The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival Announces Writers for the Fifth Anniversary Season of The PiTCH

AUBURN, N.Y. – A story of chasing dreams and sacrifice with music by a Billboard chart-topping country songwriter. A cure for natural death. A southern jazz re-telling of

Eurydice. The storybook family dying under the weight of their own secrets. True love challenged by extreme devotion. Community vs. Heritage. The fascinating, heated rivalry between two of the greatest artists the world has ever known.

These are the stories to be featured in the 2016 season of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival’s new musicals series, The PiTCH, presented by Generations Bank.

The lineup includes: Music City, USA by Peter Zinn & JT Harding (June 16-18), Deathless by Zack Zadek (June 23-25), Gumbo by Christina Quintana and Brett Macias, (June 30-July 2), Elysium by Yianni Papadimos and Ben Chavez (July 7-9), Devotion by Mark Sonnenblick (July 14-16), Divided by Luanne Aronsen Rosenfeld and Kristen Lee Rosenfeld (July 21-23), and The Battles by Ned Massey (July 28-30).

Now in its fifth anniversary season, The PiTCH provides creative teams residency and retreat, as well as an opportunity to develop and present their new musical to an engaged and enthusiastic audience in a relaxed environment. Audiences enjoy wine and beer during a 50-60 minute presentation of the new musical before being invited to give the team feedback in a post-performance talkback session.

“The PiTCH turns 5!  We are extremely proud that our commitment to new musicals has evolved into a significant development engine and retreat for writers.  To date, we have given visibility to 47 new musicals and are very excited about this year’s lineup.  Auburn is becoming a meaningful and powerful theatre destination,” said Brett Smock, Producing Artistic Director for the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival.

To date, The PiTCH has hosted a myriad of successful writers and shows and they have moved on to enjoy further development at theatres and festivals around the country.  Recent and upcoming successes include:  Neurosis (The PiTCH, 2012) by Allan Rice, Greg Edwards and Ben Green, which received a full production in the 2013 Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival season and On The Air (The PiTCH, 2014) by Cristina and Robert Farruggia, which received an industry reading directed by Hunter Foster at the York Theatre in 2015. Next year, following productions in Washington, D.C. and Toronto, Irene Sankoff and David Hein (Mitzvah, The PiTCH 2013) will see their new musical, Come From Away, open on Broadway.

All performances of The PiTCH are held at Theater Mack behind the Cayuga Museum of History and Art at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday evenings and at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival’s box office at 315-255-1785 or by visiting FingerLakesMTF.com.

About Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival:

The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival will once again operate on three stages in the picturesque Finger Lakes region of Central New York.  The Callahan Theater at Nazareth Arts Center, a new venue added this year in Rochester, N.Y., will host the regional premiere of Austen’s Pride: A New Musical of Pride and Prejudice. In Auburn, at its flagship venue, the Preston H. Thomas Theatre in the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, the Festival will present Oklahoma!, the U.S. premiere of Tim Rice’s new musical, From Here to Eternity, the Gershwin song and dance megahit, Crazy for You, the regional premiere of Treasure Island: A New Musical, Million Dollar Quartet, the regional premiere of Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, and Smokey Joe’s Café.  And, celebrating its fifth anniversary, sponsored by Generations Bank, the new-works series, The PiTCH, returns with seven new writing teams presenting their new musicals in development.  The PiTCH will run from June 16 – July 30 at Theater Mack in Auburn, N.Y.

Four hours from New York City and situated between Syracuse, Rochester and Ithaca, the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival is the largest producing musical theatre organization in New York state, outside of New York City. It has provided over forty years of top-notch entertainment to over 68,000 patrons each season and is routinely recognized by industry press for its artistry and execution.

Find Merry Go Round Finger Lakes Music Theatre on Facebook, follow @FingerLakesMTF on Twitter and visit www.FingerLakesMTF.com.

 

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