NYTB's Choreography Lab Puts Steps to Four New Musicals

The fourth season of New York Theatre Barn's Choreography Lab continues on Monday, September 18, 2017 at The Cell.

The Choreography Lab is the only curated choreography platform where choreographers and writers collaborate to develop movement for new musicals during incubation. Lab Moderators include the lab's creative consultant Adolpho Blaire, Edie Cowan, choreographer of the original production of Little Shop of Horrors, and DanceBreak creator Melinda Atwood.

Primarily focused on engaging mid-career to established choreographers, the third installment of the lab's fourth season will include choreography for four diverse new musicals. All four shows are receiving choreographic treatments for the first time. Choreography Lab curator Avital Asuleen and Theatre Barn Artistic Director Joe Barros created the lab to integrate choreography into new work development.

The featured choreographers are Avital Asuleen, Christopher Noffke, Rickey Tripp, and Lorna Ventura. The featured new musicals include Crossing Over (written by Deborah Brevoort and Stephanie Salzman), Morgan Street (written by Anika Noni Rose, Eugene Gwozdz, Jeremy Alan Richards), Paris Girls (written by Andrew J. Hanley and Anderson John Heinz), and The Proust Virus (written by Dan Furman).

The lab is presented at 2pm at The Cell, located at 338 West 23rd Street in New York City. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door, and can be purchased on New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.

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The four new musicals that will have choreography treatments featured in the upcoming lab include the following:

CROSSING OVER

Book and Lyrics by Deborah Brevoort

Music and Lyrics by Stephanie Salzman

Choreography by Rickey Tripp

Music Direction by Benji Goldsmith

Rebecca, an Amish girl, loves to sing but she lives in a world where solos and self expression are forbidden. When she meets Reverend Blue, an itinerant hip-hop preacher, and former gang member, she connects with his music and joins him in his street corner "Hymn Hops" only to draw media attention and the anger of her family and community. Crossing Over explores the conflicts and cross-cultural relationships at the heart of contemporary American life. Crossing Over will be featured in the 2018 season of New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series.

MORGAN STREET

Music by Anika Noni Rose, Eugene Gwozdz, and Jeremy Alan Richards

Book and Lyrics by Jeremy Alan Richards

Directed by Joe Barros

Choreography by Lorna Ventura

Travis, a bi-racial adoptee, searches for his roots, his identity, and ultimately his birth parents, when he meets Dominique, who inspires him to find himself. During this humorous and heartfelt journey, Travis confronts many obstacles and trials that shake him to the core, forcing him and his family into a head-on collision with mental health, and a peeling back of levels of sanity that they are not prepared to face. When Travis gains a sense of clarity, he ultimately learns that his true parents are the ones that loved and raised him his entire life.

PARIS GIRLS

Music and Lyrics by Andrew J. Hanley

Book and Lyrics by Anderson John Heinz

Directed by Ashley Brooke Monroe

Choreography by Avital Asuleen

The fabulous Faye Conway depends on her best friend and television producer Jackie Babineau-Miller and has done so for the entirety of their lives. But as the two celebrate Faye's much-anticipated comeback to television, old wounds are re-opened - and they must face the truth about the girls they were, the women they've become, and what it means to part ways with the things they love the most.

THE PROUST VIRUS

Book, Music and Lyrics by Dan Furman

Choreography by Christopher Noffke

When Tina's favorite combat video game is attacked by a virus, Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" is uploaded into the game. Tina soon discovers that the characters have come to life, and one of them has fallen in love--with her! Blue, Sultana and other characters from "Quest" begin building a new game world based on Proust. Meanwhile, the National Security Agency has gotten word of the "Proust Virus" and sends an agent to eliminate it.

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New York Theatre Barn is a Manhattan-based non-profit theatre company, founded in 2007, dedicated to incubating and producing new musicals that tell untold stories. Our stories are inspired by the lives of real people and actual events that challenge our preconceived ideas, and promote inclusion and positive social change. In today's divisive political and social climate, we believe that now more than ever, these types of stories need to be seen and heard by more people. For more information: www.nytheatrebarn.org.