Natalie Elder

Part of the POPsical Festival currently running in the heart of the theatre district on Sundays @ 7:30pm, GEEKS! wraps up the final extension before moving to another theatre due to scheduling of other productions at St. Luke's.

Imagine the Millennial version of Seinfeld. Now imagine it set to classical music.

Quintessence of Dust Theatre Company presents Sing Away the Stigma: A Benefit for NAMI-NYC Metro

Sing Away the Stigma is a heartfelt, honest, life-affirming evening of brand-new songs by emerging musical theater composers and lyricists, inspired by true-life stories of those with mental health challenges. A dozen people from different backgrounds and walks of life, all living with a mental health condition, were interviewed and had their stories of struggle, strength, and hope turned into songs, which will be performed for the first time in this concert. Sing Away the Stigma is a testament to the power of musical theater, the strength of those living with mental illness, and the unique bond formed when the two meet.

Quintessence of Dust Theatre Company presents Sing Away the Stigma: A Benefit for NAMI-NYC Metro

Sing Away the Stigma is a heartfelt, honest, life-affirming evening of brand-new songs by emerging musical theater composers and lyricists, inspired by true-life stories of those with mental health challenges. A dozen people from different backgrounds and walks of life, all living with a mental health condition, were interviewed and had their stories of struggle, strength, and hope turned into songs, which will be performed for the first time in this concert. Sing Away the Stigma is a testament to the power of musical theater, the strength of those living with mental illness, and the unique bond formed when the two meet.

Tin Pan Alley on 28th street in Manhattan was where many songs were composed in the early 20th century.  Young composers like George Gershwin wrote many of the tunes we are still singing today.  Now, a lot of the creative music and lyrics are coming out of William Finn's Master Class at The NYU Tisch Graduate Program in Musical Theatre Writing.  Instead of these young songwriters displaying there work on the cheap upright pianos that gave Tin Pan Alley it's name, Mr. Finn who is also the Artistic Head of the Musical Theatre Lab at Barrington Stage Company  puts on a show on Barrington's Main Stage in PIttsfield Massachusetts.

They are all the topics of brand new fifteen-minute musicals that will have their world premiere on June 23 and 24 at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood. The annual 15 Minute Musicals are a decades-long tradition at the Academy for New Musical Theatre, and one of the hottest tickets in town.

4@15: Four New Fifteen-Minute Musicals, performed in conjunction with University of California, Irvine, will commence performances Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20, for three performances only at the Playroom Theater. Tammy Holder serves as Music Director; Brian Blythe directs.