Sing Tank LIVE! - THEatre ACCELERATOR - Spring 2023

Welcome, welcome everyone to Sing Tank. I'm Pamela Enzo Casciani and I'm here with my husband Tim. We are co-founders of Apples and Oranges Arts. Right now we have an incredible lineup for you. We have just finished our Theater Accelerator Class 13, The Heroine's Journey in XR. With a generous grant from the Melinda Gates Pivotal Foundation, we were able to bring this class to fruition, and we have an incredible group of creators that we've created a cohort for just specifically for the heroine's journey. We investigated the heroine's journey in many, many ways: the evolution of story, the myths of, of old and how they can be changed for today, the social evolution of our society in general, and new ways of looking at story structure. Ultimately, to lift each other up as artists to create the fruitful future of story that we are imagining together. We still, of course, teach Silicon Valley principles to help our artists to become creative entrepreneurs. And we always, always, always use theme and story to guide the process through all of these incredible tools that we share. Now with the world changing so rapidly and being in a room full of very talented writers, we had to address the elephant in the room, didn't we, Tim?

I guess that makes me the elephant. You've heard of generative AI, you've heard of ChatGPT, and you've heard of all of the possibilities that come with it. We jumped right in and we use these technologies to empower artists. We know that AI is not coming, it is here, and we wrote a musical using AI. It was an interesting exercise for us to see how humans are still very important in the equation, but how AI is something that is going to be a companion going forward. We also brought them into virtual reality. Pamela has a one-woman show that normally runs on the stage, but we built the show in VR, and we brought them in to see all the magic you can do in virtual reality, such as a massive scene change with a click of a button, and also for them to use that technology as a development tool as well as a branding tool for their shows. This way they can not wait for somebody to pick it up and put it on a live stage, but to partner with people to put it up on a live stage.

Indeed, indeed. And we also had the opportunity to bring incredible mentors to this cohort, and we want to just thank them all for their time and their talent and their willingness to give back. It really made the class what it was, just so valuable for us and for our team. So thank you, mentors.

And there is a test, because if you look at the pictures closely, you're going to notice that one of the mentors is also one of our judges.

Oh, yes, that's true. And you may want to also notice that one of our mentors and judges and one of our creatives have a very similar name, but that's for you to figure out. All right. Well, speaking of our judges, it's time to make some introductions here. First off, we have Frank Cavanaugh. As CEO of Ford Ashford, Frank builds relationships with individuals and organizations that facilitate growth, transformation, and innovation. He founded several Inc. 500 companies, worked in executive positions and operational management roles at Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, and is perhaps best known for growing Force Protection Inc. from less than $1 million to over $1 billion in just 6 years. He is a 12-time veteran of SingTank and Tim's college bestie. Welcome, Frank.

Thank you. I'm very much looking forward to the Lucky 13 cohort, and I'm fascinated to see what you guys have come up with.

We can't do it without you, Frank. Thank you so much. Next up, we have Patricia Klausner. She is a Broadway co-producer, a prolific one. She's done The Band's Visit, Pippin, Trip to Bountiful, Stick Fly, The Scottsboro Boys, and in New York, she's also assistant directed many productions, including Beyond Measure, The Boys Next Door, A Girl's Guide to Chaos, and conceived and curated The Tides of Intolerance at the Asia Society. She's a managing director of Shotgun Productions and Global Arts Initiative and director for Steps on Broadway. She has a PhD in sociology, and she has— she's an expert on women's roles in society and has written plays, screenplays, and short stories with similar themes. She's right at home here with our cohort. Please welcome Patricia.

Hi everybody, this is my first time and I'm really excited to be here and to hear about all these great projects. So thank you for having me.

Thank you so much. Next up we have Jonathan David Martin, producing co-artistic director of Smoke and Mirrors Collaborative, which creates original works of live performance, XR, and film that combines socially relevant themes with multidisciplinary approaches to storytelling.

Wow, that was Tough one.

That was a long sentence.

As a performer—

see, there's more— he has starred in a number of award-winning VR theater experiences, including Gumball Dreams and Waiting for Respite with Ferryman Collective, and Finding Pandora X and Loveseat with Double Eye Studios, also a graduate of Theater Accelerator. On Broadway, he was a puppeteer in the original cast of War Horse and is now currently performing on Broadway in The Life of Pi. Jonathan, great to see you.

Hi, so good to see you as well. It's such a thrill to be here. I've been hearing about these projects from you for years now, and so it's such a delight to get a first look at what this year's cohort's creating. So I'm really excited to be here.

I can't wait to hear your reactions. It's, it's going to be exciting.

You forgot to say he's your Zeus.

Oh, I know, he's my Zeus. We've been performing in virtual reality for over 3 years together as Zeus and Hera gods extraordinaire. So it's actually fun to see you as a human being once in a while.

Yeah, exactly.

All right. Next up, we have Liz Timmerman, executive director of Olympus Theatrical since 2008, which has invested and developed over 30 plays and musicals for the West End and Broadway. And currently on Broadway has Kimberly Akimbo— I'm going to say this correctly— Prima Facie, You're welcome. And Hamilton. She lead produced the musical adaptation of The Outsiders, which just completed its run at La Jolla Playhouse, which I had the pleasure and the privilege to see. It was wonderful. She is the executive producer, or she was the executive producer for New York Stage and Film and produced over 50 new plays and musicals there. She's the co-founder of Pure Orange Productions and was director of development for Danny DeVito's Jersey Films. Liz, we're delighted to have you here.

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be here for my first time, and I'm excited to hear all the projects today. So I'm really thrilled.

We can't wait to hear your feedback for sure. And last but not least, we have Ivan Williams, executive producer, prolific executive producer on many projects, including the films Knights of Bad Astum. I like that title. Big Stone Gap. MFA, This Changes Everything, Creating Woodstock, Letter from the Age of Ecocide, the series Be Here Now-ish Season 2, and the Broadway musical First Date. Also, he's been EP on the podcast Hidden History Happy Hour and Thieves of Manhattan, which stars Molly Ringwald and Kathleen Turner. He's a member of the UC Irvine Board of Trustees. And a board member and champion of Apples and Oranges Arts and our dear friend. Ivan, it's great to see you.

Well, thank you, Pamela. Thank you, Tim. I'm really excited about being part of this process and the think tank because I've never, never been involved with this before. So we're really excited to see the amazing creative talent on display today. So what I can say is Let's get this show running.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Before we dive in, there's a little housekeeping we need to do. Tim, do you want to talk to us about the rules? Yes, the way we do this.

I would.

Fantastic.

That was smooth.

Oh, I'm very slick, as you know.

It's very simple. For any of you that have seen Think Tank before, each show is going to get 5 minutes to pitch their show to you. And then we will bring all of our judges on, and the judges then have 5 minutes of Q&A per show. After we go through our 8 shows, we will then bring all of them back up on the virtual stage for the judges to then get another 5 minutes to do any final clarification questions. At that point, each judge is given one virtual dollar, not one virtual crypto dollar, one virtual Theater Accelerator dollar which means they can divide it up in any way they want to. It's all in fun. The goal for Theater Accelerator is to create this bonding relationship between our cohort, our judges, and for the participants to walk away with a very clear way to present their show to take it to the next levels. On that note, let me turn it over to our Masters of Ceremony.

It is time to take it to the next level. So what we've all been waiting for, these wonderful stories to share. First up, we have Jessica Wu with You, Me, I, We.

You don't see her.

To you, she's a face in the crowd, and you can't read her.

No, you wouldn't know how. The snow's ready to drown.

Welcome to the world of You, Me, I, We. In this musical dance play hybrid, you, me, and I are the voices in Youmei's mind. They're her inner monologue, her own voice and memory, and the voices of the people she loves and loathes. On the same stage, this musical world intersects with the contemporary dance play of Youmei's physical reality. Think Hedwig and the Angry Inch meets Pixar's Inside Out wrapped in Twyla Tharp dance theater. All told through a first-generation Chinese American lens. You, Me, I, We has been developed by the National Asian Artists Project's Discover Series, was a finalist for Live in Color's June Bingham Award, was a semifinalist for the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference, and was most recently honored by the American Playwriting Foundation as a semifinalist for the inaugural Relentless Musical Award. This is a story for anyone who has ever felt alone, for anyone who has The second is a technology partnership to collaborate on the cinematic capture of the dance play, a scaled prototype of the AR theatrical space and a co production for a month of musical performances in that Space.

We imagine an active online community for both casual and super fans of the show, where you can share personal journeys of healing and connect with fellow the show can live online, both for those who can't physically access the on site experience, as well as an appetite wetter for those who can.

