Course Fee: $495 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $495)
The Book Lab is designed as an introduction to writing the book of a musical while also outlining the collaborative steps involved in creating a new musical with the whole team. The book of a musical is not just the spoken words, but encompasses the entire story of the musical. The Bookwriter is officially responsible for the writing of the book, but the entire writing team needs to collaborate on the story.
The collaborative process is explored through six units including: THE IDEA, THE OUTLINE, THE ROUGH DRAFT, ADDING SONGS, REVISIONS, and FINISHING TOUCHES. Along the way, other topics are incorporated including:
Unwavering Want Action Loops Conflict Adaptation Language of an outline Story structure Creating a Character Worksheet Exposition Character Diction Dialogue Song Spotting Incorporating Songs Dealing with Feedback Collaboration Agreements Project Pitches Public Domain
This course qualifies as the Book Lab element of the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s Core Curriculum.
INSTRUCTOR INFO: Elise Dewsberry Currently the Artistic Director of ANMT, Elise has been involved in the development of new works for over fifteen years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer. At ANMT, Elise co-teaches the Core Curriculum, runs the Full Length Curriculum and Book Lab, and is the dramaturge for the annual Search for New Musicals. Elise is also on the New Works Committee of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and is the co-ordinator of the SoCal New Musicals Network. While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival’s annual Musical Theatre Writer’s Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the Canadian Stage Company; the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre Company; and was the co-founder of Toronto’s ScriptLab. Elise spent many years touring Canada with NINE MONTHS - a one-woman musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen Woodjetts. Elise and Carl also co-wrote ANY BODY HOME?, which has been published by Dramatic Publishing and has had multiple productions around the world.
‘I recently had the pleasure of working with The Academy for New Musical Theatre on a reading of THE GROUCH’S DAUGHTER, my new musical co-written with Jack Helbig. ANMT 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. ANMT’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 ANMT again.’ -Mark Hollmann, Tony award-winning composer, Urinetown
‘We …feel as if a nurturing dramaturgical Mary Poppins has visited us with wonderful insightful nourishment. It appeared to us that you seemed to really relate to the characters we’ve established and are caught up with their plight and have come up with ways to strengthen them … Your suggestions are invaluable to us …’ –Ron Yatter
‘Elise Dewsberry’s rare gift for analyzing plot and character is enormously helpful to writers. Her story sense is phenomenal.’ - Stephen Oles, bookwriter, Seattle
‘Wow!! … It’s as though you were reading our minds … 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.’ - Roger Love and Ann McNamee
ANMT’s annual 15 Minute Musicals will be presented on Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 28 at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood.
The four brand new 15-minute musicals to be be presented this year are:
NOTHING PERSONAL by Johanna Besterman, Joe Greene, and Erin Thompson THE SUITCASE HOUND OF BOMBAY PEEK-A-BOO PEAK by Elizabeth Carol Thompson, Ronnie Cavalluzzi, and John Sparks FRANKIE’S LAUNDRY by Bryon L. Richards, Jerry Ranger, and Sandy Kasten CARNIVAL OF SOULS by Joanna Warren Smith, Todd Syswerda, and Fred Piegonski.
The cast for the evening will be Adrian Bewley, Jordan Kai Burnett, R. Christofer Sands, and Erika Whalen. The evening is produced by Patricia Zehentmayr, directed by Elise Dewsberry, and music directed by Jake Anthony.
Tickets for the 2011 15 Minute Musicals are now on sale - seating at the Lonny Chapman is very limited so hurry and get your seats now!
ANMT’s sixth annual Musical Theatre Boot Camp - Early Bird registration ends TOMORROW. Sign up NOW to get the Early Bird discounts on all courses!
