From Penn State Musical Theatre’s New Musicals Initiative: The Morris & Essex Line
January 5, 2024
A suburban mother’s midlife crisis collides with her child’s coming of age–all in one trip on New Jersey Transit. Take a ride with this new musical from the Larson Award-winning writers of I Love You Because.
Commissioned by Penn State Musical Theatre and featuring the Class of 2024.
Directed by John Simpkins.
Penn State is the proud home of one of the preeminent training programs in musical theatre. Led by Head of Musical Theatre John Simpkins, it is also home to a New Musicals Initiative where each year writers are commissioned. The writers visit Penn State to meet a group of third-year students – they share work and discuss timely issues. The writers return the following year and workshop/ develop the show with a Penn State creative team and the students who are now in their fourth year. Opportunities exist to continue into production at Penn State and professionally.
Previous commissions include Love in Hate Nation (Joe Iconis), The Last Day (Mike Reid/ Sarah Schlesinger), The Lucky Boy (Kirsten Childs), Dust and Embers (Sam Salmond), Nostalgia Night (Sofya Levitsky-Weitz/ Matthew McCollum), Make It All Better (Gilbert Bailey), Me and My Friends Killing Nazis (Alexander Sage Oyen, Lauren Marcus, James Presson), and In-Gauged (Christian Thompson, Maria Wirres).
Featuring:
Nick Brogan
Aria Evans
Minju Michelle Lee
Amirah Joy Lomax
Dylan Lugosi
Noi Nuria Maeshige
Jackson Pavlik
Jonah Schwartz
Owen Smith
Please note that all artists and acts are subject to change at any time.