In this heroine's exploration of grief and resilience, we invite the audience to journey within themselves and to meaningfully engage with the voices inside their own heads. Our society is finally placing a priority on mental health, and so many people are yearning for connection. This show sparks important intergenerational, intersectional conversations about the noise inside our brains. And my greatest hope is that all who step into You May's story will share in a moment of healing. Experience the world of You, Me, I, We.

Hi, I'm Jessica Lu, the creator of You, Me, I, We. I've been on my own heroine's journey through musical theater and through life. I was a Broadway chorus dancer for 15 years, and while I had a great career, I never felt like I saw myself in any of the shows I was literally in. This inspired me to rekindle my first love of composing and to write the stories I knew were missing, like my own. When my partner died in 2014, I went through a whole lot of chaos inside my own head, and by eventually sharing my very personal, very specific, very cultural experience of grief, I learned how truly universal the story was. So Yumi Ai Wei has gone through many previous developments as a live theater space event where musical actors share the stage with nonverbal verbal dancers to tell Yumei's narrative. And that version works great, and if you're dying to invest, hit us up. However, the version of Yumei We that's been living rent-free in my head is as an immersive live musical event with the dance play existing in augmented reality. Imagine stepping into a large atrium. Ethereal dancers are projected into the space. These are the spectral figments of Yumei's memory. Then living, breathing actors and musicians enter, The violin plays that first note and the world around you erupts into cathartic music and visceral silent movement. This is something audiences have never before been offered. It's a new theatrical experience for a new era of engaged theatergoers. There's already a robust market for immersive events in New York, San Francisco, Toronto, London. We want to give those audiences what they're craving and more. Yumi Ai Wei is seeking two different but equally vital partnerships. The first is with a dance company or dance education program to create the full dance play. The second is a technology partnership to collaborate on the cinematic capture of the dance play, a scaled prototype of the AR theatrical space, and a co-production for a month of musical performances in that space. We imagine an active online community for both casual and super fans of the show where you can share personal journeys of healing and connect with fellow members. We also believe an entirely VR or 2D captured version of the show can live online, both for those who can't physically access the on-site experience as well as, as an appetite whetter for those who can. "You, Me, I, We" has a ride-or-die creative family, mostly women of the Asian diaspora, all brilliant and all kind. They're a testament to how this story brings people together and keeps them together, and we are so excited for you to be part of our journey. Thank you for spending time today with "You, Me, I, We." Thank you, Jessica.

Well done. Well done. So impressive. Let's bring our judges up. I'm sure you have some questions.

And while our judges pop up, just to reiterate, this— the theme of this was the Heroine's Journey Theater Accelerator using extended reality, hence the blending in that first show and in many more that you will see. But judges, we have 5 minutes. Go ahead and ask away, please.

Timmy, are you okay if I just jump in?

Yes, please go for it.

Okay, so in First, you know, upbeat presentation, very positive. You're far more talented than I will ever, ever be. So let's just start there. What's your financial ask here?

Yeah, so thank you for that. Honestly, it is really a partnership that we're asking for, so, or that I'm asking for. I'm looking to not necessarily for money or like a particular number, but to ask other institutions if they are interested in taking this material and working with me on the material. So a dance company or a dance education program that might be interested in exploring the dance-play element of it, as well as either a producer or even the dance company with technical interests to capture the dance-play as well as explore these XR elements.

Okay, great. I'm good. You've answered my question. Thanks.

Thank you.

Next question. Liz.

I have a question. Hi, congratulations, that was great. Very well put together and very impressive. I have a question just on the context of how your piece can reach out, let's say beyond the first sort of layers of production that you do. Who do you see as the audience for this piece initially, and then as you sort of market it out?

Beyond that.

Yes.

So I imagine kind of like the target market being a kind of a millennial crowd. That's who I am. That is who I believe I kind of identify with. I also think that us older millennials are also kind of reaching that point where like maybe have a little bit of more extra income to spend on theatrical experiences. And, and it really is for people who are interested in not a proscenium experience. I believe this particular one is for folks who go to immersive experiences, who like to just to— for their entertainment to be outside of their homes. So I imagine a demographic like that.

Right.

Right.

All right.

I got a quick follow-up actually on that. I'd love to hear actually a little bit more about some of the elements that in this are immersive that are using XR, it sounded like probably something with projection design, 360 capture. I wonder if you could talk any more about that part of the project and what kind of makes it immersive and translates what is already a very, very kinetic performance.

Thank you.

Yes, for this immersive experience, I imagine audiences being able to walk into a space that the The musical elements are live and very present in the space, and then the dance is specifically XR. It could be a version of that, you know, the wraparound projection, like projection mapping screens, or in my wildest of dreams, is there holographic projection? Is there ability for an audience to walk through these dancers And really the idea behind it is that the way that we perceive reality is so— it's so specific to us. And this show really asks the question and explores the question of how do we perceive reality? What is reality? Is our memory our reality? Is present reality? And I think that having the voices in her mind be what is most present really explores that question.

I saw your hand pop up.

Yeah, this is, I mean, I was mesmerized by the application of the immersive display. I was curious, what size of audience would you really like to zone in? How big of a theater kind of space? What would you be looking at from that standpoint?

I think with the band and the size of like of the actual cast, I think it's a 3-person cast with like a 4-person band. So looking at an audience size, being able to really connect with those individuals, I think it's in like the 100, 200 range of an Off-Broadway house perhaps. But also looking at the idea of being able to capture it in potentially— sorry, in VR and having that be a wider audience so that the, the physical, the walk-in experience is, is a special experience, but the actual show is available and to a larger audience.

Thanks.

And as you stated, any of those proscenium theaters that want to present it, you will not say no.

Absolutely, hit me up.

All right, well, you know what, Patricia, go for it.

I was just curious, you know, to me when I was watching it, I never thought about it in a traditional theater space. I actually thought about it more in like a large black box, you know, like, are you in New York?

Where are you?

Like the Daryl Roth Theatre, you know, that is movable and you can create the space the way you want it, which would allow people to walk around and do it. So I was surprised when you, you know, you mentioned like a theater theater. I was thinking something very different.

Amazing. So it was originally conceived in more of a proscenium style of of space throughout its developments. And through this amazing 3-week process of Apples and Oranges and the Accelerator, it really got my mind thinking about the ways that XR can lift it. So it absolutely does, you know, it works in the proscenium space, but if it could fit into something like the Daryl Roth, that is, that would be amazing. My experience of like Fresa Bruta there and these things that are like fully around you. It's exactly the type of experience I think I'm interested in.

All right, well, thank you. Thanks, judges, and thank you so much, Jessica, for going first. Well done. All right, we're going to move on to our next project. With us, we have Lauren Marshall and Ian Williams with Fixing Einstein.

Have you ever wished you could split yourself in two?

Be more things to more people?

When Ian and I were paired in the New Works program at Seattle's Fifth Avenue Theatre, we quickly seized on the subject of cloning in a modern reimagination of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

In our musical Fixing Einstein, we ask, what if you could replicate yourself minus the defects to make a more perfect being?

But here the monster is not the clone herself, but rather the act of cloning, as technological progress brings unintended consequences.

It is the near future and we are in Palo Alto, California.

Victoria, a brilliant neuroscientist, suffers from a degenerative illness that robs her of body and mind. She's been mixing up her words, losing her car keys, and forgetting her twin boy's birthday.

Fearful that her time is running out, she makes a living replica of herself to carry on her scientific work and care for her unsuspecting family after she dies.

A little less hair. Neck is too bare. Cheeks are too pale. When I bring her to life, she won't look so frail.

But her clone, Vicky, has her own agendas.

A brand new me, a brand new me, living my life more selflessly. Saving more lives, learning to bake, writing more grants, maybe taking a break.

No breaks!

Why not? A vacation? Because you're my creation and that's not in the plan. I'll make my own plan.

Vicky resolves to spend more time with her husband, Michael, an unemployed sculptor, and their 12-year-old autistic twin boys, Xander and Drew.

Meanwhile, Victoria travels to Nepal for one last adventure before she dies.

In the mountains, Victoria regains her health but longs for the family she left behind.

While the brand new Vicky struggles to find her place in a family resistant to change.

It's so normal. Being naughty is normal. It's better than wishing that mom weren't Buckle up! The fighting is normal. At least then we know we're not made of clay.

Buckle up!

Don't bump the shelving!

Watch where you play.

Just when Vicki starts making real breakthroughs with her family, Victoria returns home.

I never thought I'd live to see the foothills turning green. I never thought I'd taste another backyard tangerine, but it's been almost a year and I'm still here.

Now she must face the ethical and personal consequences of the creation she has unleashed.

Her husband Michael feels hurt and betrayed.

Vicky fears she will be displaced.

