANMT website at www.anmt.org/workshop

There is also a video transcription of a recent Demo Workshop - in which the ANMT Staff discusses the program and past participants answer questions - available for viewing at this link: http://www.anmt.org/video_core.asp

"We're very excited about our ability to accept long-distance participants" says Founding Artistic Director John Sparks. "Our live-streamcasting allows writers to take part in the program even if they do not live in Los Angeles."

The September dates are today, September 21 (from 2:30 to 6:30pm) and Sunday, September 22 (from 2:30 to 7:30pm). The October dates will be the same timeframe on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13.

Bookwriters, lyricists, and composers interested in checking out this vibrant community should contact academy@anmt.org to reserve a spot in the September and October sessions, beginning on Saturday, September 21 at 2:30pm at the Academy for New Musical Theatre, 5628 Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood.

Participants who wish to take part via streamcast should also email academy@anmt.org to receive a login to our secure website for streamcast viewing.

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