Playwright Receives Grant To Compose A Musical From Their Own Book!

The playwright collected more than 250 stories from their own books and will now compose the musical thanks to a grant from their state's legislature. The grant program is dedicated to state-themed projects this year and in that respect the musical "is going to be about and by the people of the region".

Over 50 applications were considered for the grant and 15 proposals were awarded $5,000 each.

Portions of the playwright's grant application have been edited out of this blog post!

The playwright will write the lyrics and dialogue herself. Auditions for actors, singers, dancers and musicians will be announced in early summer. After the initial performances, the playwright will make the musical available for community revivals and school theater programs. The first production will be recorded onto DVDs and made available through the area’ libraries, schools, senior centers and historical museums.

The books that the musical is based on were put together through
the sponsorship of library groups. Another library group is a co-sponsor of the musical production, which was required as part of the grant. The grant also required projects find in-kind or monetary matching funds. The musical received it's in-kind donations from an organization in the use of its facility for preparation and rehearsal space. Matches also came from library groups, a theater and a private donor.