RSO SHOW ‘WE FOXES’ READING AT THE YORK THEATRE

August 25, 2014

Mike Donahue to direct free reading of Ryan Scott Oliver’s We Foxes at the York Theatre, with a cast featuring Katie Thompson, Ben Platt, Forrest McClendon and more.

Read the Playbill.com press release HERE.

The York Theatre will produce a reading of Ryan Scott Oliver’s new show We Foxes as part of its NEO Reading Series on September 12th at 3:00pm. Directed by Mike Donahue, with music direction by Rich Silverstein, the cast includes Katie Thompson, Ben Platt, Forrest McClendon, Anne L. Nathan, with Andie Alhadeff, Alex Brightman, Jon Ellison Conlee, Natalie Charle Ellis, Will Erat, F. Michael Haynie, Erik Liberman,  Ellyn Marsh, and introducing Emily Rogers.

We Foxes is a southern Gothic thriller set in small-town Missouri, 1945.  It’s the story of Willa, a tough and unmannered orphan girl, and her adoption by the crafty Sheriff’s wife, Vesta Quimby.  When Willa discovers the dark secrets beneath the floorboards, a war cuts them apart and Willa must fight to survive.  After all, Vesta Quimby is the most beloved and powerful woman in town … Yet she’s less humanitarian socialite than she is Machiavellian sociopath…  Can Willa discover her own salvation, deliver herself into courage, and sacrifice everything to escape Vesta?  It is a story of intense human struggle, deliverance, and the great salvation found only through oneself.

The epic period musical is mostly sung-through, combining bluegrass, country, big band and concert music of the 1940s, infused with the contemporary folk-rock of today. We Foxes is a commission from Broadway Across America, and has been in residence at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s Writer’s Retreat, CAP 21, and the Weston Playhouse.

The band features Allison Seidner on cello, Charlie Rosen on bass, Jeremy Yaddaw on percussion and Coco Taguchi on violin. Other members of the creative team include stage manager Ashley Rodbro and assistant stage manager Nessie Nankivell.

The presentation is on September 12 at the York Theatre at 3:00pm.  There are a limited number of seats open to the public. Visit www.YorkTheatre.org for more info and to reserve seats.

Ryan Scott Oliver has written eight musicals including Jasper in Deadland which completed a sold out off-Broadway run earlier this year, and is a 2011 Lucille Lortel Award nominee, a 2009 Jonathan Larson grant recipient and the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre recipient. His work has been featured at the Kennedy Center, Off-Broadway and on television.

 NEO (an acronym for “New, Emerging, Outstanding”) celebrates songwriters primed to pen the next generation of musicals. The York Theatre Company recently embarked on a new year-long mentoring program that brings together established writers and upcoming producing partners to help encourage the growth of new works.

The York Theatre Company is under the producing artistic direction of James Morgan and executive direction of Andrew Levine. The York Theatre Company in Saint Peter’s is located at East 54th Street (just east of Lexington Avenue). The reading is free and open to the public with a reservation. For more information and reservations, visit www.YorkTheatre.org.

‘WE FOXES’ READING IN SAN DIEGO

May 4, 2014

RSO residency with the San Diego State University MFA Musical Theatre Program April 28-May 7.

The residency will culminate in a reading of RSO’s new show We Foxes on May 5th at 7:30pm at San Diego State University’s Experimental Theatre. The reading is directed by Paula Klaustian with music direction by Robert Meffe, and features performances by students and alumni of the MFA Musical Theatre program.

Set in 1945 Missouri, the Southern Gothic musical We Foxes tells the story of Willa, a tough, unmannered orphan adopted by the wife of the Sheriff and the bloody domestic war that ensues between them when Willa uncovers the secrets lurking beneath the floorboards. It is the story of intense human struggle, deliverance, and salvation that can only be found from within.

Admission is free, but seats are limited, and reservations are recommended. To reserve, call (619) 594-8262 or email [email protected].

RSO NEW CONCERT SERIES “MURDUROUS MUSICAL MONDAYS”

March 14, 2014

All-new concert series to begin Monday, 3/24 at Murder for Two. 

The cast and creative team of the hit Off-Broadway musical Murder for Two are teaming up with some of New York’s brightest up and coming composers and BroadwayWorld.com every Monday night for their spring concert series, Murderous Musical Mondays. RSO will launch the series on Monday, March 24th, 2014, immediately following the 7pm performance of Murder for Two at New World Stages (Stage 5 – 340 West 50th Street).

This Monday’s program includes hit songs from 35mm including “On Monday,” “Stroke by Stroke” from Jasper in Deadland, “Lost Boy,” from Darling, and “Map of Scars” from We Foxes.

Admittance to the concert is free to all those with tickets to the March 24th performance of Murder for Two. Tickets are available now on Telecharge.com. The series will take place every other Monday through June, and upcoming concerts will feature the works of some great new composers including the Pace New Musicals Writers’ Room, which is being curated by RSO. Additional artists and dates will be announced shortly.

Ryan Scott Oliver is a 2011 Lucille Lortel Award Nominee, a 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient and wrote the music and lyrics for 35mm: A Musical Exhibition, Mrs. Sharp (2008 Richard Rodgers Award Winner, at Playwrights Horizons starring Jane Krakowski, dir. by Michael Greif), Darling (featured on the “Bound for Broadway” episode of NBC’s The Apprentice), the song cycle Out of My Head, Quit India (commissioned by UCLA), the music for Angus Oblong’s The Debbies, a commission for Disney Theatricals, The Frog Prince Continued (commissioned by Chicago’s Emerald City Theatre) and Jasper in Deadland (commissioned by the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program).

Murder For Two recently extended its engagement at New World Stages to Sunday, July 6, 2014. Featuring book and music by Joe Kinosian, book and lyrics by Kellen Blair and direction by Scott Schwartz, the show began performances at New World Stages on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 and officially opened on Wednesday, November 6, 2013.