Street Lights Podcasts!

Joe & I recently sat down for interviews on two theater podcast to discuss our upcoming production of Street Lights at NYMF.

• An Interview with NYTheatre.Com's Martin Denton. (MP3)
  
  
• An Interview with Michael Gilboe's Broadway Bullet, we start 40 minutes in.
  

Photo by Cassie Corrigan.

Street Lights @ NYMF Press Conference

On Tuesday NYMF had its annual press conference at New World Stages and Street Lights was there. Kevin Curtis performed the song Georgetown and got some buzz going.

Time Out NY critic Adam Feldman raved: "Thumbs Up - 'Georgetown' from Street Lights: A solid song about an aspiring young lawyer-to-be from the projects, with several smart, surprising rhymes ("impartial/Thurgood Marshall”) and a knockout delivery by star-to-be Kevin Curtis."

WNET's Theater Talk Tweeted that Kevin's performance was the highlight of the preview and to watch out for his name.

We don't have any video from the actual press conference yet, although NY1 & Broadway.TV both filmed it. But, you can see Kevin perform Georgetown at an earlier concert version of Street Lights.

Get your tickets for the NYC production here.

Photo by Michael Portantiere for Broadway Stars.

The Street Lights Set

We're performing Street Lights at the American Theatre of Actors (ATA) on 54th Street, a unique space where Urinetown and Bare premiered Off-Broadway. The stage has a U-shaped catwalk surrounding it, that's totally perfect for our urban setting.

Hilary Noxon's design smartly incorporates all the elements in the space. I love the focus on the windows. Above is the concept sketch from earlier in the process and below is the brand new 1/2" model. Our lighting designer, Brian Tovar, is putting these little lights in a handful of windows so they'll really pop. It should look awesome.

Tickets are on-sale and selling well, and you can get yours at our official website.

Please Support My New Show, Street Lights

I've been hard at work developing Street Lights, a new musical that I'm directing & co-producing at the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. It's a pretty big deal and I'm really excited about it. But, I won't be able to do it without your help.

Street Lights centers on a group of young people who come together to make their community better. It's themes were inspired by Barack Obama's historic Presidential Campaign. (Seriously, read about it on The Huffington Post.) In that spirit, we'd like to raise our production budget like Obama, small donations from many people.

This is a fully not-for-profit production, and we cannot bring it to life without the support of our friends & family. You can be a part of Street Light's history by making a tax deductible contribution today. No amount is too small (or too big!), $10 or $20 brings us that much closer to raising the curtain.

To donate with credit card (truly tax deducible), visit:

https://www.nymf.org/donatetostreetlights

Wanna send a check? E-mail me.

Tickets are now on-sale and we open on October 13th in New York. For more information, visit the Street Lights website.

In these difficult times, we need art that inspires and brings hope. A contribution from you can go a long way to making that happen. Thank you so much for all your support.

Photo by Cassie Corrigan, from Street Lights For Obama benefit at The Zipper Theater.

Street Lights - Casting At NYMF

We're casting Street Lights at the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival! All of the details below, hope to see some of you at the auditions.

STREET LIGHTS: A NEW HIP-HOP MUSICAL Auditions
New York Musical Theatre Festival 2009, AEA/non-AEA
NEW YORK, NY

Director: Ryan J. Davis
Music & Lyrics: Joe Drymala
Book: Joe Drymala & Akin Salawu
Musical Director: Sonny Paladino
Choreographer: Todd Underwood

Casting: Daryl Eisenberg, CSA
Auditions (by appt): Aug 18-19
Rehearses: Sept 13-Oct 13

Performs: 10/13 @ 8pm, 10/14 @ 8pm,
10/16 @ 7pm, 10/17 at 1&5pm,
10/18 @ 1pm

EPA: Tuesday Aug 18 - Sign In at 9 am - Ripley Grier – 520 8th Ave – Studio 10A. Please prepare 32 bars of R&B or Gospel music. Bring sheet music. An accompanist will be provided.

EMAIL: streetlights@decasting.com
(Subject: STREET LIGHTS Casting)

MAIL PIC/RES TO:
DARYL EISENBERG CASTING
180 WEST END AVE, SUITE 17G
NEW YORK, NY 10023
ATTN: STREET LIGHTS CASTING

SYNOPSIS: Monique is going to be the next Alicia Keys. Her brother is on track to be
bigger than Thurgood Marshall. But none of this matters when their world is filled with
violence, apathy, and broken promises. Can they keep faith when there’s no reason for
hope? From writer/composer Joe Drymala and director Ryan J. Davis, the creators of the
Broadway-bound 2006 NYMF hit White Noise, comes Street Lights, mixing pop, R&B
and hip-hop to crank up the volume on the voice of a new generation saying yes, we can.

SEEKING:

[ MONIQUE WILLIS ] 17 y.o. female, African American, high school senior, singer
and piano player.

[ ROCKY WILLIS ] 18 y.o. male, high school senior, African American. Monique’s
bookish brother. Tenor. CAST.

[ DAMON CRUZ ] Early 20s male, Puerto Rican. Handsome & Confident. A little bit
dangerous. Tenor/Reggaeton singer.

[ TANK ] Late 20s-early 30s male. Long time dealer, DAMON’s right hand man.
Intimidating African-American or Latino.

[ X.RAY (RAYMOND) HOBBES ] 18 y.o. male, high school senior African American.
Raps, sings backup. Charismatic. A dynamic and political DJ and performance artist.
Rocky’s best friend. Must be comfortable with rap/spoken word performance.

[ REGINA CRUZ ] 15 y.o. female, high school freshman, Puerto Rican. Raps, sings
alto. Damon’s younger sister.

[ MRS. WILLIS ] Late 50s female, African American. Alto. Old school soul singer
sound. Grandmother to Monique and Rocky, and a pillar of the community.

[ CAROL ARMSTRONG ] Elderly woman, African American. MONIQUE’s long-
time piano teacher.

[ENSEMBLE] 20s-40s African American or Latino male and female. Must have a
background in hip hop, pop, and contemporary dance styles. Strong singers. PLEASE
SUBMIT NON-EQUITY.

For more information, visit
www.streetlightsmusical.com