Maltz Jupiter Theatre Seeks Teens and Young Adults for Musical Theatre Playwriting Class

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is offering local teens and young adults the chance to learn the art of creating a musical and have their work produced on a professional stage during a premiere theatre festival.

A new elite internship initiative open to students from middle school through college, the Theatre's Musical Theatre Playwriting Class will be taught by the dynamic duo behind the Theatre's hit productions of the world premiere musicals Academy and Through the Looking Glass, among others: the Theatre's producing artistic director and chief executive Andrew Kato and composer and playwright John Mercurio.

Participating students will be chosen through an extensive interview process and receive full scholarships, covering all materials and fees. Divided into teams of three (with each group containing a composer, book writer and lyricist), each team will craft a 10-minute musical that will be showcased as part of the Theatre's six-day ARC New Works Theatre Festival in April 2018.

"The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is ecstatic to offer local students the hands-on opportunity to create, study and showcase their work on our professional regional stage this spring," Kato said. "We feel honored to pass our knowledge on to the next generation and help foster new material that speaks to our community."

A new annual event focused on the world of new work development, the festival will take audiences through the processes of creating new work. A direct result of the fully-funded endowment created by the Maltz Family Foundation and other benefactors, the festival will give the Theatre the opportunity to workshop new theatrical pieces.

"Regional theaters have the responsibility to contribute to the national landscape of new works," Kato said. "As an integral part of the Theatre's mission to educate, entertain and inspire, the ARC New Works Theatre Festival will encompass a wide variety of works in different stages of development. Some works will have just been staged, some will be completely finished and some will be workshopped with a different spin on what was already written."

The title for the festival is inspired by the literary concept of a play or musical's dramatic arc, which consists of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement. The title also implies a forward moving action - not only in the plot development of a dramatic piece, but the furthering of progress in new works themselves. In addition to the students' musicals, the festival will include work from such notable playwrights as Christopher Demos-Brown and Ryan Scott Oliver.

Applicants for the festival's Musical Theatre Playwriting Class may be teenagers or young adults. Class size is limited to 15 students, which will then be divided into five teams. Each team's composer must be able to play piano or guitar, and the Theatre is specifically looking for one team's project to be exclusively written and performed in Spanish (translator provided).

Taking place on Saturday mornings from January 13 until March 17, the class will cover basic elements of the three primary aspects of musical theatre writing: book, music and lyrics. Discussions will include story and song structure and crafting character-specific music and lyrics with examples from classic repertoire.

Students can expect to learn a classic approach to musical theatre playwriting that will included script formatting and more, with an expectation of writing and composing outside of class time and contributing to discussions during class time.

To apply, students are asked to submit a cover letter (including name, address, phone number and email address), resume and a detailed letter explaining their particular skill set and reason for wanting to participate to Director of Education Julie Rowe, c/o Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 East Indiantown Road, Jupiter, FL. 33477. Applications must be received by 6 p.m. on November 1, 2017.

Personal interviews on November 9 and 10 will follow the initial submission process for top candidates. The interviews will include the following performance requirements: composers will perform two songs they have written (either on piano or guitar); lyricists will perform two song lyrics, poems or monologues they have written; and book writers will perform a monologue or scene they have written.

About the Maltz Jupiter Theatre
The not-for-profit Maltz Jupiter Theatre has become one of Florida's preeminent professional theatres, committed to production and education through its collaborations with local and national artists. Currently the state's largest award-winning regional theatre, the Theatre draws 100,000 people annually, serves a subscription base of more than 8,000 and has world-class classroom facilities in support of its Goldner Conservatory of Performing Arts, which serves hundreds of youth and adults. The Theatre is a member of the prestigious League of Resident Theatres and has earned numerous Carbonell Awards, South Florida's highest honor for artistic excellence, including the prestigious Bill Von Maurer Award for Theatrical Excellence. For more information about the Theatre's upcoming shows and Conservatory, visit www.jupitertheatre.org or call the box office at (561) 575-2223.