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ShowbizU: Writer of Oceanborn, Morgan Smith

Name: ShowbizU: Writer of Oceanborn, Morgan Smith
Uploaded: 2019-08-13T22:39:27+00:00
Duration: 1 min 33 s
Channel: Tim Kashani
Description: In this ShowbizU segment, Morgan Smith—scriptwriter, producer, production manager, and general manager of the musical Oceanborn—discusses the company’s…

13 Aug 2019 · 2 min

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1:33

In this ShowbizU segment, Morgan Smith—scriptwriter, producer, production manager, and general manager of the musical Oceanborn—discusses the company’s first dress rehearsal held in a black‑box theater. She reflects on her lifelong love of Broadway and the lack of female representation she observed growing up, which motivated her to create a story centered on powerful, multifaceted girls. Smith explains the deliberate decision to assemble an all‑female creative and production team, largely composed of college and high‑school students breaking into the industry. She recounts the journey from early performances at 54 Below, where she, Mari, and Hannah first sang Erin Finn’s story, to now overseeing the rehearsal, describing the experience as both exciting and nerve‑wracking yet ultimately magical.

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What do you get when you have a Broadway professional and a camera crew? Long story short, you get a lot of cool info when you get Showbiz U luminaries.
I am Morgan Smith, and I am the scriptwriter slash producer slash production manager slash general manager of Oceanborn. Today is our first dress rehearsal. We are in a black box theater, and we have been able to run the first act of the show so far, and we are about to go into the second act. It's been really exciting but also a little bit nerve-wracking. Mostly magic, though. I grew up with Broadway. I have always loved Broadway, and it has always been sort of my favorite art form. However, growing up, Mari and I never really got to see representations of ourselves in the shows. They were always about either romance or about guys, or about guys with a side character of a woman who was the romantic object of interest. We wanted to write a story that was about girls and about how girls can be badass and powerful and so many things other than a romantic interest. In Oceanborne, we wanted an all-female team. We wanted to work with women, and so we made it a point to employ women. Our team is made up of young women, particularly a lot of college students and even some high schoolers that are just breaking into this industry and just learning what it's all about. It feels like a dream come true. I mean, literally a year ago, Mari and Hannah and I were on stage at 54 Below singing these songs for the first time. People were hearing Erin Finn's story for the first time, and now I get to sit back on the floor and take notes while other people do it and other people get up there and tell the story for me, which is amazing.