Musicals
Current Season
Rocket Science:
Lyrics: Jason Rhyne, music: Stephen Weiner, book: Patricia Cotter
Rocket Science is the story of Hal Hefner, life long stutterer and odd ball. He is bright, funny and stuck behind a wall of words he can’t quite get out of his mouth — until Queen of the Debate Team, Jenny Ryerson, plucks him from high school obscurity and entreats him join the High School Forensics Team. It’s love at first tsunami and soon Hal begins a life altering journey to tackle his biggest challenge: finding his true voice.
Performances: Walnut Street Theatre Philadelpia, Dec 5 , 2011 6:30 pm
Penn State Downtown Theatre Centre Dec 10, 2 pm
Pregnancy Pact:
Lyrics: Gordon Leary, music: Julia Meinwald
15 year-old Brynn and her three best friends make a pact to become single mothers together and raise their children together in a shared dream of the perfect life. Their pact grows as other young girls equally disenchanted with their lives begin to find out and want in. What starts as a utopian quest quickly turns complicated as these tender youths get closer and closer to parenthood.
Performances: Penn State Downtown Theatre Centre, Dec 9, 7 pm, Dec 10, 7 pm
Past Season
How Can You Run With a Shell On Your Back
Music, Lyrics, and book by Michael Mahler and Alan Schmuckler
Inspired by the enduring relevance of Aesop's classic fables, Alan Schmuckler and Michael Mahler chose three tales—"Androcles and the Lion," "The Ant and the Grasshopper," and "The Tortoise and the Hare"—stories that are more than 2,500 years old, to rediscover through the eyes of young people today.
How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back? places Aesop's three tales into the hands of several unlikely—and seemingly unalike—storytellers: six young students who have been sent to after-school detention. There, the reluctant group is confronted with a substitute teacher named Mr. Sopperstein, who encourages them to spend their hour-sentence together by using their imaginations and exploring one of the library's books—Aesop's Fables. Resistant at first, the six come around as they take on the Aesop's characters and imprint the stories with their own points of view.
Bubble Boy the Musical
Music and Lyrics for Bubble Boy by Cinco Paul (Horton Hears a Who), Book by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio (College Road Trip)
Bubble Boy the musical follows the odyssey of Jimmy Livingston, a boy born without immunities and confined to a plastic bubble room. When he discovers that the love of his life Chloe is getting married, he builds a bubble suit, breaks out of his home and travels across the country to stop the wedding. Along the way he must deal with unlikely cults, ferocious bikers, an Indian ice cream man, and the greatest obstacle of all, his controlling mother.
The Giver
Scott Murphy music
Nathan Christianson book and lyric
Based on the novel by Lois Lowry
Based on the beloved novel, The Giver by Lois Lowery, is a coming of age story set in a utopian community that is free from pain, sickness and conflict, but also without color, weather, or deep emotions.
Jonas and his friends, Asher and Fiona, along with his family, journey through the questions of life, love and happiness.
Past Seasons
Standardized Testing the Musical
Sam Willmott music, lyrics, and book
The Boy in the Bathroom
Michael Lluberes book and lyrics
Joe Maloney music
DANI GIRL
Michael Kooman music
Christopher Diamond lyrics
All Fall Down
by Selda Sahin and Greg Turner
Book by Nielsen and Pederson
Original Idea by Tim Zimmerman
Steam
Music and Lyrics by Helle Hansen
Directed by Rob Schneider
The Scottish Musical
Lyrics by Mark Waldrop
Music by Sam Davis
Book by Darin de Paul
Red River Quilt
Music and Lyrics by Richard Biever
Directed by Ted Christopher
Ecouté
Conceived by Dr. Norman Spivey and written by Dr. Susan Russell
Perfomed by Dr. Norman Spivey
Preface
Music and Lyrics by Adam Gwon
Directed by Matthew Kaylor Toronto
Buzz & Bud
Music and Lyrics by Bruce Trinkley and Jason Charnesky
Directed by Amy Anders Corcoran
Pop!
Music and Lyrics by Maggie Coleman & Anna Jacobs
Tales From the Bad Years
Music and Lyrics by Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk
Take Me America
Lyrics and libretto by Bill Nabel
Music by Bob Christianson
Based on the motion picture, Well Founded Fear
Group
Books and lyrics by Aaron Toronto
Music by Heidi Grimsley
Ordinary Days
Book, Music and Lyrics by Adam Gwon
The Alchemists
Music and Lyrics by Peter Mills
Book by Cara Reichel
Timeless
Music by David Cornue
Lyrics by Sam Holtzapple