The 2011 Boot Camp will take place between July 5 and August 15, and will include many exciting courses for bookwriters, composers, lyricists, producers, and performers including:
ACTING THE SONG — with Georgia Stitt BOOK LAB - ONLINE! COLLABORATION WORKSHOP — with John Sparks CONQUER THE INTERNET/SOCIAL MEDIA — with Kevin Saunders Hayes DE-SCARE-IFY THE DANCE CALL — with Angel Creeks EVERYONE’S A CRITIC — with John Sparks HANDS-ON MUSICAL THEATRE WORKSHOP — with Mark Saltzman HOW DOES A MUSICAL GET FINANCED? and LEGAL PERILS, PITFALLS AND TRAPS — with Gordon Firemark LYRIC LAB - ONLINE! MAKE A SOCKO MARKETING VIDEO - WITH NO CAMERA! — with Scott Guy MELODIES: HEINRICH, RICHARD and ME — with Ross Kalling MUSIC FOR LYRICISTS — with Bill Berry MUSIC LAB - ONLINE! OUTLINING ANYWHERE! — with Elise Dewsberry PREPARING YOUR SCORE in FINALE NOTATION — with Clifford Tasner SATURDAY NIGHT ON SUNDAY NIGHTS — with Scott Guy SONGWRITING MASTERCLASS — with Georgia Stitt SUMMER SEARCH STREAMCASTS — with industry guests WRITE AND FILM AN INTERNET MUSICAL THIS SUMMER — with Scott Guy
For more info - including short promotional videos for many of the courses on offer - please visit www.anmt.org/bootcamp.asp
We can learn from our critics - but probably not what’s wrong with our writing! Learn how to read reviews of other people’s work - and why not to read reviews of your own. Examples from raves about flops and rants about hits - yep, that’s what I said. The critics aren’t always right - gasp!
INSTRUCTOR INFO: John Sparks was the founder/co-Director of the Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop (1979-1995) and the Artistic Director of ANMT from 1995 to the present. He founded the Writers’ Workshop at Theatre Building Chicago in 1987 and was its Artistic Director for over a decade. Between the two workshops, John has mentored the work of over 250 writers, including Mark Hollmann, composer/lyricist of Urinetown; George Gorham and Dan Sticco, A Change in the Heir. Other writers in the workshops have earned three Richard Rodgers Awards and two Kleban Awards. Nearly 400 shows written by workshop members have been produced in theatres across the country. John’s own musicals have been produced in Los Angeles and Chicago.
Course Fee: $195 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $150)
Start from scratch laying out a score: enter the notes of the melody; the accompaniment; the chords; the lyrics; add the dynamics and other expressions (tempi, character names, etc.). Next: work on laying it out so that it looks pleasant to the eye. The instructor will demonstrate, and then each participant will get a chance to step up to the computer and try it out. (Pre-requisite: a rudimentary knowledge of Finale software). NOTE: this session will take place at the office of the instructor (in North Hollywood). When you register for the course you will be given the exact address.
INSTRUCTOR INFO: Clifford Tasner makes his living orchestrating big films (Benjamin Button, The Golden Compass, The Valley Of Elah, The Wolfman among others) and composing the scores for smaller ones. His first love, however, is Theatre, and he is delighted to have some of his work included in Got Musical! He writes and produces the songs for the political satire troupe The Billionaires. These can be enjoyed and downloaded at TheBillionaires.org. Tasner is a member of Local 47 Professional Musicians Union.
Tasner has worked in Music Preparation for the Film Industry for the last 20 years as a copyist, proofreader, transcriber, arranger and orchestrator. He has been using the Finale program since 1989.
Course Fee: $150 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $120)
Learn how to use Animoto software, which takes your text, music and images and creates stunning professional videos in a matter of minutes. No expertise needed…because in those two hours, you yourself will become an expert. The mechanics are very easy: it’s really just a matter of uploading images, selecting the music and style you want, then adding a handful of headlines, and…voila! Your video is ready for posting on the internet, or your website, etc.
The first evening you’ll learn all the mechanics you need to create your first video. Then you’ll have a week to tinker with your video or create a whole batch more, and bring a final one to the second session for feedback and final refinement.
NOTE: Enrollees will also need to pay for a subscription to Animoto - a $39 fee - which will be separate from the course fee. Bring your credit card to the first session and we’ll talk you through the registration. The registration with Animoto will give you a full month to create dozens more videos, if you want. You can use your own music, or tap into Animoto’s library of over 1,000 pre-licensed titles which come with your subscription.
No special software needed; Animoto works online, for both PC and Mac.
INSTRUCTOR INFO: Scott Guy Under Scott’s tenure, the Academy has developed over 50 musicals for producers across the country, and over 100 independent musicals by ANMT writers. Scott’s current and recent writing projects include: Musical version of Pirates of the Caribbean for Disney; script consultant for a musical by Placido Domingo, Jr., book/lyrics of Manson’s Girls for UC/Irvine; Master Smee’s Finishing School for Gentlemen Pirates and Ladies is Welcome Too with music by Jacques Offenbach; and Hunger at 2009 Stages Festival in Chicago, with music by 2009 Richard Rodgers composer Karlan Judd. Television credits: Six Emmy nominations, and over 100 produced television scripts for Warner Bros., FOX-TV, Disney, Discovery Channel, PBS, etc.)
