Join us this summer and
MEET THE WRITERS
Curious to learn how new musicals are created?! Our Meet the Writers Events are an opportunity to meet some of the writers in residence with us this summer, learn about their musicals, and get a sneak peek of the music they're writing. It is a rare, inside look at the new musical development process, and a chance to spend time with some extraordinary artists.
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These events are FREE and OPEN TO ALL. Food & drink will be served.
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Featured writers include Grammy nominee Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. (The Rumble), Broadway performers joseph webb and Adesola Osakalumi (Lovers' Rock), Princess Grace Award winner Samora La Perdida (Spanglish Sh!t), and Richard Rodgers Award Winner Derek Gregor (Modern).​​
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Musicals first seen at our Meet the Writers Events have gone on to productions at La Jolla Playhouse (CA), Barrington Stage (MA), Philadelphia Theatre Company (PA), The Public Theater (NY), and on Broadway and the West End - including the Tony and Olivier Award winning Operation Mincemeat!
If you have any questions, contact us at RSVP@rhinebeckwriters.org.
Saturday, June 27, 5:00-6:30pm
2950 W Church Street, Pine Plains, NY 12567
Meet joseph webb, Cris Eli Blak,
Igmar Thomas & Adesola Osakalumi,
writers of the new musical Lovers' Rock​
SYNOPSIS
LOVERS' ROCK is a musical set in South London, 1977, at a blues party pulsing with lovers rock reggae, where Chandice reunites with her high school sweetheart, Oshian. Caught between her strict immigrant upbringing and the pull of love, music, and self-discovery, she must confront old wounds and buried desires. Through Black vernacular dance (tap and social dance), surrounded by dancehall queens and rebel youth, the night becomes a battleground between duty and freedom. Within underground spaces that nurtured Black British culture, it celebrates Black love as both refuge and revolution. ​​
​joseph webb is a YoungArts Fellow and Broadway performer who appeared in the Tony Award-winning Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk.
Cris Eli Blak was a writer for "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" and winner of the Black Broadway Men Playwriting Initiative.
Igmar Thomas is a composer and musical director who has worked with legends such as Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, Nas, Lauryn Hill, and The Fugees.
Adesola Osakalumi is an award-winning actor and choreographer known for starring in the original Broadway production of Fela!
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Saturday, Jul 11, 5:00-6:30pm
1215 Centre Road, Rhinebeck, NY 12572
Meet Selda Sahin & Derek Gregor,
writers of the new musical Modern
​SYNOPSIS
MODERN follows a group of Amish teenagers on their Rumspringa (a period when Amish teens are given greater personal freedom, ending with the choice of baptism into the church or leaving their community). The group spends their Rumspringa living in a house in the “modern” world. Isaac, who is devoted to his Amish faith and his family, falls in love with Hannah (also Amish) who is questioning her faith. Isaac’s best friend falls into music and a new non-Amish group of friends. Everyone out on Rumspringa, in their own ways, question whether to stay out in a modern world full of endless possibilities, or return home to family, tradition, faith and the only life they’ve ever known.​​​
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Selda Sahin is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award and a finalist for the Kleban Prize, Fred Ebb Award, and Richard Rodgers Award.
Derek Gregor is a recipient of the Richard Rodgers Award and ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Award.
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CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WRITERS
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Friday, July 24, 6:00-7:30pm
6422 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572
Meet Samora la Perdida, Josiah Handelman, Mobéy Lola Irizarry & Matthew Zwiebel
writers of Spanglish Sh!t
SPANGLISH SH!T SYNOPSIS
Brujita, the new Puerto Rican student at Suburban High, cooks enchanting meals with her magical Spanish. In the cafeteria, classmates make fun of her “smelly” packed lunches while gobbling down hot lunch hamburgers. When the burger flipping Lunch Lady offers Brujita a recipe for instant assimilation, Brujita must decide if brewing up popularity is worth losing what boils over.​
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Samora la Perdida is a Princess Grace Award winner and YoungArts Fellow whose musical Spanglish Sh!t has been developed by Berkeley Rep and En Garde Arts.
Josiah Handelman is a composer and producer whose work spans musical theater, hip-hop, R&B, and gospel.
Mobéy Lola Irizarry is a Two Spirit cultural worker, Letras Boricuas ’26 Fellow, and creative director of the queer salsa collective Las Mariquitas.
Matthew Zwiebel is a BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop graduate whose credits include Avenue Q on the West End and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
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Saturday, Aug 8, 5:00-6:30pm
Great Song Farm
475 Milan Hill Road, Red Hook, NY 12571
Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. & Kevin Merritt,
writers of The Rumble
SYNOPSIS
THE RUMBLE unfolds in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina, where a fractured city mirrors a fractured lineage. Young Joseph turns from the crown, mistaking inheritance for imprisonment. But in the storm’s aftermath, the past refuses to stay buried. Through ritual, music, and the steady power of a Queen, he discovers that legacy is not a chain. It is a calling. And to carry it forward is not to surrender freedom, but to define it.​
Three-time Grammy nominee Joseph Boudreaux Jr. is the lead vocalist of The Rumble and Big Chief of New Orleans' Young Eagles Mardi Gras Indian Tribe.
Kevin Merritt is a writer and producer whose credits include writing collaborations with The Roots and Q Brothers Collective, and producing events such as the Tony Awards.
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