Midwest New Musicals kicks off Words and Music, its new concert reading series of original musicals with TABLE TURNS by Sheilah Rae and Michele Brourman on Monday, November 21, at 8 PM at the Light Opera Works Second Stage, 1420 Maple (at Lake) in Evanston. Tickets are $15 at Light Opera Works ticket office (516 4th Street in Wilmette), or by phone at (847) 920-5360, or at the door.
TABLE TURNS is a musical evening of five shorts, each with a surprising turn of events in contemporary love and life. The piece was a finalist for the Heideman Award given by the Actors' Theatre of Louisville. TABLE TURNS features Kelli Harrington, Jasmine Ryan, David Skvarla and Greg Tate. The musical is directed by Jeff Dumas and music directed by Jessica Hunt. The casting director is Allan Chambers. Midwest New Musicals is lead by workshop director John Sparks.
Sheilah Rae, the co-bookwriter and lyricist, co-wrote Funny, You Don't Look Like A Grandmother. She has written songs for Time, People, Doritos, Beechnut Baby Food and Ben Gay. As a performer she has appeared in Fiddler On the Roof, Applause, The Rothschilds and Company. She has served as past-council for the Songwriters Guild of America, past-president of the League of Professional Theatre Women and is currently the board president of the New York Theatre Barn and a member of the Dramatists Guild. She was born and raised in Chicago and is a New Trier graduate.
Michele Brourman, the composer, is a Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award winner. She is the composer of the new musical Dangerous Beauty. Michele composed the dance and incidental music for the original Broadway production of Working. Her songs have been featured in movies (The Little Engine that Could, Shiloh and Shiloh Season) and television (Land Before Time, Designing Women, Cagney and Lacey). She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
The Midwest New Musicals writers workshop and the new Words and Music series are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The ASCAP Foundation and The Dramatist Guild Fund. Most of the new musicals in the Words and Music series are written by members of the Midwest New Musicals writers workshop and have been developed in the workshop Core Curriculum and development process.
Midwest New Musicals is an ongoing forum where lyricists, composers and book writers create and discuss their work. Divided into three levels, workshop members meet 10 times per year for intensive weekend sessions. Since 2009, Midwest New Musicals has been a resident arm of Light Opera Works, Chicago's specialists in operetta and musical theater. With the Midwest New Musicals, Light Opera Works is able to expand its programming and service to the field by providing an outlet for writers and for new works of musical theater.
