TRICK! and CAFÉ CON LECHE to Launch Barn on Fire 5th Annual Season

This summer, New York Theatre Barn and the Fire Island Pines Arts Project will join forces for the 5th annual season of Barn on Fire. The summer residency on Fire Island will make space for the original musicals Trick! The Musical and Café con Leche. Award-winning writer Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Bella: An American Tall Tale) returns as the mentor.

Centering process over production, this 10-day intensive retreat in Fire Island Pines offers musical theatre writers dedicated time, mentorship, and space to deepen their original musicals while immersed in an inspiring coastal setting. The residency culminates in a public presentation on the remote barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island — a historic refuge and haven for the LGBTQIA2S+ community since the 1920s. Offering audiences a first look at these developing works, the final presentation will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, at 6:00 PM in Whyte Hall’s Brandon Fradd Theater.

Based on Jason Schafer’s screenplay of the beloved 1999 queer rom-com, Trick! The Musical follows two young men trying to hook up over one unforgettable night in New York City. The new musical has book and lyrics by Jason Schafer (Queer as Folk) and music by Arthur LaFrentz Bacon (Bleeding Love, Billy Joel’s hit single “Turn the Lights Back On”), with direction by two-time Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun (Newsies, Deaf West’s Big River, Elephant Shoes).

Set in Los Angeles, Maiga Vidal's Café con Leche follows Alejandra, a Chilean-American college grad desperate to remain the perfect immigrant daughter, even if it means staying in the closet forever. With arrangements by Felipe Segovia Sanhueza, a concept album is streaming from Theatre Barn Records.