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The Penn State New Musical Theatre Festival will explore, encourage, and foster new works of musical theatre by today’s progressive playwrights and composers in an educational setting; giving the students of Penn State University access to the collaborative process between the artist, the art form, and the professional world of musical theatre.
The Penn State New Musical Theatre Festival is an annual new works festival that allows up-and-coming composers, lyricists, and book writers to workshop their originial musical theatre pieces at the Penn State University Park Campus. Four musical theatre pieces are chosen each year to be workshopped and performed (typically as a staged reading). There is one festival in the fall and one in the spring with two works in each festival. The casting pool includes students of the School of Music and the Musical Theatre BFA students. The creative team works with undergraduate students, faculty or MFA directors, and faculty musical directors to get their piece on its feet. At the end of the spring semester festival one of the four works are chosen to be performed at the York Theater off-Broadway in New York City. They will accompany one play chosen from the Cultural Conversations festival also held at Penn State. Performances at PSU take place in the Pavilion Theatre, an intimate thrust performance space, the Citizen's Bank Theatre, a state-of-the-art proscenium theatre in downtown State College, or in the Playhouse, a large proscenium theatre on campus. Please see the submissions page for information on how to submit an original work to the festival. Admission to the performances of the new works are free and open to the public. Tickets are general admission for the date of the performance and can be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis. Please direct any questions or comments to the Artistic Director, Raymond Sage, whose contanct information can be found here. |
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Raymond Sage (Artistic Director) - Raymond earned his bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance from Baylor University, a master's degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, and pursued doctoral and post-graduate work at CCM as well. Before joining the musical theatre voice faculty at Penn State, Sage was on the voice and musical theatre faculties of Trinity College in Hartford, CT, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts prestigious musical theatre conservatory, CAP 21. Raymond is currently Assistant Professor of Voice for Musical Theatre at Penn State University and the Artistic Director of the Penn State New Musical Theatre Festival. His students have been seen in many Broadway productions, including Follies, Titanic, Beauty and the Beast, Steel Pier, High Society, Cats, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and many more. As a performer, Raymond has appeared in the Broadway and National tours of Camelot, Beauty and the Beast, and Titanic, and in regional theatres across the country, including The Papermill Playhouse, Sacramento Theatre Company, and Dallas Summer Musicals. Raymond has also appeared on television on "Late Night With David Letterman", "The Howie Mandel Show", and "The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" televised event. Sage is also a founding member of "Monday Off", a quartet specializing in vocal jazz with a Broadway flair. "Monday Off" often appears at Carnegie Hall with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops and many other concert halls and jazz clubs across the country. |
Matthew Kaylor Toronto (Associate Artistic Director) - Matt is an assistant professor at Penn State University teaching acting, directing, and musical theatre performance. He earned an MFA in Directing from Penn State University and a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from The University of Michigan. Matt has directed at Ensemble Studeio Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, American Theatre of Actors, The Gallery Players, The Rosetta Festival, and The Theatre at Monmouth. He also directed and choreographed a National Youth Jubilee performnace presented at Radio City Music Hall. Matt began his professional career as an actor, performing in national tours, Off-Broadway, and in regional theatres across the country. This included five seasons in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular dancing alongside The Rockettes. He has worked as assistant director and dramaturg for Richard Maltby Jr. and was the associate director/choreographer for Spirit: The Seventh Fire, a multi-media touring production that played in conjunction with the opening of the Native American wing of the Smithsonian. Also a playwright, his play Propaganda has received staged readings at Ensemble Studio Theatre and at Penn State. His play Mysterious Ways received readings at Manhattan Theatre Source and The Chashama Theatre. He also wrote and performed Before Your Eyes, a one-person play produced at the TSI Playtime Series in New York City. He is a member of AEA, SAG, and AGVA. |