A new Musical Theatre Incubator, housed in the Le Moyne College Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), will move two new musicals onto the international stage during the summer of 2024.
The new incubator is a collaboration between the Department of VPA and the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity. The incubator has been established to encourage and nurture the creation of new musical theatre works, to create new opportunities for students to engage in the creative process, and to provide a venue for creative entrepreneurship.
“We had no idea how quickly this incubator would produce tangible results,” said VPA Chair Travis Newton. “To have two new shows accepted into international festivals, including the largest annual arts festival in the world, represents an important milestone for the department, and for the College.”
Thanks to generous alumni and support from The Stanley W. Metcalf and D.E. French Foundations, students and faculty will present Edgar in the Red Room in Montréal this June, and Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical in Edinburgh, Scotland this July and August.
Additionally, Alan Muraoka, Emmy-winning director and member of the cast of “Sesame Street” and director of Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical will lead a musical theater workshop for area high school students in May during the show’s rehearsal period, and Spencer Lott, the show’s puppet designer, will lead a puppet-making workshop at the Keenan Center, utilizing the College’s new maker space.
“The cross-campus collaboration and community engagement opportunities enabled by this new incubator helps to reinforce Le Moyne’s interest in being a resource and partner to our surrounding neighborhood,” said Jim Hannan, Le Moyne’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Pleasance Theatre Trust, one of the top venue operators at the Edinburgh Fringe, will host a four-week run of Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical during their curated season at the Fringe, which begins on Tuesday, July 30. Meanwhile, Edgar in the Red Room is one of only a handful of non-Canadian shows to be featured at the Montréal Fringe Festival.
Both shows were created by Le Moyne College faculty and staff members – Edgar in the Red Room features new music by Matt Chiorini and Greg Giovanini, and Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical is an original show with book and lyrics by Matt Chiorini and new music by Matt Chiorini and Travis Newton. Students will travel and participate in both productions, performing as well as stage managing and providing marketing and publicity support.
“This is exactly the type of collaboration that we at the Keenan Center envisioned,” said Mike D’Eredita, director of the Kennan Center. “We love the fusion of entrepreneurship and creativity that this new musical theatre incubator is already enabling for our students.”