As the boys take in the strange new reality of having two mothers, they are dismayed to discover that Vicky has been secretly cloning their parakeet, Einstein, who never seems to live very long.

"Would you replace me?" asks her son, Xander.

This work is about striving for perfection and ultimately accepting one's imperfections.

Ever since I can remember, I've been terrified and fascinated with the very idea of existence. What we owe to our creators and what is owed to us by them. And from the first time that I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I was enamored by her interplay of these ideas.

The act of creating life is fundamentally a heroine's journey. When we embarked on this project, I was caring for two daughters with health needs, rebuilding my career, and wishing I could be two people. I understand both the desire to control one's creation and the importance of loving unconditionally.

Originally designed as a stage musical, Fixing Einstein has had 2 developmental workshops at the Fifth Avenue Theatre.

We now plan to film it on a stage set with 1 performer playing both Victoria and Vicky and 1 playing her identical twin sons, something we can't do in a live performance. This will allow us to produce it with a cast of 3 instead of 5 and highlight the theme of nature versus nurture.

And I have studio recording experience and access to a professional recording studio.

With my company, Theater of Possibility, I produced two film musicals during the pandemic. We can build a creative team. We're looking for producing partners and to raise $100,000 to fund a production under a SAG New Media contract.

This film version will give us a fully produced rendition of the show to stream, submit to festivals, and market to theaters for stage productions.

Our target audience is any woman trying to balance career and family. I think there are a few of us out there.

Also mid-career professionals, people of all ages and genders who are at a crossroads in their lives, parents of children with disabilities, musical theater lovers, and anyone passionate about science and technology.

The idea of replacement cloning may be the stuff of science fiction, but it's not so far away.

And this musical tackles themes and subjects that are knocking at our door right now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Well done. All right, interesting stuff. Let's go to our judges for some questions. Yes, Liz.

Hi, uh, congratulations. Um, that was great, Lauren and Ian. Um, I had a quick question if you could tell me, especially because it's going to be a film version, could you describe a little bit what you feel like the production looks like? So what are the aspects? I think you said that you wanted to have a cast size that could be smaller. So could you just tell a little bit about what the physical production is going to look like so that we— I can get a sense of what you're looking to film?

Absolutely. We're looking at it as it's a 3-person cast size. One actor playing both Victoria and Vicki, one playing Michael, and one playing her twin boys, Xander and Drew. So 3-person cast size. And then as far as the set, it would be a— we're envisioning basically a soundstage musical. So all completely contained.

Yeah, not on location. It would be as if it were on a theater set. And I've already talked to one of my favorite film directors and We could either do it with green screen or with editing because the two characters have— the two women have to appear in scenes together, as do the two twins. So we're leaning towards not green screen but just being able to splice scenes together like they did in The Parent Trap or in Dead Ringer. And we've worked together, like during the pandemic we did all sorts of creative stuff with green screen, and I love this film director, so I know we can pull it off.

This off in a really cool way.

And we wanna play with having one actor take both characters. I think it's great fun acting challenge, but it also, as we see the two women become more dissimilar, I think that will be really fun and the film will allow us to play with that. Frank.

Sure.

You guys did a great presentation. We'll talk more about all that later. Interesting idea. This is just more of a general kind of societal version of it. Is until probably 30 days ago, cloning was, I think, kind of the forefront of how you do it. Now you have AI and robotics because now you have digital minds and all these other things. Did you explore other ways to have the protagonists become a unified unit? And would there be any value in that in the story, or too much of a detour?

You mean to reunite at the end?

No, more along the lines of instead of cloning in the way you think of it, but kind of an AI overlay of it, which is a digital mind with the information of the things and then two receivers coming out.

Cloning is technically a misnomer. As Vicki herself points out, she's technically a living replica. Because when we think of a clone, we think of like Dolly the sheep and you start with an embryo. So this is more like 3D printing combined with brain uploading. And that technology is pretty much, you know, we're at the beginnings of it now. Stanford scientists, it was just an article that they now can, they're developing a technology to print, 3D print a human heart. And it, the only problem right now is how long it takes to do it. And then with people who are freezing their brains, you know, before they die. So the idea of being able to create a body by printing the organs and somehow uploading the technology of the brains, I mean, I think it's all conceivable.

I just, yeah, that sounds, when you frame it that way, it sounds kind of more of an explanation than cloning to me. So I really liked that. Just from the outside, it's more engaging. But again, very impressed so far. So look forward to more conversation.

Thank you.

Yeah, I just don't know the term for it.

Next question.

I guess there is no—

Oh, Patricia.

Hi.

Sorry.

Ian and Lauren, really great presentation. I'm curious about the questions of ethics that you bring up in the play, in your presentation, and also I read your application and I was curious like how you perceive those kind of conversations coming into play, or is it something you see just organically in the experiences of your characters in the play? Because it's disturbing in a way, you know what I'm thinking? Not in a bad way, and not what you did, no onus on you. I'm just saying it's disturbing to think what you just described, uh, Lauren, about the 3D printing and everything.

It's like, ow.

So I, I think the audience will have this like, uh, reaction, and, and, and how is that handled, I guess, is my question.

I think we attempt to bring up an answer, and not really bring up because the answers are so— there aren't answers to all these, you know, they're moral questions and they're ethical questions, but we throughout the script attempt to bring up as many of those as possible, because they're all things that we are dealing with now and we will be dealing with for the next however many years this technology comes with us.

Absolutely, Ian, you're so right. We talked about this in class, didn't we? It's on everybody's minds.

It comes up a lot through the children when Xander says, would you replace me? And, you know, the question of building—

Yeah, Laura, I'm so sorry, we have to move on. We're over time. Thank you so much. Thank you, judges. We're going to move to our next project. And that is with all the way from Australia, we have— oh, no, no, not from Australia. We have Sarah Hirsch with The Book of Holding On.

The surest way to lose what you love is to hold it too tight. Hi, I'm Sarah Hirsch, and my show is called The Book of Holding On. This musical is a drama set in the early 2000s. 13-year-old Emmy is deathly afraid of change. Her best friend Linnea suffers from terrifying intrusive thoughts. When their conditions collide, Emmy embarks on a quest of sabotage to keep her world from unraveling. Can their friendship survive? This show is a whimsical, poignant exploration of teenage mental illness, female friendship, and the hopes and horrors of growing up.

Freeze the world, free my mind. Why can't we be normal? Leave our stupid brains behind and just enjoy 8th grade. Hang with friends, flirt with boys, just for fun, nothing formal. Quiet the noise inside our head, just be happy kids instead, who aren't depressed, who aren't distressed, who aren't afraid.

I began writing this show at a time of enormous change in my own life. I had just gotten married, turned 30, left my job, moved across the country, and been diagnosed with OCD. I felt like things were spinning out of my control and wished I could press pause and freeze time. Turns out I wasn't alone. I kept seeing posts on Facebook about wanting to slow down time. The book of Holding On is about a girl who tries to do just that. This show is for anyone who enjoys Dear Evan Hansen but wants to see a female in the lead. It's for anyone who loves the fantasy and fraught female friendships in Wicked and Frozen. It's for anyone who longs for a musical with a complicated female protagonist who sets out on a heroine's journey of loss, subversion, and a search for community through storytelling. Our main target audience is teen girls and their families. There is a severe mental health crisis occurring right now among teen girls. The CDC recently reported that in 2021, 57% of teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless, and 30% seriously contemplated suicide. A staggering 13% actually attempted suicide. We need shows that address this crisis. The Book of Holding On will help get families talking about mental health. Although this musical deals with serious subjects, it's also a lot of fun.

Highlight, low light, and for God's sakes, keep it short.

Emmy has a quirky friend group at school. And the fables that she writes during the show feature colorful characters like a bear with a secret crush on a peahen and a hoarder squirrel whose forest friends stage an intervention.

The squirrel who squirreled the whole world away.

Throw it away!

Yay!

The Book of Holding On has received 3 table reads and 2 29-hour readings In 2020, it was a semifinalist for the O'Neill, and in 2021, it received a full production over Zoom at Santa Clara University. Here is a clip from that production from Evie's fable about a killer whale mother who carries her stillborn calf through the ocean for 3 weeks.

We think we're alone in grief. We're human and we're special and we're somehow above. We think we're alone in grief.

Grief.

It's only we who suffer and revel in love. But the mother kept the calf afloat, not by mistake. She knew it wasn't living. She needed more time to say goodbye.

