SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 | 7PM ET
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 W 37th St #501,
New York, NY 10018
CHOREOGRAPHY LAB
ABOUT THE LAB
Funded by a generous gift from the Amber Foundation, the Choreography Lab was created to elevate and expand the use of dance in musical theatre. It is also the only curated choreography platform where choreographers and writers collaborate to develop movement for new musicals during incubation. The lab’s unique programming supports choreographer development, fosters collaboration between writers and choreographers earlier in the creative process, and serves as an educational forum where all parties can strengthen and specify how dance can be used to convey story and character.
Now in its 9th season and curated by Avital Asuleen, New York Theatre Barn’s Choreography Lab is the only platform for choreographers and writers to collaborate on movement for new musicals during incubation. Funded in part by a generous gift from the Amber Foundation, the Choreography Lab was created to elevate and expand the use of dance in musical theatre.
conceived + curated by
Avital Asuleen
Associate Producer:
Tori Crow
FEATURED MUSICAL
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
Book and Music by Bryan Blaskie
Book and Lyrics by Laurie Hochman
In the summer of 1925, the struggling town of Dayton, Tennessee hosted a trial that claimed national headlines and divided the country — the Scopes Monkey Trial, the first major anti-Evolution court case. Nothing to See Here is the story of Frank Robinson, the man who built the trial as a publicity stunt to save his town, and May Robinson, his wife who longs to save her family and her father’s church from falling apart in a seemingly Godless world. Of course, notorious reporter H.L. Mencken is there to spin their story — and to uncover what the truth behind the trial really is.
FEATURED MODERATOR
Luis Villabon is a director, choreographer and performer working in New York, regionally, internationally, and in film. NY stage: Peter Pan (with Cathy Rigby), Reefer Madness (assistant choreographer to Paula Abdul, with Kristen Bell and Christian Campbell), Naked Boys Singing!, and FIPAP (Fire Island Pines) productions of The Rocky Horror Show, The Pajama Game, Hello, Dolly!, and La Cage Aux Folles. Film: The Girl Who Left Home (with Paolo Montalban, written by Mallorie Ortega). Podcast: The Cardinal (The World to Come). Luis was mentored by Tony Award-winner and A Chorus Line original Broadway cast member Baayork Lee, and was the Associate Director of the 2019 Spanish production of A Chorus Line - starring Antonio Banderas. Luis has re-staged A Chorus Line around the world, and as an actor has totaled over 1,750 performances. He can be seen this Fall in On Your Feet at Paper Mill Playhouse.
Luis Villabon
Guest Moderator
FEATURED COLLABORATORS
Bryan Blaskie
Book and Music
"NOTHING TO SEE HERE"
Bryan Blaskie (he/him) is a composer, music director, and theatre educator from Columbus, Ohio. His music has been performed from LA to New York in collaboration with organizations such as Lincoln Center, American Opera Projects, and the Brooklyn Museum. His musical Assistants (with APEX Legends’ Manny Hagopian) ran Off Broadway in 2019. Other musicals and operas include Nothing to See Here (Rubber City Theatre, New York Theatre Barn), Ghost Girls (Hussian College in Studio), Victorian Courting & Zombies (New York Film Academy), Outside (Stonewall Inn). Winner of the ASCAP Max Dreyfus Scholarship, Arthur Judson Prize in music, and multiple music direction awards.
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Laurie Hochman
Book and Music
"NOTHING TO SEE HERE"
Laurie Hochman has been a member of BMI since 2001, with music and lyrics featured on stage, screen, and CD. Emerson College ’14 (BA in Writing for Film & TV) and NYU ’18 (Graduate Musical Theatre Writing). Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop (2014 & 2015 Finalist). With Bryan Blaskie – Ghost Girls: An Undark Musical (The Duplex’s In The Works series, first full reading in May 2022 produced by Brian Haas); Nothing to See Here (world premier at Rubber City Theatre (Akron, OH) in 2021, New York Theatre Barn’s New Work series); two-time semi-finalists for The O’Neill Center’s National Musical Theatre Conference.
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Danielle Diniz
Choreographer
Danielle Diniz is thrilled to participate in the Choreography Lab! She has been commissioned by Jacob's Pillow, Performance Santa Fe, Avant Chamber Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Ballet Hartford, Woman in Motion and Central Utah Ballet. She was a choreographer for DanceBreak and has upcoming commissions from Ballet Excel Ohio, JCAL Making Moves Dance Festival and will present work at the McCallum/Palm Desert Choreography Festival. She is a winner of the New York Dance Project Choreography Competition, a junior board member of Jazz Choreography Enterprises and has choreographed the Off-Broadway productions of “An Unbalanced Mind” and “On the Air,” served as Associate Choreographer for Lorin Latarro and currently choreographs/assistant directs at AMDA.
Rachel Bertone
Choreographer
Rachel Bertone is an award-winning director/choreographer with nearly 20 years of experience as a theater and dance professional. She was recently appointed Artistic Director of Reagle Music Theatre and is the first female-identifying AD in its history. She has staged over 50 musicals, including Cabaret (IRNE Awards: Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Musical), Carousel (IRNE: Best Choreography), In the Heights (IRNE: Best Musical), The Wild Party (IRNE: Best Musical), West Side Story, Gypsy, Billy Elliot, and HAIR. Bertone has taught at esteemed institutions including Boston Conservatory at Berklee, American Repertory Theater Institute at Harvard University, Emerson College, and Long Island University.
Melodye Redding
Choreographer
From a young age Melodye has been involved in the performing, choreographing and teaching of dance. Most recently she has enjoyed training and teaching multiple genres including Musical Theater, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Ballet and more in NYC under and beside the world-renowned esteemed faculty of Broadway Dance Center. She is a believer that art is powerful, it can evoke empathy, spark change, introduce ideas, alter moods, revitalize spirits, and therefore change the world. Her choreography is a reflection of her passion to help everyone both audience and dancer find connection, freedom, joy and community!