Gabrielle Ruiz Leads IndieWorks Theatre Company's Audio Premiere Of MTA: THE MUSICAL

IndieWorks Theatre Company will present MTA: The Musical, the seventh audio drama featured on Bite-Sized Broadway. Peter Saxe, a New York City-based composer, lyricist, pianist, arranger, and vocal coach, wrote the book, music, and lyrics for this mini-musical with additional book work for this adaptation written by Christopher Michaels. Saxe is an award-winning writer and composer, and MTA: The Musical was previously a finalist in the Davenport Ten-Minute Play Contest.

Starring Gabrielle Ruiz (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, "What Are Friends For" podcast), T.J. Newton (Spamilton), Brandon J. Ellis (Bandstand, Once), and Yvette Monique Clark (The Giant Hoax, Gun & Powder), MTA: The Musical begins streaming Monday, April 5th, on Spotify, Apple, and other favorite podcasting platforms.

On a sweltering summer morning on a crowded subway platform, three strangers, each very different from the others, wait for a train that is running on major delay after major delay. The longer they wait, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the more irritated they become. In a funny and at times touching mini-musical, these strangers go on a rollercoaster ride as subway frustrations lead to sexual frustrations while navigating their love/hate relationship with the MTA.

Director Christopher Michaels said that this episode was one example where remote recording worked in his favor. "At the beginning of this season, the pandemic forced us to completely rethink our process. Remote recording was new for everyone on our team and required extensive research and consultation." he recalls. "However, we had the benefit of being able to hire actors who might otherwise have been unavailable or are located outside of the city like Gabrielle who recorded via live-stream from across the country." Gabrielle Ruiz, one of the three stars of this episode, is just one of the many Bite-Sized Broadway cast members who is not New York City-based. "We were lucky to have her on board and she gave a dynamite performance regardless of the distance and the unconventional recording process.

MTA: The Musical is directed by Christopher Michaels with music direction by Jonathon Lynch, orchestrations and sound design by Andrew Fox, general management by Jeremy Terry, and produced by Judith Manocherian.

Bite-Sized Broadway: A Mini-Musical Podcast is presented by IndieWorks Theatre Company and is currently in its first season. Each episode features a new fully produced and orchestrated 10-20 minute audio play. These mini-musicals are followed by an in-depth discussion with the writers where they have the opportunity to speak about their process, careers, and upcoming projects, giving them a voice that extends beyond theater walls and reaching new audiences.

Bite-Sized Broadway is available to stream on all major podcast listening sites, as well as at bitesizedbroadway.indieworkstheatre.com. For more information on the podcast and on MTA: The Musical, visit www.indieworkstheatre.com/bitesizedbroadway.

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