This Zoom production got me thinking about the exciting ways that technology can enhance this show. Emmy imagines her room catching fire. —a snow globe trapping her sister and her friends frozen in space. XR has tremendous potential to bring Emmie's visions and fables to life. I am seeking a lead producer to join me on this journey. My goals for this year and next: Number 1, mount a developmental workshop in which we use projection mapping to immerse audiences into Emmie's imagination, as well as explore technology pioneered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in their 2016 production of The Tempest. 6. Digital avatars. In the 11 o'clock number, Emmie imagines floating through the clouds, controlling everyone beneath her like a puppeteer. Through live motion capture, a digital avatar of Emmie could float above us in the theater to magical, thrilling effect. 2. Create a promotional immersive VR version of the opening scene. Imagine exploring a cozy bedroom. You peer inside closets and poke through desk drawers. A girl sits on the bed and starts singing. Suddenly, the room bursts into flame. This VR experience will give audiences a sneak peek into Emmy's mind and get them hyped about the show. We are living in an age of unprecedented change, a post-pandemic world in the midst of a technological revolution. What better time for a show that's all about change and finding a balance between holding on and letting go?

How did 13 years go by in the blink of an eye? It's the craziest thing.

Something like time is playing tricks on me.

Where did it go?

Where did it go? Join me. Let's crack open the book of holding on. Thank you.

Thank you, Sarah. So, so well done. I'm sure our judges would love to talk to you, so we'll bring them up. Do we have questions for Sarah?

Yeah, Liz. Hi, Sarah. Congratulations, that was great.

Um, I, I'm curious. I'm the mother of 3 teenage daughters, so I totally think this is an incredibly important piece. I'm curious how you are going to facilitate a discussion around the mental health crisis with your piece. Like, what about what kind of outreach or what kind of audience, you know, engagement, or how is it built into your marketing to take it, the conversation, beyond just what people experience in the show and enjoying what is obviously a lovely and great show, but somehow impacts the community in a meaningful way?

I plan to adopt a marketing approach that uses social media platforms that teens flock to, such as TikTok. I really want teenagers to feel included in this story. I hope that they feel seen in this piece, and I want them to feel part of the telling of this story. As part of this show, Emmi writes a collection of fables called The Little Book of Letting Go, and I could almost imagine trying to start something on TikTok where I encourage people to post their own little book of letting go videos in which they're letting go of different things. So I just want to encourage them to come into the story in that way. And I also want to reach out via the promotional VR experience that I talked about of just the opening scene to try to get people really excited about the show.

Oh, Liz, did you want to—

I just wanted to ask one last—

are there any particular organizations that you want to bring to the piece like tie to in like in the way that Prima is connecting to, you know, women, female voices, like things like that. Yeah, absolutely.

I would love to involve organizations like the International OCD Foundation and the National Alliance of Mental Health to partner with them.

Tricia.

Yeah, that Liz kind of did the follow-up to what I was going to ask, which is great. Thanks, Liz. Yeah, I think a couple of these pieces when I was reading about them, really are focusing on mental health issues. And while I think it's wonderful for the theater to start discussing that, like Dear Evan Hansen did, there was also— I was, you know, I was an investor on that show and it was just, you know, raised a lot of issues. And I think bringing in organizations from the beginning and making partnerships, A, it expands your audience immediately, but also knowing that there is a team around. You know, I think people are— don't know resources where to go, especially teens. And so that would be really helpful to provide resources affiliated with your show and that it's, you know, getting the message across that it's okay to go for help too is really important. So it's not a— and it's just more of a follow-up to Liz's.

Yeah, I mean, I love the idea of the show helping encourage teenagers to speak out about whatever they're going through. I mentioned that I wasn't diagnosed with OCD until age 30. I really would have benefited from a diagnosis back when I was 13. So I would love people to watch this show and feel like they can speak out about whatever they're going through.

Jonathan, you had a question?

Uh, yeah, actually a little bit of a follow-up to some of the things that you said. I think there's, there's so much about your presentation that seems so, uh, very, very relevant, clear who the audience is, and, uh, that it's more than just— and, and as I listen to thinking about my family members, it feels very relevant to me as, as a family member who's often trying to figure out how do I help, uh, my younger family members, um, who are going through the very struggle that you're talking about. And I think that there's a lot of possibilities for this story to create opportunity for conversation. So I think that's really great. And I think with that, it's very smart to be thinking about how the story can live in spaces beyond just who can make it to the theater at that one given place and time. I think, you know, if reach is important in that way, along with thinking about a VR experience that sometimes can be a bit limited in terms of who has access to it because you have to sometimes have specific equipment, thinking about how augmented reality might be something that's useful to you, especially thinking about where teens are taking in content, not just TikTok, but also things like Snapchat that has a lot of great tools and possibilities for creating the kind of experience that you're thinking about this VR, but being able to create it in their own room as opposed to somebody else's room. So I think there's something in there perhaps to be explored. And also thinking about how spatial audio might be something that you could explore where you're, using these same ideas of spatial technology to kind of flesh out this kind of story for you.

Great, thank you so much. Yeah.

Ivan, if you have a question. Yeah, real quick. Really powerful message. One of the things that hit me in the head was if in this, in the setup and the run-up to this is the topic could possibly be explored, and maybe you've done this before, but the aspect of almost creating an app or getting an app company, because literally now we've got apps that kind of run almost, I call, as adjacent tools to help people along that journey with their phones. In essence, they can be connected to the theatrical aspect, but also from the standpoint of helping in their mental wellness. Is that something that you've ever explored, to kind of have adjacent app development around this?

I have not, but I love that idea and we'll look into it.

Thank you. Great. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you, Ivan. Thank you, all of you, for your wonderful questions and, and comments. And obviously you are very engaged with this story, which is wonderful. And now it is time to go to Australia. We have Alanya Bridge with her show In Between.

I'm Alanya Bridge and is In Between. In Between is a song cycle which moves through the cycle of life, inspired by the universal elements—earth, water, fire, air—we witness the push and pull of the elemental forces and how they can guide us or lead us astray. A cast of 4, this haunting 60-minute show explores themes of passing over, rebirth, and self-discovery. I grew up living in a caravan in the rainforest. I spent all my time outside playing in the trees, creating worlds within nature, and I feel deeply connected to the themes I'm exploring in this show. And what better way than to let earth, water, fire, air tell the story? Introducing water, with her ebb and flow of life. And Air. Air lifts us up and takes us on a journey of learning to trust your intuition and accept the winds of change.

And Fire.

Brave fire. Rebel fire. They who aren't afraid to burn it all down and start again. And Earth, with her wisdom of the world and ability to regenerate and self-heal.

My child, you always knew.

My child.

Together, these These 4 heroines lead us on a journey that will take you to the depths of the ocean, wash away your pain, envelop you with hope, and allow you to see a better future. In between, we'll connect with all personalities. We have the Upholders, the wise ones who meet inner and outer expectations. They will see themselves in Earth. The Obligers, who meet outer expectations. Resist their inner intuition will connect with Air. The rebel who resists both outer and inner expectations will identify with Fire. And the questioner, those who resist outer expectations, though meet inner expectations, will resonate with Water. Inbetween covers an array of narratives. Each element has their own journey, yet together they discover the power in listening to your intuition, and the necessity of healing. In Between will be created in perfect unison with the inclusion of XR. With the show's otherworldly element, the visual opportunities to be explored to create a unique and multidimensional experience for audiences are boundless. I'm seeking a partnership for a 2-week XR development lab. During this lab, I would partner with XR specialists, explore the integration of AR, which would accumulate in a test sample project where community members immerse themselves in this interdimensional show. Combining augmented reality, actors, and videos projected on the stage would allow me to create a stereoscopic 3D depth to enhance the otherworldly element to my show. From here, my goal is to see Inbetween fully integrated with XR and produced on stage. Inbetween gives hope. For new beginnings. Songs have been described as hauntingly uplifting and filled with transformative emotion. It's perfect for those who are willing to take a deeper look inside themselves, and I hope to inspire people to be quiet enough to listen to and follow their intuition. I'm writing In Between to not only create a unique and visually compelling show, but to connect with, comfort, and inspire humanity. Let us create a better world together.

Thank you so much, Alanya. And I have to let everyone know that Alanya has been getting up at 3 AM for the last 3 weeks for every single class. She hasn't missed a class, and she's been an absolute joy. So let's, uh, let's talk about in between.

Frank, support yourself for the next 20 years while you do this, or is part of what you're looking for someone to support it along the way, or pay for the XR person? Is that part of your vision?

Yeah, I guess that would need to be, and I would need to figure out what those figures are.

Thank you.

Yes, Liz.

Hi, Nick, could you, congratulations, and I'm hoping maybe at the end you'll get some sleep. That's an amazing thing to do for this project. So could you tell me a little bit more about the narrative for each of these elements and then how the narrative holds together for the whole piece? I just didn't get quite the sense of like what these elements— like, are there stories? Is there a singular person who's embodying a character?

