LA Update

Hello All,

So it's been a while since I've written, but I've found some free time so I thought I would write.

So the Festival is in full swing! I have continued to attend musical premieres all over southern cali.  The lastest one, was a gay rap opera entitled: Bash'd.  It was outstanding. The cast consisted of only two actors, both of which were fabulous.  And funny enough one look really familiar to me, so I went home and googled his name.  Turns out he was in the production of The Scottsboro Boys which I saw back in September!  This is his first project since ending his run on Broadway.  I found it very interesting to think about what it would be like to go from performing on Broadway for hundreds to performing in 99 seat theatre!  Quite the change.

So besides seeing new musicals, I've also have been helping with another new and exciting project for the festival.  The Festival of New American Musicals would like to sponsor a nation wide search for the next big musical created by college and high school students.  There would be two separate divisions (high school and college) and the top ten winners would be flown to LA to compete for a scholarship to help further their education. My boss is currently in talks with Dreamworks and NBC for a possible collaboration. One of the big questions was where we could host the regional competitions.  I made the suggestion of a possible collaboration with KCACTF, since there eight different regions all over country.  So I contacted Gregg Henry, the artistic director of KCACTF, about the possibility.   He seemed open to the idea, and I'm very excited where this might go.

My main responsibility though is to help coordinate a project called the East Side Initiative, which is a program designed to help take underprivileged kids from the east side of LA (90% Hispanic) to many different musical theatre performances throughout southern California.
 My responsibility for this program is to work with the people at The Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation to make this project a reality.  I am in charge of contacting the different theaters in the area and ask if they would be willing to donate tickets so these kids can attend a show free of cost. Then once I have finalized everything with each theater, I then relay the information to LA County Parks and Rec so that they can arrange transportation. It's a pretty cool program and I have enjoyed working with the people at LA Parks and Rec.  Oh with the program we will also organize a training day in which we bring in professionals to work with kids (ages 7 to 19) interested in musical theatre. There will be three different instructors and the kids will break up into groups to attend each of the three training sessions including dance, voice, and acting. This will take place in July.  

Tonight I had the opportunity to go to a discussion in downtown LA about "The role of Los Angeles in the National Theater Scene".  The discussion was led by Charles McNulty, the theatre critic for the Los Angeles Times.  The Panel consisted of Michael Ritchie, the artisitc director of the Center Theatre Group; Marc Platt Broadway producer of Wicked, Three Days Rain, Edward Scissorhands; Tim Robbins  oscar-winning actor from Mystic River, Beth Henley playwright of Crimes of the Heart and many other plays and films, and Sheldon Epps Broadway director of Baby It's You. There was a great turnout and it was a very interesting discussion to say the least. 

Well that's it for now.  Tomorrow I'm off to see the West Coast premiere of the opera "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field." 

Over and out.