ASK ELISE

Elise Dewsberry is spot on. Her approach is thorough, extensive, direct and supportive. Her comments resonated as she identified and made suggestions for the hiccups and obstacles that had been thwarting us for too long. We wish we had her help years ago, and we look forward to working with her again soon on all of our projects.

I recently had the pleasure of working with New Musicals Inc. on a reading of The Grouch’s Daughter, my new musical co-written with Jack Helbig. NMI staff member Elise Dewsberry served as both dramaturg and director, and in our years of working on this show, no one person has been as helpful to us as she was. Prior to the reading, we received a set of notes that were as thoughtful as they were thorough. NMI’s suggestions led to a rewrite that greatly helped me shape the show and refine its style. I’m deeply impressed with the care and intelligence of their creative input, and would not hesitate to work with NMI again.

“We were fortunate to have Elise Dewsberry as advisor for our presentation at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. Elise provided kind, thoughtful and wise script guidance during the strenuous work of chopping our musical’s first act to forty-five minutes. She was a constant encouraging presence offering sage advice based on the strength of her experience with musical theatre presentation, promotion and marketing. NAMT was a challenging ride and we can’t thank Elise enough for assuming so many roles on our behalf, from dramaturg to cheerleader. We will always value her knowledge, dedication and care.”

~~Jennie Redling, Phillip Palmer, Stacey Luftig
My Heart Is The Drum, Village Theatre

“Thank you so much for all the great notes, Elise. You’ve truly got a gift. I used to be a script analyst for Oliver Stone, James Cameron and Sydney Pollack - also Miramax, CAA etc. And I know a truly insightful eye when I see one.”

~~Robert Rosen

“Wow! So awesome! This is extremely helpful and - wow! I say it again! So amazing that you would spend your time helping us in this way. We submitted Planet Eden in one of its initial drafts and received amazingly detailed feedback. This has been one of my most personally satisfying interactions with an arts advisory group that I have ever experienced! We cannot thank you enough.”

~~Aaron Kirk Douglas, Planet Eden

“Elise, you are brutal and I love it! Thank you for the thoughts. As I am not a playwright everything you have said is music to my ears. It is exactly the kind of feedback I have been waiting for.”

~~Beth Harrington, Pinkbook Productions

“I wanted to tell you how much we appreciated your very thorough evaluation of our Musical, Gift of the Magi: The Musical. Your comments & suggestions were right on and gave us great insight to things in the show that we hadn’t noticed. We have already made many changes to the script & songs as a result of your input. Thank you!”

~~Beverly Bremers and Faith Grant

“I want to thank you one last time for the care and attention you gave to Mad Bomber. I think it is a much better play than it was when I first submitted it and any further improvements will have started with you and ANMT. I will always be grateful for your enthusiasm and professionalism. Thanks again.”

~~Charles Monagan, Mad Bomber

“What can we say? We are DELIGHTED with your evaluation and we are now going to forge ahead with further revisions to make this show as water-tight as possible. You have an eagle eye and a pitch perfect ear and we treasure your insights and suggestions. A big thank you yet again from across the pond. We really wouldn’t be where we are with this show without you.”

~~Chris Burgess & Denise Wright

“Just a huge thank you for the feedback and suggestions. Way more detailed and involved than I expected, and extremely constructive. Feeling energized. To get professional feedback for a ridiculously low fee, where else are you gonna go?”

~~David Fischer

“Without ANMT’s help this project would never have come this far! After last year’s search and Elise’s analysis before that, I have received top notch plot help, character development, and musical advice. Useful is not a strong enough word. ANMT has been a guiding force in this project’s evolution, for which I am most grateful. One of the most difficult things for writers is obtaining professional feedback. Working in a vacuum is almost impossible. Collaboration and constant outside feedback is part of the process. I would certainly recommend ANMT to fellow writers.”

~~David Nelson

“Thank you for your evaluation of Eye of the Storm. WOW! That is all I kept saying to myself as I got thru Act 1’s eval. I appreciate EVERYTHING you pointed out to me and believe me I have thought many of the remarks myself along the great writing way. You just confirmed so much of my gut feelings for the things I need to work on. Again, Elise, thank you for all you did to make me want to continue to fix EYE.”

~~E.H. Milam

“Thanks again for your honesty and smarts. Your candor, insights and graciousness are much appreciated. It’s the best tutorial I’ve ever had and, like most artists, I generally don’t sit still for tutorials.”

~~Ed Goldman, Composer/Lyricist/Librettist, Friday@5

“Thank you so much for your evaluation. I’m gratified by how whole-heartedly you engaged with the piece, and your report is full of useful insights and suggestions which will help us greatly in the next phase. Thank you to you and your colleagues for running this programme.”

~~James Reid, Probe

“Once again you have identified moments that are not quite working and suggested ways to make them work. I will address the remaining points … and return to you an outline that should be the springboard for creating a fine show. We can’t thank you enough.”

~~Joanne Koch

“I just finished reading your evaluation and want to thank you So Much for your perspectives and time. What you wrote is exactly the kind of fundamental theatrical feedback I was hoping to get for the work. Its always hugely helpful getting feedback revealing where the conceptual blind spots are.”