So maybe just tell me a little bit more about that. Yep.

So there will be 4 actors on stage, so each element will be embodied by an actor. This piece started off as a song cycle, and through this workshop development, I am, yeah, gonna do a whole lot of rewrites to looking at making the story more of a narrative and more combined.

More questions, anyone?

Okay.

All right, then we will move forward. Alanya, thank you so much for that. Next up, we have Jenna Gillespie-Bird and Joelle Renee Scoville with Two in One: A Harlem Musical with Loose Morals.

Hello, everyone. My name is Jenna Gillespie-Bird. I wrote the music.

And hello, my name is Jawoll Renee Scoville, and I wrote the book and lyrics. And this is our original musical, Two in One: A Harlem Musical with Loose Morals.

Someone is at the front door.

We've all heard of first love, but what about forbidden love?

It's the Harlem Renaissance and the Negro is in vogue. Olivia is a writer for The Crisis magazine trying to compete with her male peers, but what she really wants is to love and to be loved. Just like the stories she reads and writes about. One night she meets Irene, a white-passing flapper looking for her next meal ticket. But after a passionate kiss, Olivia falls headfirst into a forbidden love affair.

What's wrong might be right. What's black might be white. But who's foolin' who?

Life is a gas, but when the women are forced to take drastic measures for their survival, their duo becomes a trio, and Olivia must now decide how much is enough for love.

With a sexy jazz score, this queer love story spotlights a part of the Roaring '20s often erased. The industrious Black woman who not only defined the modern woman, but also invented her.

Jenna and I wrote this story because as actors, we know firsthand the frustrations of rarely playing authentic roles for women that look like us. But we know this is largely due to the significant lack of support and opportunities for women writers who look like us. Our story is first a love story, but one that also addresses the role sexism and colorism played in limiting many Black women during that time, including our heroine Olivia.

Restrained and unable to live and love freely, Olivia uses the only skill she has to make her voice heard. She writes. And this is just what we have done.

Shows like The Color Purple, which just had a very successful revival and will soon be a major musical motion picture, confirm that there is a desire for more stories like ours and that the theater gods are neglecting a huge audience demographic.

Everyone loves music, and our contemporary jazz score honors the past and celebrates the present, allowing us to invite a new era of theatergoers using social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram while still embracing the longstanding audience member through Spotify and Apple Music.

Fans will also be able to listen to our heroine's most intimate thoughts through a theater podcast scripted from her secret journal of poetry, similar to the origins of the famous poem The Wild Party, which inspired two successful musicals both on and off Broadway.

Just as Olivia worked hard for the life she wanted, Joelle and I have worked hard this past year to get our story out there.

We had our first reading through Untitled Musical Writers Group. We took honorable mention with the inaugural Relentless Musical Award, and we were finalists for the Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference. We also presented a first listen of a few songs at the Pasadena Writers Retreat.

All that I've waited to touch, all that I've hoped to be, finally what I never thought it could be.

These milestones are confirmation that Two in One has a life, but we need your help to get to the next level.

Yes, and that's why we are asking for $15,000 to help fund an NYC concert in August and to record a professional concept album. That $3,000 will cover the cost of travel for Jenna to New York, as well as living expenses while we're taking a break from survival jobs. The $6,000 will help to cover concert expenses, including the venue, the band, and the actors for both the rehearsal and the performance. And lastly, an additional $6,000 to cover the cost of studio time to record and produce a professional concept album, which we will use to promote our show and build our fan base.

Olivia represents the many women during the '20s of yesterday and today, including Joelle and I, who risked everything for stability, independence, and love, and we are so excited to share her story.

Please join us on our continued journey with Two and One, a Harlem musical with loose morals. We know you'll have a roaring good time. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And thank you, Jenna and Joel.

Well done. Well done. All right, it's time for our judges to pop up on the screen and ask some questions. And Frank, you got your hand up.

Yeah, beautiful voices. For a period of time, I was saying, what is the ask? That is the cleanest ask I have seen today. I don't know what your parents taught you, but they certainly asked you or taught you how to ask. So I thought you did a great job on that. So my question is, is there any other things that you think you need, or have you articulated kind of everything that you're looking for in the short-term and medium-term?

Well, I know that we're hoping— one of the reasons we're doing the concert is that we're hoping that a creative team will come on board with us at the concert, that we will interest some directors and producers and a dramaturg to lighten the load of Jenna and I doing this musical completely on our own.

So just a clarifying point, have you guys gone out together to podcasts in this space and just explained what you're doing?

No, we have not done that yet. I have been listening to theater podcasts so that I can hear how people are showcasing their work through more of a storytelling or theatrical medium on podcasts. And that's why we thought it would be really exciting to share some of Olivia's words since she is a writer. We thought that would be interesting.

Yeah, I, and I'm sure the creative people here know a lot more than me, but it sure seems like the two of you I think you should go out and sell your story for a period of time and use that platform as an ask. You're, you know, you're, you've done a great job of creating enthusiasm. I have zero ability to assess if this is a good or bad show, but if I was looking at two people who sell, you guys have just done a phenomenal job. And since your parents taught you to ask, go ask some of these theater podcasts to come on them.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Right. Thanks, Liz.

Hi, congratulations, you guys. That was really great. And I agree with Frank, very well thought through on the ask, was very clear. The only thing I wonder about with the ask is the promotional component. Like, maybe what's missing in the context of the financial picture of the ask is how you're going to take that great concert and get it out there. And really be able to use that tool to sell the show along with all, I think, the smart ways that Frank is talking about. And some of those will be free, but you may need a little more funds in the ask. I think you're underselling what you need to get the tools. You guys are really compelling and really engaging, so I think you have a lot to work with. I just don't want to see you get this wonderful concert and then not be able to promote it, you know? And use it in the way that will be helpful. So don't be afraid, I think, to ask for more. Over-budget is always— or let's just say conservatively budget. I'm a big believer in being a conservative budgeter where you don't, you know, ask for so much that people don't understand what you're spending, but put a reserve in there for yourselves for unexpected things that are not, you know, that you don't think about in the moment.

Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Ivan.

Yeah, this is a really compelling story. And to illuminate this, this amazing story from the '20s, you know, one of the things I think of, and maybe you've thought of it, uh, how do you think Frank is alluding to Elizabeth? Um, I always think of promotion of kind of like almost pop-ups, the kind of like appearances, uh, showing up at malls, showing up at locations, uh, and building that social media impact to give a little taste to the community can create some really strong buzz for this. But, you know, kudos to you and your enthusiasm and the pointed ask, as Frank stated, was excellent.

Thank you. Jonathan? Yeah, I had a quick question.

I was curious to hear a little bit more of what you've taken from this accelerator and what the experience with working with Tim and Pamela and the mentors, especially sort of being probably introduced to some new things about technology and how they might assist in storytelling, has kind of informed the project from when you started?

Well, I do want to say to answer that, that Tim and Pamela have been our parents who taught us how to ask. So we learned from them specifically what we needed to be asking for.

to you.

So, and introductions can be made. So that's the easy way. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Patricia. That's very generous.

Yeah, I know we're out of time. I was expecting somebody to say, well, I know naked people in VR.

It can happen. It can definitely happen.

But we need to move on. All right, we have our next project to show you. We have Jan Roper and Patricia Zehentmeyer with The Path to Catherine.

If you are a 15-year-old girl, do you think you would have dared to marry someone you didn't love because it would put you close to power? Do you think you could have turned your back on your mother to get just that chance? Well, these are the questions that drive the journey of our heroine, the girl whose path would culminate in her spectacular reign as Catherine the Great. But who was this girl who travels to Russia in the hope of finding love but ends up choosing power? Who ultimately learns that power has a price, and that price is family? There are 3 things you should know. She wasn't Russian. Her name wasn't Catherine, and she was never meant to rule.

Now, young Sophie embarks on her path alongside her mother, Joanna, who is pushing her daughter hard into this royal marriage to the heir of the Russian throne, while at the same time pursuing her own ambitions by spying on the Russian court for her own German king, enemy of Russia. Now, this puts her on a collision course with Elizabeth the volcanic empress who has a target on her back and the world on her shoulders. The Path to Catherine is a 90-minute pop-rock sung-through musical with no intermission and minimal design requirements, written for the stage and featuring a cast of just the three women. Our target audience are women and girls who like Six and Bridgerton and history buffs of any gender, people who want to see complex, messy women making whatever choices they are able to, just like us. And as far as our development history goes, we had a 29-hour reading in 2021 and a workshop production in LA in 2022, for which we received 3 nominations for Broadway World's Regional Awards, including Best Musical. Learn to take the power.

