PRESS RELEASE for SEWING THE DREAM
Artistic Director of Prism Stage Company Judith Estrine’s New Musical SEWING THE DREAM in New Works Festival
Performances Take Place April 26-May 8 on Theatre Row
New York, NY – SEWING THE DREAM, a new musical with books and lyrics by Judith Estrine, Artistic Director of Prism Stage Company, comes to the stage for six performances on Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC, starting April 26, 2022. The original music was written by David Kurkowski (FINDING MADAME CURIE) with direction by Zillah Glory Langsjoen, music direction by Ben Kiley, and choreography by Tatyana Kot.
With songs in the tradition of the Great American Songbook, Sewing The Dream brings to life a dramatic turning point in American history. In the show, Annie Moran, a newly-arrived Irish immigrant in 1800’s NYC, meets scandal-ridden inventor Isaac Merritt Singer, inventor of the sewing machine. Overcoming all odds and challenging accepted conventions of women’s place in society, Annie Moran and Isaac Singer forever change the world for women.
“I don’t think most people are aware of how much the sewing machine changed the lives of women in the middle of the nineteenth century,” says the Founder of the New Works Festival, Cate Cammarata, who also provided dramaturgical support. “Before its invention poor women who weren’t married either worked as domestic servants or performed low paid work at home. If their husband died, often women and their children were thrown into the poorhouse – or they became prostitutes. The sewing machine allowed women to triple their output and make much more money - thus keeping their homes and families intact. It was a miraculous invention at the time. This musical allows us to become part of the excitement in NYC at that time, a place where an immigrant’s dreams really could come true.”
Judith Estrine (book/lyrics) is an author and playwright. Pinochle and Roses, a semi-finalist in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference was produced at The Vital Theatre in NYC. She & He toured nationally and was filmed with Anita Gillette in a starring role. Judith is Founding Director of Prism Stage Company in NYC.
David Kurkowski (music) is an accomplished composer and songwriter. In addition to SEWING THE DREAM, he wrote the book, music and lyrics to FINDING MADAME CURIE, also playing in the New Works Festival. His musical style is informed by the Great American Songbook as well as classical music. David was trained on oboe, and has played in several community orchestras in the Philadelphia area.
Zillah Glory Langsjoen (direction) is a NYC-based AEA and SAG-AFTRA actress and director. As Associate Artistic Director for Prism Stage Company and Managing Director & Practice Coach for Tim Phillips Studio, she is especially interested in new play development and making space for unheard voices at all points of entry, with a focus on artists over 40.
Ben Kiley (music direction) is an international music director and educator based in Manhattan. Pre-pandemic, he worked as assistant conductor keyboardist for the critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish) performed at Stage 42. He obtained his BMus from The University of Melbourne in Australia, and has performed throughout Australia and Asia on productions such as A Chorus Line and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Ben has also served as lecturer and acting-program leader of the BA (Hons) Musical Theatre degree at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore, and is currently on staff at Pace University coaching music theater.
Tatyana Kot (choreography) was born in the Soviet Union, trained and performed with a ballet company, earned an MA in History & Archaeology. and has worked with people with disabilities for 15 years in Kentucky and NYC. She is a breast cancer survivor and advocate. RECOGNITION: Best Actress winner at Planet Connections Theater Festivity, Midtown International Theater Festival and First Prize at Secondo Theater Festival (Zurich, Switzerland). She has been a company member of Blessed Unrest: Touch (2021), The Snow Queen (2017), Doruntine (Zurich-2016, NYC -2015), Bodies: Anatomies of Being (2015&2016), Christmas Carol (2013), Euridyce's Dream (2013). She was also a company member of Nylon Fusion Theater Company: Candlelight (2021), Tales with Teeth( 2019), The Chaplin Plays (2016-2019), Snowfall in Berlin (2014), Marina/Mata Hari (2013), and the dance company NISHIKAWA Collective 2011-2021. A virtual reality (VR) immersive documentary about her life with cancer NORMAL DAY was internationally released in 2018.
SEWING THE DREAM cast includes Pilar Adara*, Catherine Ariele, TJ Bolden*, Joseph Bowen*, Aubrey Matalon*, Nate Myers, Kevin O’Neill, and Stephanie Weyman.
SEWING THE DREAM creative team also includes scenic design by Richard Ouellette, lighting design by Zach Pizza, projections design by Peter Liebold VI and Paul Deziel, costume design by Debbi A. Hobson, and sound design by Ben Kiley & Chelsey Scott. The entire show runs thanks to the stage management of Chelsey Scott, with a special thanks to creative consultant Erick González.
This developmental production performs as part of the New Works Festival, opening April 26 at 7pm and running April 29 at 8pm, April 30 and May 1 at 3pm, May 4 at 8pm, and May 8 at 7pm.
Tickets can be purchased online at newworksfest.org or at the Theatre Row website (https://bfany.org/theatre-row/) or (https://bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/new-works-festival-presented-by-createtheater/ ) or by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200. Tickets are also available at the Theatre Row box office, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC. For more information visit https://www.prismstagecompany.com/sewing-the-dream.
All tickets $49. The show runs approximately 110 minutes with one 10 minute intermission.
ABOUT CREATETHEATER
CreateTheater has been helping writers develop and produce their work since the company was launched in 2016 by Cate Cammarata, an Off-Broadway producer, director and dramaturg. During the shutdown of 2020-2022 CreateTheater developed and/or produced more than 70 shows with online readings, workshops and dramaturgical guidance. For this work Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) has honored her with the TRU Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2022.
ABOUT PRISM STAGE COMPANY
Prism Stage Company was created to promote the work of theater artists over forty. Developing both new and classic works, PSC's abiding principle is that talent has no expiration date. https://www.prismstagecompany.com/
ABOUT THE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL
In 2020 CreateTheater created a resident company, The Expert’s Theater Company, to work with a smaller group of writers to develop their scripts and then to guide them through to production.
The New Works Festival is a collaborative series produced by CreateTheater, in association with Prism Stage Company, with CreateTheater ETC members whose shows are ready for their first developmental production in NYC.
Main Producing Body: www.CreateTheater.com , Event: www.NewWorksFest.org, Co-Producer: PrismStageCompany.com