Prospect Theater Company Presents the New York Premiere of JASPER IN DEADLAND March 16 – April 13, 2014 at the West End Theatre
Prospect Theater Company will present the New York premiere ofJASPER IN DEADLAND, a new musical with music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver and a book by Hunter Foster and Ryan Scott Oliver. Performances beginMarch 16 at the West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew.
The announcement was made today by Cara Reichel and Melissa Huber, the Producing Artistic Director and Managing Director of Prospect Theater Company.
In this original musical, 16-year-old Jasper journeys through the Afterlife on a mission to save his best friend, Agnes. On his thrill-ride through a hybrid underworld, Jasper encounters demons, gods, mortals and monsters from Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Norse mythology, learning what it means to die and questioning what it means to live.
Ryan Scott Oliver is the recipient of both the Jonathan Larson Award as well as a Richard Rodgers Award for musical theater. Hunter Foster has previously written the books to four musicals including the Outer Critics Circle-nominated Summer of ’42 and the upcoming Circus in Winter, in addition to his career as a Tony Award-nominated actor.
JASPER IN DEADLAND will be directed by Brandon Ivie, the assistant director of Broadway’s Next to Normal, Catch Me If You Can and A Christmas Story. Ivie received a Drama League Directing Fellowship and is the Gregory Award-winning artistic director of the Seattle non-profit theater Contemporary Classics.
The production will be choreographed by Lorin Latarro, who recently choreographed Broadway’s Waiting For Godot with Sir Patrick Stuart and Sir Ian McKellen and Scandalous. Latarro was also the associate choreographer of Green Day’s American Idiot on Broadway.
JASPER IN DEADLAND was originally commissioned in 2011 by the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program. It has received subsequent developmental readings through Pace University and the York Theatre Company’s NEO Reading Series, as well as a recent one-night concert presentation at 54 Below as part of RSO Fest, presented by Very Intense Productions and Your Theatrics, starring Jay Armstrong Johnson as Jasper.
Performances will begin March 16, 2014 and continue through April 13 at the West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 West 86th Street, NYC.
Tickets for JASPER IN DEADLAND will go on sale January 1. For tickets and more information, visit www.ProspectTheater.org or call 212-352-3101.
Prospect Theater Company
Prospect Theater Company is one of America’s leading producers of new musical theater, and has been honored to receive a 2013 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing. Since 2000, the company has fully produced more than 20 premiere musicals in New York City, in addition to new plays and numerous re-inventions of classic works. Year-round, Prospect supports developmental opportunities for emerging musical theater writers, especially through our annual musical theater lab.
Prospect was founded in 1998 by five graduates of Princeton University in order to allow a diverse group of emerging theater professionals to work together in pursuit of artistic excellence and innovation. The company membership now includes a network of almost 1,000 affiliated artists. Notable productions include: the Drama Desk Award-winning Working (2012), Unlock’d (2013), Iron Curtain (2006, 2011),Myths and Hymns (2012), Cole Porter’s NYMPH ERRANT (2012), With Glee(2010), The Blue Flower (2008), Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge (2009), The Hidden Sky (2010), Illyria (2002, 2008), and the Drama-Desk nominated The Pursuit of Persephone (2005).
Ryan Scott Oliver
Ryan Scott Oliver was most recently featured as the cover story for Backstagemagazine in November 2013. He is a 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient, a 2008 Rodgers Award Winner, a 2011 Lortel Award Nominee, 2012 Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, 2009 ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award Winner, 2007 Dramatists Guild Fellow, and most recently, the recipient of residencies at 5th Avenue Theatre (WA), TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (CA), Weston Playhouse (VT), and Cap 21 (NY) for We Foxes, a commission by Broadway Across America. Music and lyrics for 35mm: A Musical Exhibition (original cast recording avail. on Ghostlight Records), Darling (ACT, featured on NBC’s The Apprentice), Mrs. Sharp (Playwrights Horizons July 2009 starring Jane Krakowski, dir. by Michael Greif), Out of My Head (licensed through Steele Spring), as well as the commissions Jasper in Deadland (book with Hunter Foster) and the youth theatre commission The Frog Prince Continued which ran for six months in Chicago. M.F.A. Musical Theatre Writing NYU; B.A. Music Composition, UCLA. www.ryanscottoliver.com @ryanscottoliver
Hunter Foster
Hunter Foster has written the books to the musicals Summer of ’42 (Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Off-Broadway musical); Clyde and Bonnie: A Folktale, which premiered at the Aurora Theatre in Atlanta, GA; The Hollow which premiered at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA; and the upcoming Circus in Winter which will premiere at the Goodspeed Opera House. At the Bucks County Playhouse, he recently directed both Summer of ’42 and The Rocky Horror Show. As an actor, he has performed on Broadway in The Bridges of Madison County(upcoming), Hands on a Hardbody, Million Dollar Quartet, The Producers, Little Shop of Horrors, Urinetown, Footloose, Les Miserables, King David and Grease. BFA from the University of Michigan.
Brandon Ivie
Brandon Ivie most recently assistant directed the Broadway production of First Dateand directed the musical web series “The Hinterlands.” His other Broadway assisting credits include A Christmas Story, Next to Normal and Catch Me If You Can. New York directing credits include The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, HERE Arts Center, New York Musical Theatre Festival, 54 Below and more. Regional credits include The 5th Avenue Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Signature Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Village Theatre and more. He received a Drama League Directing Fellowship and is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. In his native Seattle, he is the Gregory Award-winning artistic director of Contemporary Classics, directing/producing Seattle premieres of Next to Normal, The Last Five Years, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, A New Brain, john & jen, Zanna, Don’t!and the new musical The Yellow Wood, and is founder of the popular New Voices series.
Lorin Latarro
Lorin Latarro choreographed Broadway’s Waiting For Godot with Sir Patrick Stuart and Sir Ian McKellen, Encore’s Fanny (City Center), Queen Of The Night (Diamond Horseshoe Theatre), Broadway’s Scandalous and American Idiot (Associate), The Met Opera’s Rigoletto (Associate), Cy Coleman’s The Best Is Yet To Come (Drama Desk Award), Sendak’s Hansel and Gretel for PBS Live From Lincoln Center,Hands On A Hardbody (Associate), The City Club (Minetta Lane), Rocky Horror, Grand Night For Singing, Summer of ’42, Wonderful Life (Bucks County Playhouse), Lysistrata (Avery Fisher), The Magic Flute and Love For Three Oranges (Juilliard Opera Company), How To Succeed…(White Plains Performing Arts), Broadway By The Year (Town Hall), Westport Gala for Bernadette Peters,Sky Boys (Henry Street Playhouse), Jersey Shore and Heroes (Broadway Bares), pieces for Momix. ‘Rewrite’ music video for Sia. Green Day’s Grammy performance, NBC’s Grease reality TV show (Associate), dance commercials for Savion Glover and Coco Rocha. As a performer: 14 Broadway shows, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham Co and Momix. Dancebreak recipient. Founder artammo.org. BFA: The Juilliard School. Latarro.com