News: Emerging Artists Theatre’s Fall New Work Series Showcases 70 Shows Over 4 Weeks

Sara Pizzi (top) and Aika Takeshima (bottom) in L Train. Photo by BECCAVISION.
Seventy (not a typo!) diverse new works, including musicals, short and full-length plays, dance, cabaret, and solo shows will be showcased at Emerging Artists Theatre’s bi-annual New Work Series (NWS). For the first time since the festival's inception in 2006, NWS will run for four weeks instead of three to better meet the growing needs of artists. The festival runs September 26th to October 23rd at TADA! Theater in Manhattan. All of the productions are in various stages of development, with many shows being performed in front of a live audience for the first time. Most productions will receive one performance, with shorter pieces being grouped together.

Artistic Director Paul Adams shared his thoughts on the expanded festival: “Emerging Artists is celebrating our 29th season and it’s always been our mission to be a champion of new works. We understand how hard it is for artists after so many of our fellow theater companies were forced to close due to Covid. We wanted to give as many artists as possible the chance to see their work go from page to stage, and we had a record number of submissions. That’s why we decided to expand the festival from 3 to 4 weeks and showcase 70 artists' new work, which is the largest number of shows we’ve presented since the festival's inception in 2006.”

Festival highlights include the full-length play Marilyn, Mom & Me, written by Luke Yankee, whose mother, Eileen Heckart, starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in the film Bus Stop. The production stars Tony-nominated actor Robert Cuccioli. Other productions include a queer coming-of-age dance piece Love, In Time, choreographed by Sam Lobel, and the solo shows Anne Being Frank, written by Ron Elisha, that reimagines Anne Frank rewriting her soon-to-be-famous diary while in a concentration camp, and Swimming in Mudd, written by John Mudd and directed by Geoffrey Owens, which follows one man's journey to find purpose.

14 new musicals will also be presented, including staged readings of Blackgirltopia, written and composed by Sharai Dottin (When men disappear from Earth, will women be next? It's up to Black women to figure it out), Coming Out by Allison St. Rock (A group of college students discover what it means to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community), and The SOULdiers, by Matthew Keaton and co-writer Brittney King (a soul musical set in 1967 Memphis).

Shows run nightly with multiple shows on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tickets range between $20 - $40 and are on sale at www.emergingartiststheatre.org. Performances take place at TADA Theater, 15 West 28th Street (between Broadway and 5th Avenue), 2nd Floor (elevator accessible), New York, NY 10001. Subways: N/R/1/2 to 28th Street, B/D/F/W to 34th Street.

Emerging Artists strives to be an incubator and safe haven for artists to showcase new works. The New Work Series is a rare festival that doesn’t charge participants any fees and artists receive half of the box office. Since its inception in 2006, numerous musicals, plays, solo shows, and dance pieces that were workshopped at the series have gone on to have full productions at the top festivals, Off-Broadway, as well as National and International productions.

All audience members must wear a mask while at the theater.

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