Find the highest tower. Become the ruler of the land. A statesman and an empress. Some called her a temptress. Men fell in line when she took her stand. 'Cause things don't always go as planned. I want to be every cherry in the pie. Every cloud that's in the sky, all the words still in my quill, all the pages I will fill. I want to be more than me. I think to belong belonged to your daughter. It shocked you to wish it was you and not her. Mama, how will I ever live with you? This arrangement we had is now rescinded. No! I am outraged by this trade and I'll repay for how you What could I do? If all I am is nothing, I have no meaning. What could I do? If all I am is nothing, I have no sense. You risked everything we hoped for. Anything. You risked everything we hoped for. Anything. You risked everything we hoped for.

Now, why this story?

Why now? And why us? Because we're women. We love history and we're passionate about lifting up other women. Because Hulu and the countless movies and books that have told her story for the last 250 years are really just more versions of the fake news that was told about her in her own time. And who's been controlling that story? Not women. And of the members of the American Association of Community Theaters, 90% of the decision makers are women. And we're also a great fit for schools and churches and theater programs, all paths to a meaningful licensing deal, which is our goal.

Now, currently, right now, we're in the midst of recording a 7-song concept project with a phenomenal record producer and a cast of Broadway women. And we're planning to make some videos as well to promote these songs with the experienced filmmaker Scott Peterman. So as far as our ask is concerned, we're needing $32,000 to finish the recording, $18,000 for that, and then another $14,000 to produce the videos. We know that amateur theaters and regional playhouses, Off-Broadway, even a film version are all paths that will lead to licensing. And all of these options are on our radar after that.

This is Catherine the Great, and her as-yet untold backstory needs to be told because no one becomes great on their own. And in this case, it took 3 strong women to make one great queen. Thanks so much for listening, and we're so excited to talk to you.

Yes, and thank you, Patricia and Jan. Let's open it up. Yeah, we got a lot of applauding, and I think your hand was up there, Ivan.

Do you have a question?

I just wanted to say, yeah, I'm captivated by the story. Again, the story to dissuade and get rid of the misinformation around Katherine. Is there any elements, again, since we've had a lot of XR and perspective, any elements that you're thinking about using the technologies that are available?

Yeah, we're exploring that with Scott, our filmmaker. With the videos that we're going to produce with our concept recording, we're looking into it. He's got a lot of experience with AR and you know, just all the— all of that. So we're going to lean on him for it.

Great. Patricia, I'm curious as to— I know you have immediate goals that you, you talked about in your ask, but what is your vision of where you see this show? Like, sit down, like, to get licensing deals and a lot of stuff like that, at least more traditionally speaking, you know, people need to see it, you know, in a setting. And I was kind of curious what your thought was Like, is there a specific theater you're thinking of or— You know, since taking—

I'm so glad you asked this question. Since being in this class, we're really thinking about doing a filmed version like Emma, like Paul Gordon did with Tim and Pamela, because, you know, the reason I wrote this show is because there's not enough roles for women and there are so many women who go to New York, they've been training since they were 5 years old, and they can't have a career because there's just not— the competition is so stiff, and they go home to Denver or Dallas or wherever, and they are teachers or accountants, and they do community theater. And but they're so talented. And so we really want to reach out because all across America there are so many women who could be doing this show, and it's so inexpensive to put up. And I think that a film, a filmed version, would allow us years to build and build and promote all over the world because we've had interest from London. And I think that that would be a great path for us.

Great. Well put out. Excellent.

Anyone else? If not, we will move forward. Any last questions? Alright, we are going to go to our next project. So I would like to proudly present Alex Becker and Cat Cartusciello with Then She Ran.

What do you do when shit hits the fan? Meet Desiree, Margot, and Sam. Desiree is in her 60s, longing to leave her marriage, go back to school, and reconnect with the passions of her youth. Margot is in her 30s, battling infertility issues and a boss who is sexually harassing her. And Sam is a teenager, struggling through high school, dealing with an eating disorder, and trying to figure out who she is. At their breaking points, they hear a song in the wind telling them one thing: run.

The women land in a dark, dead, otherworldly swamp where they meet a group of vagabond mystical musicians called the Bone Crew.

It's been a long time coming, we've been roaming searching for a rhyme. A reason to remark. Now if truth be told, we'll never sell our souls. We'll keep standing, searching, waiting.

Here by the dark—

The Bone Crew's job is to guide lost people toward their truth and back to the real world, but their magic is fading, and in order to restore it, they need secrets. Hi, my name is Alex Becker. Hi, I'm Kat Cardasciello, and we are the writers of She Ran, a modern folktale musical.

Think Hadestown meets Wizard of Oz.

You know, we get very accustomed to the classic hero's journey story, right? Man or woman versus the world, individual rising on a linear path toward success and victory. And we think that change and growth can be way messier than that. So we wanted to explore the heroine's journey story to see how it can help us as a society right now. How can it help us heal and grow and change and reimagine?

Our show is an original story inspired by the experiences Alex and I have gone through and the experiences women of all ages go through, but you don't often see depicted on stage.

Don't sigh, don't stare, don't shiver, don't shake, don't act up. Stand out. Don't show up late.

Don't let them second-guess for one second I'm second-rate. Don't linger.

Don't whisper. Don't talk back. Don't take. Don't hint at, flinch at, cinch up, or break. Definitely don't break.

Change doesn't just come from within ourselves. It comes from understanding ourselves through the mirror of community. It comes from helping each other.

Margot helped helps Sam discover her confidence, Sam helps Desiree reconnect to her youth, and both of them help Margot realize that she doesn't need to be a biological mother in order to express her maternal side. As the women begin to make these realizations, the swamp comes back to life, the Bone Crew's power and magic is restored, and the women are able to return to the real world where they change their lives for the better.

Our show has already had a vibrant development mental history. We've had readings and workshops at universities in New York City, a concert performance at 54 Below, a production in a local fringe festival, and now we're ready to take it to the next level. Ben-Shiran is endlessly flexible in terms of staging, which is a thrilling possibility for the world of extended reality. There are so many ways we could bring to life the visual and sonic elements of the swamp juxtaposed with the real world from which the women come. We really want to heighten the sense that we are leaving behind what we know and entering the supernatural, which is the Bone Crew's domain.

We know all too well how to keep things at cost.

We did a production in the Scranton Fringe Festival last fall for a budget of $10,000, and we had a company of 14 members, and that included designers and musicians. We originally wrote the show for a cast of 7. However, that can be expanded or shrunk depending on the parameters of the production in question.

We want to keep working in a low-cost way until we really land on the direction that we want to take this piece. We're super excited about aligning with a lead producer who wants to explore the world of extended reality with us, and we would love to partner with a theater company who can help us realize a full live production.

Imagine audience Audiences stepping into the world of the swamp and taking control of their own path alongside the women. Imagine an immersive experience where you share a secret and the Bone Crew sings you a song. The idea that we're all responsible for each other's empowerment, that's really what the show is all about.

So again, we ask you, what do you do when shit hits the fan? Well, give us a secret and we'll give you a song.

Well done. Well done. Thank you, Alex and Kat. Okay. Questions from our judges, please.

Ivan. Yeah, that was really innovative. I'm kind of mesmerized by the presentation. Question. You said you want a partner. With people? Was there a financial ask in that perspective? There's not.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You go ahead. You go ahead. I want to hear what you have to say, Kat.

But we talked about how we want to align with a lead producer right now to help us figure out the next step of developing the show in terms of XR and in terms of putting on a live production with a local, like with a regional theater company. So it's more so about that than a specific money ask at this time.

However, Kat, let's hear what, what monies you want to collect. It's negotiable. It's something that we definitely have a lot of room to play with. We think a successful production could be put on for around $30,000, but that would depend on how many members are in the bone crew, whether the bone crew are also the pit musicians, which we've done in the past, and how many other designers we have. Stuff. So, but it can and has been done for very low-cost situations, and we're excited about that because we think it adds this element of like scrappiness that is also very in line with the piece too.

Great, thanks.

Yeah, Liz. Hi guys, congratulations. That was a really dynamic presentation and really brought the piece to life in a way that I felt like I could really get a sense of what it is. I guess my question is, in the context of looking for like a live theater production, maybe talk more about— put the scrappiness aside. I totally appreciate, and that's awesome that you guys can do that. Don't say that out loud too often or people will take you up on your scrappiness and continue, you know. So if you could dream big, if you could say, I have what I want, you know, what does this look like and feel like to you without like the financial burden of like I don't know if I can get that because of the money.

