Oliver Houser News

New York Theatre Barn will continue to host free live streams of its New Works Series on select Wednesday evenings at 7PM ET. Each installment of the live 1-hour series includes excerpts from two new musicals and a conversation with the writers and creative team.

If you're under the age of 26, and you're writing for musical theatre, New Musicals Inc. would love to hear from you.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced 12 awards granted from their Frank Young Fund for New Musicals. The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals (FYFNM) is a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre in conjunction with One Foot Productions has announced the launch of a new podcast series, Muse: Discover Musicals, giving you a front-row seat to groundbreaking new musicals in development.

I love that Virginia Rep had the guts to produce 'Spring Awakening' in 2012. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to see it again.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) has announced this year's recipients of the Stephen Schwartz and Thom Thomas Awards. Khiyon Hursey is the recipient of the Stephen Schwartz Award. Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Julia Meinwald, and Benjamin Velez are the first multiple honorees of the Thom Thomas Award

Village Theatre kicks off the next series of Beta Productions with XY, a new musical written by Oliver Houser and developed and directed by Hunter Bird that runs at Village Theatre's First Stage Theatre in Issaquah from February 14 - 23, 2020. The production marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration between Village Theatre and Seattle Rep, who will continue development of the show in a future season.

If you're under the age of 26, and you're writing for musical theatre, New Musicals Inc. would love to hear from you.

If you're under the age of 26, and you're writing for musical theatre, New Musicals Inc. would love to hear from you.

Last night, The Dramatists Guild Foundation celebrated Oliver Houser and Riti Sachdeva, both alumni of the DGF Fellows program, at a salon hosted by Joan and George Hornig. Houser performed songs from his body of work and Sachdeva was presented with the Thom Thomas Award in front of attendees including Stephen Schwartz.

It's that time of year again. One of my favorite times of year. That time when I get to spend the weekend at Village Theatre checking out the shows brought together by the folks at Village, spotlighting new works around the country. Some amazing, some needing work, but all showing promise. Now, of course, I can't review any of these. They're all still works in progress and not fully staged. But I can share what went on over the weekend as a potential coming attraction of musicals to come to a theater near you.

With The 19th Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place this upcoming weekend, Village Theatre is excited to announce the casting for XY, an uplifting musical about identity and coming to terms with your past; Cold Turkey, a wild and funny satire; Modern, an inspiring tale about a group of Amish teenagers; Eastbound, an poignant story about Chinese brothers in search of a home they've never known; and Cowboy Bob, an adventurous rock musical about a bank-robbing woman. The Festival will take place in Issaquah August 9-11, 2019 and provides an essential platform for writers to develop new works. Past Festival shows include Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning shows such as Next to Normal and Million Dollar Quartet, as well as Broadway and Off-Broadway hits: It Shoulda Been You, Desperate Measures, Lizzie, and many more.

Village Theatre has announced the lineup for The 19th Annual Festival of New Musicals, a series of five staged readings of musicals currently in development. The Festival will take place in Issaquah August 9-11, 2019. Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals is the birthplace of Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning shows such as Next to Normal and Million Dollar Quartet, as well as Broadway and Off-Broadway hits: It Shoulda Been You, Desperate Measures, Lizzie, and many more.

Broadway's next generation comes to LA in A Little New Music's 20th concert of new musical theatre songs in The Sorting Room's 2019 Summer Series at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on June 26th at 7:00 pm. Kathy Deitch (B'way WICKED, FOOTLOOSE) will host. Multiple LA Ovation Award-winning composer Gregory Nabours (THE TROUBLE WITH WORDS, MARILYN! THE NEW MUSICAL) returns as music director, leading the ALNM band. Ticket availability is extremely limited, but there will be a waitlist. Scroll down for photos of the cast in rehearsal.

Broadway's next generation comes to LA with featured performances by Jonah Platt (B'way: WICKED, "JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR Live"), Olivier Award nominee April Nixon (B'way SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE, TOMMY), and Carrie Manolakos (B'way: MAMMA MIA) in A Little New Music's 20th concert of new musical theatre songs in The Sorting Room's 2019 Summer Series at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on June 26th at 7:00 p.m.  Kathy Deitch (B'way WICKED, FOOTLOOSE) will host. Multiple LA Ovation Award-winning composer Gregory Nabours (THE TROUBLE WITH WORDS, MARILYN! THE NEW MUSICAL) returns as music director, leading the ALNM band.

Founding Executive Director Kathy Evans announced the 27 writers of nine new musicals for Rhinebeck Writers Retreat's summer weeklong residencies. This year's artists include Obie-winner Heather Christian, Kleban-winner Brian Crawley, TV and film writers Bekah Brunstetter (THIS IS US) and Cinco Paul (DESPICABLE ME), inaugural Stephen Schwartz Award winner Oliver Houser, and ASCAP Foundation scholarship winner Khiyon Hursey. The musicals cover a wide range of subjects. Four have LGBTQ themes: a historical look at Florida in the 1950s (IN A SUNSHINE STATE), a Palestinian/Israeli love story (BORDERS), a modern coming of age of a young black man (SEAN'S STORY PART I | THE AWAKENING), and a fantasy queer rock musical celebrating lady love (TL;DR: THELMA LOUISE; DYKE REMIX). Two are darkly comedic historical musicals: one featuring Mary Magdelene (A.D. 16) and the second a WWII plot to foil Hitler (OPERATION MINCEMEAT). Other subjects include the opioid crisis (ALMOST HEAVEN), the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (THE GOLDEN SPIKE), and a mystery involving a woman with a sleep disorder (NARCOLEPSY).

Last night, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop held a special performance of memorable songs created during this year's workshop at the quaint Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater in New York City. This esteemed workshop has been cultivating rising talent since 1961 and fostered some of the brilliant minds behind a variety of notable award-winning shows such as Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, A Chorus Line, Raisin and Nine.

On Monday, March 18, DGF hosted a Salon at the Lambs Club where they presented actress Judith Light and playwright Tony Kushner with the DGF Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Awards. Former DGF Fellow, Oliver Houser, was also presented with the inaugural DGF Stephen Schwartz Award. The evening featured performances by Michael R. Jackson, James Jackson Jr., Sean Patrick Cameron, and Oliver Houser, and remarks by Jordan Roth, Jon Robin Baitz, and Stephen Schwartz.

The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop will present its top works at this year's showcase on Monday, April 1st at 3 PM and 6 PM. The shows will be held at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater in New York City (10 West 64th Street) and will premiere performances of the best of songs written and composed by recent members of this Drama League, Drama Desk and Tony honored workshop.   

Actress Judith Light and playwright Tony Kushner are set to receive DGF Madge Evans & Sidney Kingsley Awards. Former DGF Fellow, Oliver Houser, also announced as recipient of the DGF Stephen Schwartz Award.