Alana Jacoby News

4@15: Four New Fifteen-Minute Musicals, performed in conjunction with NYU Steinhardt, will commence performances this weekend, January 25 and 26, for five performances only at The Pless Hall Black Box Theatre, featuring new works from writers Miriam Daly, Jamie Cowperthwait and Salomon Lerner, Rachel Peters, and Scotty Arnold and Alana Jacoby. Tammy Holder serves as Music Director; Brian Blythe directs.

Two-time Tony Award winner William Finn just hosted 'Songs by Ridiculously Talented Composers and Lyricists you Probably Don't Know but Should.' The concert celebrated the work of young writers mentored by the composer of Falsettos, A New Brain, The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee, Elegies, and this season's Little Miss Sunshine. Originating at Barrington Stage Company (BSC) and now in its 8th year, the 'Ridiculously Talented' concert series has become a hallmark of BSC's Musical Theatre Lab, where Mr. Finn serves as Artistic Producer.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

Making its 54 Below debut, 'Once Upon A Time In New York City' is a concert series featuring a slate of brand new songs about the Big Apple, written by Broadway's best! Listen as they tell their tales of NYC both in song and in story; share in the ups and downs of city life, from the day they moved to Manhattan to the person who changed New York for them to their favorite spot on the island.

The Most Christmassy Christmas Morning, a Christmas Benefit with tunes by Sam Salmond, Jenny Stafford, Alana Jacoby, will be presented on Wednesday, December 19 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Show time is 9:30pm. All proceeds will go to TOYS FOR TOTS.

Lunar Energy Productions will present the World Premiere of By Rights We Should Be Giants, created and written by Lunar Energy ensemble members Nadia Sepsenwol and Tim Van Dyck, tonght, October 18-November 3 at The Secret Theatre (4402 23rd Street between 44th Avenue and 44th Road, Long Island City).

The New York premiere of Graham Schmidt's new translation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, a play following a family of 19th Century Russian artists and non-artists depicts a timeless portrait of art and the need to communicate. Through the lens of the roaring American 1920's, this production attempts to break open and examine our inescapable battle to compare ourselves and our work, and the powerful effects of unfulfilled desire. It will play THE SECRET THEATRE weekdays and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 6pm. Tickets can be purchased at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/264071

Lunar Energy Productions will present the World Premiere of By Rights We Should Be Giants, created and written by Lunar Energy ensemble members Nadia Sepsenwol and Tim Van Dyck, October 18-November 3 at The Secret Theatre (4402 23rd Street between 44th Avenue and 44th Road, Long Island City).

Wandering Bark Theatre Company and Jack Sharkey present THE SEAGULL by Anton Chekhov, in a new translation by Graham Schmidt, directed by Christopher Diercksen and produced by Joseph Mitchell Parks, Valerie Redd and Jack Sharkey. The show will run tonight, September 5-15, 2012, at The Secret Theatre.

AntiMatter Collective will present Adam Scott Mazer's (Death Valley) post-apocalyptic sci-fi tragicomedy, MOTHERBOARD, September 28-October 14 at The Secret Theatre (44 02 23rd Street, Long Island City).

Wandering Bark Theatre Company and Jack Sharkey present THE SEAGULL by Anton Chekhov, in a new translation by Graham Schmidt, directed by Christopher Diercksen and produced by Joseph Mitchell Parks, Valerie Redd and Jack Sharkey. The show will run September 5-15, 2012, at The Secret Theatre.

Lunar Energy Productions presents Katherine Sherman's noir fairy-tale 'Christopher Marlowe's Chloroform Dreams' at the Red Room.

Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre have received a transformational $18 million gift from the Robina Foundation that will permanently endow the creation of new plays and musicals for the American stage through the Binger Center for New Theatre.

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

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

The YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE (Mark Brokaw, Artistic Director) has selected two original book musicals, Mighty Five's Infinite Funk Odyssey with music and lyrics by Zach Abramson and Derek Muro and book by Phil Aulie and Xaq Webb and Mortality Play with music by Scotty Arnold and book and lyrics by Alana Jacoby, to be developed in an intensive lab setting in New Haven, June 4-17.

One More Sleep 'Til Christmas, an evening of new holiday songs to benefit Toys for Tots, features the talents of Charlie Brady (The Burnt Part Boys/South Pacific), Claybourne Elder (Bonnie and Clyde), Hannah Elless (Mamma Mia!), Gideon Glick (Wild Animals You Should Know), Jaclyn Huberman (I Love You Because), Rebecca Naomi Jones (American Idiot/Passing Strange), Alyse Alan Louis (Mamma Mia!), Christianne Tisdale (On a Clear Day…), Taylor Trensch (Little Miss Sunshine), and Paul Wyatt (Sessions) on Monday, December 12 at 9:30pm at the Laurie Beechman Theatre (at the West Bank Café), 407 West 42nd Street.