~~Les Oreck

“Thank you so much for these valuable notes. They are an incredible help and will push the show to the next level. It’s given me something to think about and dwell on before moving forward.”

~~Mark Garcia, Holy Cows of Credence North Dakota

“Thank you for the notes … We’ve made a lot of changes, many of which were based on your direct feedback. It was very good to get an opinion from someone with your expertise.”

~~Mark Knowles, Killer in Drag

“We appreciate your constructive review of our project. It was the best $100 we’ve spent in a while. In fact, a substantially revised version, that includes many of your recommendations, is being staged this summer by the El Paso Community College.”

~~Mark Watts, eleven

“I’ve had hundreds of classes not only in getting my doctorate but all the many of the post-doctoral classes I’ve had. Your class taught me more in those three hours about working out a story than ever I’ve known before. Thank you for it!”

~~Mel McKee

“The real value of this service is in its rarity: from genuine industry professionals who have the clarity and vision to provide feedback with no bias or agenda and which asks the right questions and suggestions to enable YOU to genuinely UNDERSTAND how to make your work a better piece of musical theatre - the long term benefits of which are incalculable!”

~~Michael Dresser

“I’m extremely pleased and appreciative of your evaluation. It’s the first constructive evaluation I’ve had. Your thoroughness and assistance pretty much blew me away. I am both impressed and enthused.”

~~Michael McNeill

“Dear Elise,You are the most amazing dramaturg.  You make some brilliant points. The tremendous thought you have put into the notes, not to mention the time you spent, is invaluable to me. I am so grateful to you and will take your thoughts to heart. Having the third eye of such a talented dramaturg who views the entire work afresh is a wonderful gift. Many, many thanks.”

~~Noelle Donfeld

“THANK YOU for your wonderful critique. Your comments are thought provoking and very helpful. I like your video style. Watching and listening to you was enjoyable and much clearer than written comments would have been. I now feel that I know you.”

~~Paul Christensen

“Thank you so much for the evaluation. It was more helpful than I could have imagined. Your words inspired me to work most diligently …You are more valuable than money and gold! I really appreciate your insights and clarity.”

~~Peter Copani

“Wow!! Thank you so very much. I love all your ideas. It’s as though you were reading our minds — Roger and I tossed some of those questions around as well — then YOU magically solve our problems with the answers!! What’s particularly brilliant is that you are having us work through the process in manageable stages. What a gift you have, that you can lead us so that we need to climb out of only puddles of quicksand of our own making, rather than oceans of it! We both hold you in the absolute highest esteem imaginable. Your very grateful students…”

~~Roger Love and Ann McNamee

“We are in receipt of your video and your analysis of the piece. After watching the video and taking notes, we feel as if a nurturing dramaturgical Mary Poppins has visited us with wonderful insightful nourishment.”

~~Ron Yatter

“Thanks for the honest evaluation. That’s not easy to come by and the level of detail you provided far exceeded my expectations so I feel I got more than my money’s worth.”

~~S.D. Williams

“Elise Dewsberry has been the most influential, helpful, encouraging but brutally honest mentor in my six year attempt to write the book and many of the lyrics of a Broadway-style musical. I recommend Elise without reservation. Entering the Search was the beginning of a year-long association with ANMT, and I will continue to seek Elise’s help and very happily pay for it.”

~~Sandy Wolf, Marina

“Elise Dewsberry’s rare gift for analyzing plot and character is enormously helpful to writers. Her story sense is phenomenal.”

~~Stephen Oles, Bookwriter, Seattle

“Once again, thank you for the feedback! I actually love the way you set challenges and aren’t fooled by partial solutions.”

~~Stephen Telfer

“I am so impressed with your evaluation. It is far more thorough than I expected, and full of valuable critiques and suggestions.”

~~Tracey Corea

“I found the evaluation to be very enlightening; I’d like to add that such a detailed treatment was far beyond my expectations and proved your organization to be totally sincere and definitely concerned with promoting quality and professional musical theatre.”

~~Walter Johnson

“If anyone is hesitant about the cost of submitting to you guys, be sure to have them talk to me. Your evaluations are worth ten times the fee.”

~~William Roetzheim, Producing Director

“Thank you so much for your insightful and constructive comments. I intend to take most of what you said to heart and continue to develop the work. Again, thank you for your unblinking honesty - there is nothing more valuable.”

~~Tom Armbruster

“Thank you for all your efforts Elise. I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much in just two hours. Best scrub down I’ve ever gotten. I hope to be able to rely on you in the future.”

~~David V. Mastran

“I wanted to let you know how appreciative I am for the analyzation and feedback on my show An Evening With The Burn Outs. Having been in the same seat as an instructor at the Broadcast Workshop in Hollywood I know the thin line one needs to tread between over enthusiasm and crushing criticism. The depth of your analysis was way more than I expected…so…Thank You!”

~~Fred Barden

“Your analysis was very thorough and you caught numerous contradictions I had missed. It is clear that you carefully read every word, and your suggestions as to how to clarify the main conflict was most helpful. You are a treasure to the theater writers’ community.”

~~Leland Auslender