Now for the first time, a new Dark Night Series of musicals “not quite ready for the limelight” will launch on one Wednesday evening a month at the Secret Rose Theatre in North Hollywood. Starting Wednesday, Feburary 10, it will be a unique opportunity for audience members to snag a privileged glimpse into some brand-new musicals before producers even take a look- before costumes, before lights, and even before rewrites.
The first musical in the series will be “Now and Then a Hero” by Larry Todd Johnson and Jake Anthony. This musical includes a series of short musical-monologues and scenes based on the thousands of interviews WPA conducted from 1939 to 1944 documenting the memories of ordinary Americans, many of which had actually accomplished extraordinary or “heroic” deeds in their time. Each one of these musical-monologues is paired with a second musical-monologue inspired by the parallel life of a modern American, taken from contemporary headlines. The two parallel characters are linked primarily by their profession, and by some perceived act of heroism, however big or small. This musical explores essential questions about the definition of heroism, its transformation from the early 20th century to the present, and the potential for heroism in all of us.
The cast for the upcoming reading of “Now and Then a Hero” features Jimmer Bolden, Jennifer Chu, Elise Dewsberry, David Holmes, and Selah Victor.
It will take place on Wednesday, February 10th at 8:30pm at the Secret Rose Theatre in North Hollywood. Admission is $10. For more info and to make a reservation, visit ANMT’s website at anmt.org.
Author: Elise Dewsberry
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc., Elise has been involved in the development of new works for over forty years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer. 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 Script Lab. 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 was produced by the Cordova Bay Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia, and published by Dramatic Publishing. Elise joined ANMT as Associate Artistic Director in 2003; joined Founding Artistic Director John Sparks as Co-Artistic Director in 2010; and became Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc. in 2013. Elise is also the author and evaluator of the Book Lab and the Outlining Lab, offered online through www.writingmusicaltheatre.com, and publishes a monthly blog on the craft of musical theatre available at https://nmi.org/elises-video-blog/.