SURGE #8 - Marisa Michelson's Marigold Chor Ensemble

Photo credit: Nickolas Vaughn

Crowded Outlet, is proud to announce the New York premiere of Marisa Michelson's Marigold Chor Ensemble. Assembled by Michelson (Jonathan Larson Award Grant winner, Tamar of the River) and featuring many multi-hyphenate artistic creators, the experiment will be performed Sunday, October 16th at 5pm at Judson Memorial Church. Tickets are invitation-only.

After nearly a year of weekly explorations, the Marigolds are pleased to make their public debut. A collective of singer-dancers, -composers, -actors, -musicians, -writers, The Marigold Chor Ensemble explores composition as improvisation and improvisation as composition. The ensemble includes Marisa Michelson, Chad Goodridge (Obie Award, Passing Strange), Nikko Benson (2016 Jonathan Larson Award Grant winner, Nikola Tessa Drops the Beat), Jen Anaya (Tamar of the River), Heathcliff Saunders (NYMF Award for Best Musical, Best Lyrics, Newton's Cradle; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), Ako (Kentucky), Tamrin Goldberg (Tamar of the River), Shaun Shafner (I’ll Never Love Again), Nickolas Vaughn (Scheherezade), Troy Burton (Tamar of the River), Kalli Siamidou (Asters Team), as well as regular ensemble members Aubrey Johnson, Patrick Cragin, and Marina Pires, who will not be featured in this presentation.

Check out photos from opening night of LONE STAR SPIRITS by Josh Tobiessen

Here's a look at our opening night celebration...

Kristine Nielsen and Amelia McClain

Kristine Nielsen and Amelia McClain

Lucas Steele, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones

Lucas Steele, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones

Aaron Mooney, Phil Pickens, Ashley Grombol, Erin Mooney, Nick Mills and Amelia McClain.

Aaron Mooney, Phil Pickens, Ashley Grombol, Erin Mooney, Nick Mills and Amelia McClain.

Jamie Kessler Weiner, Aaron Weiner and Mikaela Feely-Lehmann

Jamie Kessler Weiner, Aaron Weiner and Mikaela Feely-Lehmann

Aaron Weiner and Martin LaPlatney

Aaron Weiner and Martin LaPlatney

Kerry Borowski, KeiLyn Durrel Jones and Ross DeWitt

Kerry Borowski, KeiLyn Durrel Jones and Ross DeWitt

Crowded Outlet Artists at the Drama League

Wes Grantom (Crowded Outlet Artistic Director) collaborates with Surge artists Matt Citron and Lauren Whitehead on Matt's new musical ANGELO SOLIMAN at the Drama League. This collaboration is part of a Drama League Residency awarded to Wes back in January. There will be a presentation for an invited audience on Monday, April 18th at 8pm.

The cast will include Jeremy Pope (Invisible Thread), Stephen Plunkett (Dada Woof Papa Hot), Erin Felgar (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Joel Rainwater (The Great Divorce), Lora Lee Gayer (Doctor Zhivago), Brent Bateman (Bull Durham), Joshua Canfield (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Angel Desai (Sweeny Todd). The musical director is Edison Hong and the stage manager is Emily Goforth.

Click here for more information. 

Surge Artist Nikko Benson wins a Jonathan Larson Grant

The American Theatre Wing has announced the recipients of the 2016 Jonathan Larson Grants. César Alvarez, Nikko Benson, Carson Kreitzer, and Sam Salmond will each be awarded $10,000.

“The Jonathan Larson Grants give us the opportunity each year to support exciting new theatremakers and invest in the changing landscape of the American musical, one writer at a time,” president of the American Theatre Wing, Heather Hitchens, said in a statement.

The organization will also give grant recipients other resources. For the first time this year, in addition to the Larson Grants, the Saw Island Foundation Recording Grants will be awarded to Alvarez, Benson, and Salmond. The grants are for the artists to create new demo recordings of their work.

Benson is a musical theatre writer and performer. He is currently developing Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat with Benjamin Halstead. Benson’s music has been featured in cabaret venues in the city including Brian Stokes Mitchell’s Plays With Music and William Finn’s Ridiculously Talented series, and his own Start Again and In Pursuit of Magic. Benson is a founding member of the Musical Theater Factory, a teaching artist at the Performing Arts Project, a member of ASCAP, and a member of the Dramatists’ Guild.

Cast Announced - Jeff Talbott's Elliot

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ELLIOT by Jeff Talbott will be read by Tony Award nominee Stephen Kunken (Enron, “The Affair,” “Billions”), Jennifer Ikeda (Love and Information), Frankie J. Alvarez (HBO’s “Looking”), Christa Scott-Reed (The Great Divorce), Christopher Gerson (Great River Shakespeare Festival) and Dillon Heape (“Weekend Detectives” webseries). Wes Grantom directs.

he reading will be at 5:30pm on Tuesday, January 26th at Drama League Theater Center (32 Ave of the Americas, New York, NY 10013).

Please RSVP to: crowdedoutletnyc@gmail.com