joe barros
jen sandler
PRE-PREMIERES OF
NEW MUSICALS
DURING INCUBATION
produced + hosted by
wednesday - 4.28.21
FREE LIVE STREAM
@ 7PM ET
NEW
WORKS
SERIES
book + lyrics by
ADESHA ADEFELA
book + lyrics by
BEAU LEWIS
book + lyrics by
RYAN NICOLE AUSTIN
music by
JODIE ELLIS
JOSH "BUDO" KARPM
CAVA MENZIES
BRIAN WATTERS
A NEW MUSICAL CELEBRATING
THE GRIT OF BAY AREA ARTISTS
AND ENTREPRENEURS
AND THE EVOLUTION OF SILICON VALLEY
Co-Founders is the new musical with book and lyrics by Adesha Adefela, Beau Lewis and Ryan Nicole Austin, and music by Jodie Ellis, Josh "Budo" Karpm, Cava Menzies and Brian Watters. The live presentation will feature excerpts from the show and a conversation with the writers.
Co-Founders is the story of the two most unlikely partners in the history of Silicon Valley. Esata Thompson, a black female coder from Oakland, and Conway Delouche, a small town college dropout, take on the most competitive startup accelerator in the world - where the privileged make a killing while the people across the bridge grind to survive.
​
Co-Founders began as a weekly freestyle rap session in Oakland and San Francisco among friends who saw meaning in getting vulnerable and celebrating the grit of Bay Area artists and entrepreneurs. The show has been developed with San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater and was featured in the 2020 National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s (NAMT) Festival of New Musicals.
* FEATURING PERFORMANCES by *
JEB
BROWN
(BEAUTIFUL)
GERARD
CANONICO
(BE MORE CHILL)
AMBER
IMAN
(HAMILTON)
AUSTIN
DEAN
ASHFORD
RYAN
NICOLE
AUSTIN
book + Direction by
HUNTER BIRD
music + lyrics by
OLIVER HOUSER
AN ORIGINAL COMING-OF-AGE STORY
SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF
THE GREATEST DRUG CRISIS
IN OUR COUNTRY'S HISTORY
She Reached For Heaven is the new musical from Oliver Houser (music and lyrics) and Hunter Bird (book and direction). The live presentation will feature excerpts from the show and a conversation with the writers.
On the outside, high school senior Jes Holt is doing everything she’s supposed to. On the inside, she’s never felt more alone and longs for something she can’t name. Set against the backdrop of the greatest drug crisis in our country’s history, She Reached for Heaven is an original coming-of-age story about the devastations of addiction, and one woman’s journey to choose life rather than escape it.
​
She Reached For Heaven, previously titled Almost Heaven, has been developed with the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center.
* FEATURING PERFORMANCES by *
CO-WRITER
OLIVER
HOUSER
JULIA
HARRIMAN
(HAMILTON)
COMMUNITY
INNOVATION
EXPLORATION
EVOLUTION
ARTS WORKERS
COLLABORATION