We, we, when we first, we started writing this piece like right at the beginning of COVID when all that went in, we were isolated from each other and we were trying to imagine like what would the possibilities be when theater comes back? Or at that point we were just like, what is this going to look like? And we, we were at that time imagining like a very immersive, very live, very full exciting experience. We talked about St. Ann's Warehouse as being like a dream ultimate theater we'd love to put it up in, and kind of getting stepping stones to that. So maybe like an Ars Nova type place of doing— since we've been in this workshop and even before this workshop, we've been talking a lot about doing an immersive experience even where audiences could walk through a building and be guided by, you know, phone crew members. So that's another idea just for exploring and, and putting XR elements into all of that. But the St. Ann's Warehouse would be like a dream venue to do this at.

It also works very well in the round. That's a really wonderful way to stage this piece.

Fantastic. And Liz, I will tell you that I gave these lovely women the queue to talk about being scrappy, because I was so incredibly impressed by the fact that they did a show with 14 members on their cast for $12,000. I about fell out of my chair, and I thought, that's an asset.

No, it is. It's definitely an asset. I just don't want you to get trapped into always having to do scrappy stuff.

And it is an excellent, excellent comment as well.

So much, much appreciated. We have time for one more question if anyone has one. All right, then we are going to—

I'll throw on just one, uh, yes, please, really quick one. Just to echo a lot of what's already been said, a really great pitch. Especially love that I got a clear sense of the tone and the theme. The, the visual imagery that you used was, um, as sharp as the music, so I really appreciate that. Um, I think I'd be curious to hear a little bit more, um, about the interaction that you imagine between the Bone Crew and the audience and how you think you might sort of balance that with something that has something akin to— definitely has a traditional narrative format with your three sort of human characters and how you might sort of balance those two things.

Yeah, well, if the Bone Crew is larger, there's a lot more play for interaction between the audience. We have talked about elements where where people in the audience would write down a secret and then the Bone Crew could pull out a song from sort of their arsenal and sing it to them in this manner that may be applicable to that situation. Them wandering around the audience as well. If they're also the musicians, there's ways for them to sort of be stationed in different places, not necessarily just in an individual pit. And the sonic possibilities of them are also really, really exciting so that no two people in the audience get the same experience.

And it's two different, like, ideas, right? One could be an immersive experience where we adapt the show basically to be an immersive experience where we do create and add that element of more audience, phone crew interaction. And then the other idea is to keep going and getting the chance to develop what we already have, which is really like a more traditional, um, yeah, stage musical. Got it. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I can't believe we're here, but we're actually going to see our last piece right now. Here we have Shannon Burkett with The Female Pope. Hello, my name is Shannon Burkett.

Simpleton, temptress, know your place. Pure and chaste, what am I to do? One flock, one shepherd, like Moses in the desert, leads us to salvation. Save us from damnation.

Unmask the legend of the female Pope.

The Female Pope is a groundbreaking new musical written by Shannon Burkett with a captivating score by Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Richard Rodgers, and Obie Award-winning composer Heather Christian. It's the 9th century and our heroine, young Joan, is being raised by by her widowed father, Brother Mark. Astronomy is a budding science, and Joan is enthralled. She dreams of studying the stars. In a twist of fate, Joan's father receives an order from the Pope that he must relocate to the ocean side, which is full of danger for young Joan, who, being a girl, could be killed or worse. Brother Marc begs young Joan to take refuge in the nunnery, but the girl refuses. In a desperate attempt to keep her safe, Joan agrees to dress as a boy, which sets in motion a chain of events that propels Joan all the way to the papacy. Joan hopes an education will help her save all of mankind, but in the end, it's herself that Joan will need to save.

The Legend of the Female Pope.

The Female Pope was written with projections in mind. Embracing XR technology will enhance an immersive theatrical experience. Mashing modern AR with medieval interpretations of the constellations will be spectacular. The AR from the live theatrical performance will be a template for the VR worlds where fans can participate in the first person. Imagine, you don't have to wait to be cast in your favorite show. You have the power to be anyone you want to be, just like Joan. All of this would culminate in an animated film which we would release on a streaming platform for anyone to see, so a kid in Texas can also experience the female Pope. Proximity will no longer be a barrier with this multi-platform approach. Our initial target audience is the courageous Gen Z. This tech-savvy milieu will not only grab onto the tech aspects but relate strongly to the character of Joan. Her uncompromising moral compass and refusal to back down speaks to this fierce generation who is just beginning to find their voice. The New York Times has called Heather's work overwhelmingly beautiful, and the songs have this modern twist that will draw those younger audiences without alienating the traditional musical theatergoer who will relish in Heather's homage to classical orchestration.

We shall rise, we shall persist, we shall fly, we shall go on and on and on.

Gen Z will bring their parents who will bring their grandparents, and friends to not just see but to experience the show that is emblematic of the times we live in. This past fall, The Female Pope was selected to participate in NAMT. It is an O'Neill finalist, and we have attracted investors, but we are looking for a lead producer. Shannon has created an LLC and is formulating a business structure to support her multi-platform approach. We are asking for $15,000 to build a team of cutting-edge leaders in AR and VR technology to create cross-platform assets that will be used in a live theatrical performance, VR world and game, and an animated film. Please join us in making the Female Pope an innovative immersive experience providing inspiration to those who have been historically excluded from positions of power. If she can see it, she can believe it, and if she can believe it, she can be it.

—delicate, gravelly, deficit, discountly intellect. Oh, what am I to do? There's been enough to transcend across the stars and back again. Oh, I have tasted the sweet fruit, and now I know what I must do.

Thank you so much, Shannon. Thank you. Thank you so much. My goodness, and that story. Let's open it up to the judges, please. Everybody's in amazement. So, um, oh, sorry.

Oh, good. Frank?

Oh no, after someone just said those who've been excluded from power, what probability is it that I'm going to step in front of a woman in this conversation?

Shannon, congratulations. Thank you, Frank. I will ask a quick question. I was curious about the multigenerational appeal that I know this piece has and how to bridge the gap with maybe people like me and older people who are less savvy generation, you know, technology— with technology. I know I get like really overwhelmed just wearing 3D glasses. I go to the movie theater, you know, like, so I'm curious in the context of a lot of technical feats that you even showed in the, the presentation, which were amazing, you know, how do you keep the older generations engaged in a story that I think will really speak to them and really you know, be important to them?

I'm glad you asked, because actually I think this piece will live in multiple platforms that will appeal to multiple generations. So the live theatrical performance will appeal to you, right? The VR experience will appeal to the younger generation, and the film will be able to appeal to everyone. And we'll definitely be doing TikToks and different I have a lot of ideas on how to bring in the young people and also how to get other partnerships in because VR technology is predominantly male. And if we go to, say, all those beautiful— all the beautiful visuals that you saw, if we go to Runway, and if they're listening right now, Runway, if you wanted to partner with us, they will then be able to expand beyond that male clientele because they'll have the female Pope, which is going to attract a young female Gen Z, so, and bring that into the VR world, which I have an idea for two games and a VR world as well where they can then find their community within that VR world.

Thank you, Frank. The women have spoken, so now you may speak.

Bless you. As Orange County's worst Catholic, let me lean in and say, and that actually was declared by our local bishop. I think it's a really compelling idea. The pluses, you know, I think are obvious. The question I would have is if you look at the multiple platform model Is this a revival-like experience? Is there a spiritual aspect to it? Or is it— I mean, give me the elevator pitch of that.

Sure. I don't know if you were able to see Heather's show, Oratorio for Living Things, last spring, where it was all about science, but that was a spiritual experience.

Sam has seen a couple of Broadway shows.

So yeah, what I would say is that this is, this is not proselytizing. We're not trying to get, you know, not asking that. We're not asking for people to come into the fold of the Catholic Church. That's not what we're asking. And in fact, when I talk to people about it, I'm saying that they should have— when she talks about God, you should have your interpretation of what God is, whether it's the biblical God. For me, it's science. So my science is God, and so is Jones. If you read the, the, or if you experience the— when and if, when it gets, you know, when it gets on Broadway, you can— or it gets— I think you're more into the, the VR and XR.

So, um, just because I'm male, how do you know I don't identify differently? Just want to be right. You might, you might. Well, I think my issue was not to go down the road of the proselytizing and, and everything.

But it is very, very spiritual. Like, it does— Heather's music in and of itself moves you in a way that takes you to another dimension. She is magic. And I just also wanted to say too that I do have experience with another musical of doing this multi-platform approach. I'm doing this with another musical. I created a short that is going to be in the Cannes Film Festival in their animation day. So this is how I'm, this is how I'm going to operate. Everything that I'm going to write is going to be a multi-platform approach. So that I can reach my, my, um, my fan base where they're at. I'm now going to meet them where they're at, and I'm going to have it. And, and I, I've also like started to devise the, the, um, the business model where it's going to bleed into one another so that it will actually— I know that might seem like overwhelming, but it'll help.

