New York, New York, Nov. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New York Film Academy’s (“NYFA”) Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre (“PCMT”) is proud to announce a brand new musical, NOT WORKING: A 2020 Song Cycle, with live, COVID-safe performances by NYFA PCMT students set to debut Sunday, November 15, 2020, at East River Park Amphitheatre in New York City (located at the East River Promenade near Pier 36).
The original production is conceived and directed by NYFA’s Travis Greisler (The Cher Show) with musical direction by Kevin David Thomas (A Little Night Music) and was created especially for the Musical Theatre students at NYFA.
NOT WORKING: A 2020 Song Cycle is a nod to the 1970’s song cycle WORKING, and portrays the various stories and vantage points of topics ranging from the global pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, quarantine and isolation, and our immense desire to be telling stories live and in person again.
The full length, live musical showcases NYFA’s PCMT students performing contributions from 15 different composers/lyricists from many racial backgrounds, gender identities, and sexualities, writing their various points of view on all things 2020 at a time where many have been missing the element of live performance for the majority the year.
“It is a show about all the things that are not working in our world, written in 2020, about 2020, and performed in 2020,” said Greisler. “A thing most new musicals never get to do as they usually take so long to get written and eventually produced. We had quite the opportunity on our hands and I didn’t want to waste it.”
In addition to the performers, composers, and lyricists involved in the show, NYFA’s PCMT also collaborated across disciplines with NYFA’s Filmmaking and Cinematography departments by capturing the live performance to allow for online streaming distribution to reach a potentially even larger number of viewers.
“One of the things this pandemic has taught everyone in the performing arts is the necessity to find new and creative ways to bring our performances and talents to a large audience in an unconventional way,” shared Pierro Basso (AIC-IMAGO), Chair of NYFA’s Cinematography Department in New York. “What the pandemic has not done, however, is deter from the longstanding collaboration between the Filmmaking, Cinematography and Musical Theatre departments at NYFA.”
“NYFA is so proud of all of our students for their continued excellence in the face of very difficult circumstances,” added Senior Executive Vice President and COO at NYFA David Klein. “We are so proud of our Musical Theatre Department, the Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre and our musical theatre students and faculty who have overcome what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles to live performance to create a new musical during a global pandemic.”
The show’s producer and Chair of NYFA’s Musical Theatre Department Kristy Cates (Wicked, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) also added, “I am thrilled that NYFA gave us the green light to create and produce this amazing new piece of work and I know this show will be an extremely uplifting and cathartic experience for all the performers, composers and audience alike. We are proud to share NOT WORKING with New York City and beyond.”
Get Your Tickets:
Tickets to the live performances are free and may be reserved by emailing your full name, desired performance time, and the total number of tickets requested to MTRSVP@nyfa.edu.
For those unable to attend the live New York performance, NYFA will be streaming a taped performance from the live show online on December 5th and 6th, 2020 with more information to be announced at a later date.
Performance Times (Eastern Standard Time):
- Sunday, November 15th at 10:00 a.m.
- Sunday, November 15th at 1:00 p.m.
Location: East River Park Amphitheatre (located at the East River Promenade near Pier 36).
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NOT WORKING: A 2020 Song Cycle
SONGS BY: Alexander Sage Oyen, Andre Catrini, Brett Macias, Cheeyang Ng + Eric Sorrels, Daniel Lincoln, Douglas Lyons + Ethan Pakchar, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Janet Noh, Joriah Kwame, Miriam Pultro, Natalie Tennenbaum + Kevin Wanzor, Preston Allen, Rachel Dean + David Brush, Rona Siddiqui, and Timothy Huang.
STARRING: Isabela Castillon, Chloe Chanel, Daniel Fischer, Parker Gandy, Bryce Hall, Jennifer Johansson, Mercedes Lira, Carmen Marner, Jennifer Molson, Rubie Natal, Jordan Neave, Jordan White, and Minami Yoshimura.
CREATIVE TEAM:
Directed and Conceived by Travis Greisler
Musical direction by Kevin David Thomas
Produced by Kristy Cates and PCMT at NYFA
Production Coordinator: Mateo Salcedo Cancino
Stage Managers: Cayli Dobbs and Kristina Vnook
Assistant Stage Manager: Lauren McCoig
Sound Design: Ian Wehrle
Film Direction: Jonathan Whittaker
Cinematography: Piero Basso
Drummer: Alex Wyatt
About New York Film Academy
New York Film Academy (“NYFA”) is a leading film, media and performing arts college that offers hands-on intensive undergraduate and graduate degree programs, certificates, and workshops across a multitude of areas of study in New York City, Los Angeles, South Beach/Miami, Gold Coast (Australia), Florence (Italy), Beijing and Shanghai (China), and more. Its programs are accelerated and NYFA students can complete a four-year BFA degree in three years. NYFA’s online program offerings allow students the opportunity to advance their creative and technical skills in NYFA’s “Hands-Online Workshops,” available across NYFA’s visual, media, and performing arts disciplines.
NYFA is regionally accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), and is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). These accreditations extend to all NYFA campuses in the United States and overseas.
For more information, please visit nyfa.edu.
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