I have not written on my blog for awhile. Did you miss me? I’ve actually been over on another website talking about some other projects and I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to tell you all about it.
For a while now, composer Kate Brennan (http://katebrennan1.wixsite.com/katebrennan) and I have been writing what we believe are some very special musicals geared toward young adults. It started when the good folks at McCarter Theater’s Education Program put us together last year to create a new show for their Summer High School Intensive. The result was a show called ALiEN8. Since then, we’ve workshopped ALiEN8 with Ignition Arts in Oklahoma (https://www.ignitionarts.org/) and the show is scheduled for a production at Drexel University in the Fall of 2019. We’re also talking to a few other folks about productions – more on that as it develops. This past summer, we created a new show for McCarter called CLEAN SLATE. We’re currently looking for opportunities to workshop and develop it further.
When Kate and I started discussing this project, we wanted to write shows for YA audiences. Not necessarily HARRY POTTER or HUNGER GAMES knock-offs, but stories that put young people front and center. We’ve been very inspired by the current generation of high school students and their ability to accept cultural differences, whether they have to do with gender, race, religion or nationality.
As a theatre artist and educator, Kate brings years of experience, an exhaustive knowledge of YA literature and her prodigious musical talent to this work. I’ve been writing shows based on the experiences of young people for the better part of two decades. Between the two of us, we’ve managed to create something pretty unique. The young people we’ve worked with have been profoundly inspirational and encouraging. These aren’t educational touring shows about single topics like bullying (although there’s nothing wrong with that – I’ve done those too) but stories inspired by the concerns and passions of young people.
And occasionally there’s time travel, parallel dimensions, mysterious visitors from elsewhere, and a little bit of magic.
I won’t outline the shows here – more info can be found at the ALiEN8 website – https://alien8themusical.wordpress.com/
You can find a synopsis, photos, testimonials, song demos, and more about us. Enjoy!We’d love to see the shows done at the professional level, but we also think that really committed high school and college theatre programs would like them as well.
Okay. That’s it for now. More to come another day – possibly news about a Kickstarter campaign or a concept album (or two).
David Lee White 