Moritz Von Stuelpnagel Will Direct West Coast Premiere Of New Musical FOUND For IAMA In 2020

IAMA Theatre Company has revealed the mystery title of the new musical promised in the company's 2019-20 season announcement: Tony-nominated director Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Broadway's Hand to God, Present Laughter, Bernhardt/Hamlet; off-Broadway's Teenage Dick) will direct the West Coast premiere of Found: A New Musical Comedy, with a book by Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree and music and original lyrics by Eli Bolin.

Inspired by scores of surprising and eccentric discarded notes and letters that have been "found" in the real world by every-day people and brought to irreverent theatrical life, Found is based on the collection curated by Davy Rothbart in his "Found" books and magazines. The 2014 world premiere production by off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company was named a "Critic's Pick" by The New York Times.

The IAMA production of this raucous and insightful musical, presented by special arrangement with Victoria Lang, Benjamin Salka and Eva Price, will open Feb. 20 at downtown's Los Angeles Theatre Center, where performances will continue through March 23. Previews begin Feb. 14. Cast and more details to follow at a later date.

"As we have continued to develop Found, we are thrilled to be advancing the show with a company as well-respected as IAMA," said Lang, Salka and Price in a joint statement.

IAMA kicked off its 2019-20 season last week with the West Coast premiere of A Kid Like Jake by Daniel Pearle; performances continue through Nov. 3 in a guest production at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at The Pasadena Playhouse. The season will conclude in Spring 2020 with the world premiere of The Untitled Baby Play by Nina Braddock, running May 14 through June 15 at Atwater Village Theatre. In addition, IAMA will present a New Works Festival of staged readings Nov.14 through Nov. 17, also at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Designated by Playbill as "one of 20 regional houses every theater lover must know," IAMA Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based ensemble of artists committed to invigorating live performance for a streaming generation. Through cutting-edge, cool and hyper-modern stories, IAMA is invested in the immediacy of production and strives to bring audiences out of their personal space and into a shared experience. Since its founding in 2007, the Ovation Award winning company has seen many plays generated at IAMA travel to off-Broadway, Second Stage and the Roundabout Underground, then go on to be performed regionally and internationally. IAMA members have been featured in numerous critically acclaimed TV shows and films as well as in a vast array of theater and live performances all over the country; last fall, IAMA co-artistic director Katie Lowes and her husband, founding IAMA company member Adam Shapiro, made their Broadway debuts in Waitress. In 2017, TV producer and creator Shonda Rhimes announced that she would become IAMA's first-ever "Patron of the Arts" with a generous endowment from the Rhimes Family Foundation. In September, IAMA co-hosted the fifth annual Stage Raw Awards ceremony.

For more information about IAMA Theatre Company's 2019-20 season, call 323-380-8843 or go to www.iamatheatre.com.

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