How Writers and Directors Work Together on New Musicals: An Interview with Ilana Ransom Toeplitz
Director Ilana Ransom Toeplitz generously shares her thoughts and experience on the process of working with writers on new musicals.
Read MoreDirector Ilana Ransom Toeplitz generously shares her thoughts and experience on the process of working with writers on new musicals.
Read MoreToday’s musicals journey through time with concentrated stories and employ devices like montages, backstory, and ticking clocks to keep audiences engaged.
Read MoreCarol de Giere and Stephen Schwartz explore how musicals convey time through backstory, memories, and compressed action.
Read MoreGetting feedback is essential to move your show forward. Here are a 7 practical and achievable steps to evaluate each progressive draft of your musical.
Read MoreMagic happens when an ACTOR breathes life into a character. Welcoming their input will help you make giant strides in your show’s development. Here are some wise insights from veteran Broadway actors.
Read MoreNew York City’s Institute for American Musical Theatre “Creators” program has announced a diverse array of online courses in musical theater writing for the 2020-21 season. (MEMBER PERK: Members of MusicalWriters Academy are eligible to receive a $50 discount on each course!)
Read MoreIn our live Academy Mentor Session, Steve Cuden answered questions from Academy members on story arcs, song spotting, character development, and how to keep an audience engaged.
Read MoreCatch up on relevant musical writing books this summer, including ideas for public domain material, how-to books, and books on “the making of a musical.”
Read MoreThe audience has stretched their legs, endured the line to the loo, and checked their email and the likes on their selfie with the night’s Playbill. The lights dim, and it’s time for Curtain Up: Act Two.
Read MoreIf the audience is allowed to push the pause button and re-enter the reality—and mental hijack—of crowds, bathroom lines, and social media updates, then the creative team better have a carefully devised plan on how to keep at least a little hook in an audience member’s brain during intermission.
Read MoreThe “I Want” song, usually the second number in a show, tells us who the story is about and the thing they’re willing to risk everything to pursue.
Read MoreIn the Madison New Works Lab, Mark Evan Chimsky and Zev Burrows learned how to work with a team and how that team responds to a musical work-in-progress.
Read MoreThe 7 Plot Points are often used in creating narrative structure for novels, films and musicals. Use them to evaluate, refine and polish your script.
Read MoreIt is the pursuit of a protagonist’s “grand goal” or superobjective that grabs us and keeps our attention. Stay on track and never lose focus of that goal!
Read MoreThe people who created the musical Wicked did many things right. They ended up with a mega-hit...
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Academy Reading Series Pitch Night - SheARTS Edition
Academy Masterclass: Natalie Rine - Broadway DNA