I'm a Nymf-O-Maniac!

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I am a nymphomaniac

No, no, I'm not divulging any nasty secrets! In this case NYMF stands for theNew York Musical Theater Festival. This past September, I attended the very first New York Musical Theater Festival, the brain child of Kris Stewart (another Aussie related to Broadway...hmmm...) and many other theater visionaries.


I went down for the last week of the three week festival to volunteer and help out, see shows and shmooze in hopes of helping Plane Crazy be part of the 2005 festival. I staffed the AMC movie theater on 42nd Street, selling t-shirts, giving out information about the festival, setting up for receptions, and directing people to the washroom, and directing people to the theater where the preview ofLadder 49 was playing (the last two were not in my job description). I had a blast, met some great people and saw some great and not so great shows - which is the point of a new musical festival. Get stuff up and see if it works...or not.

Tickets were only $15 and I got in free a lot since I was a staffer. My absolute favorite was Title of Show, a brilliant show (Book by Hunter Bell, Music by Jeff Bowen, Lyrics by Jeff Bowen) about, wait for it, writing a show for the festival! I laughed until I cried and fell off my chair..er...uncomfortable wooden bench (the venues were small, grungy and wonderfully artsy.)

Kendra Bator, a friend of mine from Toronto who is now taking her Masters In Theater Production at Columbia, was helping out on a show by Bob and Jim Walton called The Eyes Are The First Thing To Go. I got to meet the cast and go backstage which was really underground in this eeiry, damp tunnel with what appeared to be stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The dressing room had flooded and the props were floating away...ah, the thea-tuh!

Anyhoo, I just received a note from Kris Stewart and I thought I'd share his good news with you:

"I wanted to drop a note to folks in my address book, as we recently heard that we are receiving the 2004 Jujamcyn Theaters Award, an amazing achievement, considering how young an organization we still are.

Created in 1984, the Jujamcyn Theaters Award is a $100,000 prize given annually to a theater organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent for the theater. Previous recipients have been The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, American Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, Second Stage, The Foundation of the Dramatists Guild Young Playwrights Festival, The Guthrie Theater, The New York Shakespeare Festival, Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre, The Alliance For New American Musicals,The Market Theatre in South Africa, New York Stage and Film Company, American Conservatory Theatre, City Center Encores!, Atlantic Theater Company, Penumbra Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Labyrinth Theater Company, and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Now entering its second year, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) presented over 141 events in 26 performance venues across the city during its 2004 Festival, surpassing all expectations and becoming the largest musical theatre event in American history. Aspiring to invigorate the musical theater community by stimulating the production of new and innovative work, NYMF garnered strong reviews and sold-out houses that have led to commercial options for at least seven of its 31 productions. In addition to full productions of new musicals, the festival included improvised musicals, panel discussions, readings, concerts, and cabaret performances, as well as a 39-film new movie musical series."
Canada helped give NYMF an international flair, with showings from Top Gun The Musical andFrankenstein, Do You Dream. I'm hoping that Plane Crazy will continue the tradition next September!
By Suzy Conn on January 9, 2005 1:18 PM | | Comments (0)


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