Signature Announces Recipients of the SigWorks: Signature Theatre/Yale Composer Partnership

Signature Theatre announced today that Mark Sonnenblick and Scott Feiner will both receive workshops of their new musical theater works as part of the SigWorks: Signature Theatre/Yale Composer Partnership.

"We're thrilled that both Mark and Scott will spend time with us this summer developing their new musicals for the stage," stated Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer. "There was great interest in this new SigWorks program and our artistic committee was very impressed by the breath of talent and creative ideas in the submissions. We look forward to providing more opportunities to these special writers from Yale University."

Scott Feiner will collaborate with Walker Caplan on a new musical entitled Saturdays as part of the Signature Theatre/Yale Graduating Senior Composer Workshop and Mark Sonnenblick will be workshopping his new musical Devotion as part of the Signature Theatre/Yale Graduate Composer Workshop.

"I'm unbelievably grateful to the Signature Theatre and to the Shen Curriculum for providing me and my collaborator, Walker Caplan, this unprecedented opportunity to work on our musical, Saturdays, with a theater so admirably dedicated to fostering new voices," said Scott Feiner.

"The Shen Curriculum did more than teach me everything I know about musical theater writing-it also gave me the insane belief that this was a legitimate career," said Mark Sonnenblick. "A workshop at Signature, with its incredible commitment to the difficult process of developing new musicals, will be instrumental for the future of Devotion. I'm very grateful and we can't wait!"

The Signature Theatre/Yale Composer Partnership is a new and unique program for young musical theatre writers. Each year, the new program will award one senior from Yale University's Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater a 3-week workshop to develop their own musical upon graduation together with a Shen Artist Internship for the Signature Theatre season. As a Shen Artist the award recipient will work alongside Signature's artistic team in the preparation for a world premiere production on Signature's mainstage season. In addition, one recent graduate (within the past five years) of Yale University and a participant in the Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater will be awarded a 2-week workshop of a musical they are currently writing. The workshops will take place from July 22- August 25, 2019 at Signature Theatre. The new program is made possible through the Ted & Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund of The Shen Family Foundation.