Barn On Fire Launches 3rd Summer Season With Three New Musicals

This summer, New York Theatre Barn and the Fire Island Pines Arts Project, in association with the P. Austin Foundation, will join forces for the 3rd annual season of Barn on Fire.

The summer residency on Fire Island makes space for three musical theatre writing teams and their original culture-shifting musicals in development. Tony nominated director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun (Newsies, Jekyll & Hyde) serves as a mentor to the residency which includes the new musicals Spectrum, Ghost and the Machine, and Andy, Keith and Jean-Michel. 

Centering the artist and their work, the 10-day intensive retreat in Fire Island Pines is for writers and their creative teams to collaborate and further develop their shows in a supportive, creative, and tranquil atmosphere. At the end of the week, the artists have the opportunity to present what they have been working on before a live audience on a remote barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island, New York. Separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay, Fire Island Pines has served as a refuge and haven for the LGBTQIA2S+ community since the 1920s. Tickets to the final presentation on Saturday, June 22nd, 2024 at 6PM in Whyte Hall's Brandon Fradd Theater on Fire Island Pines can be purchased on FIPAP's website.

The new musical Spectrum has book, music and lyrics by Stephanie L. Carlin, and is directed by Kate Trammell (The Perfection of the Donut). Set in 1995, Spectrum brings two seemingly different communities together. When Matthew, a young man on the autism spectrum, is told he needs to move out of his parents' place, he finds the quietest spot with no stimulation whatsoever — a gay bar.

The new musical Ghost In the Machine has book, music and lyrics by Janine Robledo. In a secluded lab nestled in the Argentinian mountains, an inventor named Victor creates Cynthia, an android to save his son's life. When Cynthia meets Victor's son, Carlos, an everlasting bond is formed. On a quest to keep Carlos alive and to free herself from the psychological imprisonment of her creator, Cynthia ponders the creation of her own invention.

With music and lyrics by Matthew Puckett and a book by Christiana Cole, Andy, Keith and Jean-Michel reimagines the rivalry and friendship between three iconic artists: Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The show is an exploration into the complex hearts of three legendary figures whose fervent creativity masked a ruthless ambition and an unquenchable passion to become immortal.

The Barn on Fire residency is made possible with generous support from Dalip Girdhar + Paul Austin (The P. Austin Foundation), Straighten Your Crown Productions, Henry Robin & Bob McGarity, David Kneuss, John Krawchuk & Vinnie Petrarca, Denise Lucy & Francoise Lepage, Isaac Namdar & Andrew Mitchell-Namdar, Carlos de la Puente & Simeon Kline, Gary Clinton & Don Millinger, Richard Winger, and Matthew Woolf. Under the mentorship of Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell for its first two seasons, the residency previously supported the musicals King of Pangaea, The Bubble, Coming Soon: A New Rock Musical, Skyward: An Ending Elegy, Sueños: Our American Musical, Buried, How to You: A Musical Guide to Black Boyhood, and Little Miss Perfect which will have its world premiere co-production by Goodspeed Musicals and Olney Theatre Center in 2025.