And, and that's going to be my other point to you, um, the jargon like somebody's MBA friend decided to take a shot at the end of your presentation took away, I think, from the amazing start that you had and all that. So that, that is one thing. You're, you're a passionate person who's giving a compelling answer. Don't let it get thrown in things like LLCs, and that's not part of this conversation. So I just, I want you to think about that, and we will talk about it at the end.

Yeah, sure. Got it. Okay, we're— we are at time. So now this is the time where we talk about all of the shows, and we give our judges an additional 5 minutes to ask any question about any of the shows that they've seen in order to get their tallies together. So I will remind you of our 8 presentations. First, we have You, Me, I, We. 3 disembodied voices in Yume's head take a musical journey through her memories and intersect with the dance play of her life. We have Fixing Einstein. A neuroscientist facing a degenerative illness clones herself to continue her work and care for her unsuspecting family after she dies. But she doesn't die. Then we have The Book of Holding On. A 13-year-old girl terrified of change sabotages her best friend and family to keep her world from unraveling. Next we have In Between. Inspired by the universal elements earth, water, fire, air, In Between explores themes of passing over, rebirth, and self-discovery. Next we have Two and One, a Harlem musical with loose morals. I like saying that. It's the Harlem Renaissance, and Olivia is madly in love with white-passing flapper Irene. But when Irene schemes a sham marriage for money, Olivia must decide how much is enough for love. Next, we have The Path to Catherine, because no one becomes great on their own. And in this case, it took 3 strong women to make 1 great queen. Next up, Then She Ran. Give us a secret, we'll give you a song. And lastly, The Female Pope. A medieval woman's daring quest for an education drives her to disguise herself as a man igniting a chain of events that ultimately catapults her to the heights of the papacy, challenging the very foundation of history's most influential institution. There you have it. So please tally up your dollar— questions.

Oh, question. Don't do that.

Well, think about it as you're asking your questions, but don't do that yet. Yes, please ask us questions.

All of us.

I was just gonna go through my Sure, I'm just going to quickly— for all of the shows, this is the 5-minute part where they can ask a question of any show. Thank you.

So Frank, I was just going to go through and give my array of feedback. Should I do that for everybody?

We'll wait for that, Frank, when you are allotting your dollar. But before you allot, if you have any other questions— I'm ready to do that, but sure.

No, I'm good. Okay.

Okay, so we have 5 minutes to ask a question of any show.

Yeah, Liz.

Okay, I tried to— this was hard. I was trying to write follow-up questions while I was watching everyone's presentation, so I'm trying to make sure I get to them all. So for You, Me, I and We, Jessica, could you just briefly explain a little bit of again how you're going to sort of hold together the human interaction experience that's so important in live theater with the, you know, more abstracted dance element and then adding VR in. Like, again, I'm the old person, I feel like, who's like, I like human beings that are in front of me and like, you know, I can like relate to. So like, I get that these things are important to bring in new technologies, but how do you ground it in the human experience that makes theater theater, right? Like that creates the theatrical experience.

Absolutely. So I do imagine like that the musical element is live. It's like you're able to walk into almost like a— not necessarily, you know, it's not like a one-on-one concert, but it is a bespoke concert for the, for the audience. So you walk into the space and these musicians are live, the actors are live in your space. And these, the 3 women playing You, Me and I are walking through the space. The musicians are physically in the space, and then the dance elements are the AR or XR. So whether or not those are in projection mapping or in my dream of dreams holograms, that you are able to wander through these and it is a physical experience for you.

Great. Thank you. Great. Next question.

Okay, well, we're going to let you go off and do your judgy thing now. And figure out how you're going to divide up. As a reminder, you literally can break up that dollar any way you want. Edo will do the math in the background for you if you do it by percentages, as some people want to do. And go ahead. Let's all—

Oh, did you have a question, Liz?

Yeah.

How much time do we have?

You have about 3 minutes, Tom.

3 minutes? Oh my God. Yes.

But you're all good at math. We have faith in you.

You can do it. And if not, we'll do the math for you.

And while, while, while you're doing it, I will slow down time a bit to take a minute to talk about what Apples and Oranges is up to next. We are so thrilled with this Theater Accelerator, this class with The Heroine's Journey. It met— it was beyond my expectations to bring together what an incredible group of, of people, not just women, I may add, and really just dissect story in a way that we never have before. So it's been super rewarding for me and I think for you, Tim, is that right?

Yes, it is. Excellent.

He's a man of few words right now. That's fine. But next up for us is an adjunct to what we are doing here at Theater Accelerator. We are going to Augmented World Expo. We've been invited to do a presentation there. And we are going to have a mini think tank, if you will, at AWE. And if you don't know about AWE, you can find it online. awe.xr, I think, is the website there. It is an expo where we talk about all things new tech and all of the, all of the elements that you may have heard about today that you didn't know about. That's what AWE is all about. It's the new tech meets, for us, meets storytelling, which is why we're so honored to be part of AWE because part of our mission is to get storytellers into the conversation of tech as we move forward and in generative AI and all of these new technologies that are going to change our worlds, our working lives drastically. We want the artists at the forefront.

Speaking of artists, oh yes, we have an artist that's done augmented and virtual reality sitting right next to me.

That would be me. Yeah, believe it or not, little old me. I'm, I'm doing a show. Yes, you are doing a show.

Years ago, when our son was born, Pamela created a stage show called Change Happens, which chronicled her life, and it has continued to grow and is a wonderful stage show. We have taken the learnings from the past couple years and built it now into a virtual reality experience as well. And Pamela and all our avatar-ness wearing headsets and cables wrapped up and wired around all of her. The interesting thing for us is, as many of these shows have talked about, is creating a multigenerational path to bring people into the theatrical landscape that we all love so much. And luckily Pamela is super technical, so the challenge of getting her into that space was nonexistent. And I say that with love because she is an artist first and foremost, and is sharing with other artists how they can, can they, they can do the same. So look forward to some in-person, in-theater, as well as XR change happens experiences coming your way.

Thank you, Tim. And one last bit of news from us. Our STEM-loving musical Winter Lights is happening again. We got picked up for a second year at the Discovery Cube. We're so proud of it. It really promotes STEM in young women, and it's all the themes that we've been talking about today that I'm so passionate about. And we're just delighted that we're coming back to Orange County in a big splashy way, coming your way in December. And with that, I think we are ready to allot our virtual dollars. Frank, you seemed eager, so I think I'm going to pick on you. First, mute myself. There we go.

Um, first, I would give all my money to Winter Lights just to curry favor with the Kashanis, but I'm not. I'm gonna actually go elsewhere. And second is, I, I'm not gonna do the judge cop-out of, oh, everybody's gonna get 12.5 cents, or whatever the number comes out to be. That would be right. And, and one of the reasons I want to pick the ones that I want is because every group— I've been through this multiple times. Each time, certain things stick out to different people. And so it's cool to get feedback from people who are really engaged in what you're doing instead of someone who's trying to make you feel good. And so Tim, as Tim knows from our college days forward, forward. I never focused on making people feel good. I focused on respecting them and giving them good feedback. So that's my cop-out. So we go through, Jessica, a couple of things. Upbeat presentation. I really want to have you tune up your ask and make that happen. On fixing Einstein, that's really compelling. It didn't make my dollar list, but I I like to only choose 3, and I will say you were number 4 of the ones that I picked. I actually really like where you're going with it. The Book of Holding On, I was a little confused on the pitch on the way, so I didn't probably tie to that one as much as I should have. In Between, I like anything Australian, but again, for me, the ask is where you need to tune on that. Then the Harlem Musical, I'm giving you guys 25 cents of my dollar, primarily because I think that you can take resources and go out and make something happen. I'm very excited about you doing what I think some other people recommended, and to— which is just kind of get out there and be you guys in public. I think that's going to be even better better than your concert. I think it was Elizabeth or Patricia who said something about that. I forget who, but that was one of the more compelling feedback that, that we got. And I'm going to go back to again applaud your parents, the Kashanis. That ask was so clean, and I think that's really good. Um, uh, the Path to Catherine— boy, I really love the lead coming into it. The ask I was having a little bit of struggle with per se, but I awarded it 25 cents because I think if you could suck out the brain of Shannon a little bit and kind of rethink a little bit of what's going on there, that you're— that the story as introduced, particularly your lead-in at the beginning, I, you know, it brought me in immediately, and then kind of petered toward the end. So that was why I put you at the 25 cents. And then out to Cat, Then She Ran. I liked that it was compelling. I didn't relate to it. And so it wasn't necessarily the thing I want. But I thought your presentation was really well done. I, my dog, I have two daughters who are probably about your guys's age. And they would kick my ass for for saying that. But, you know, so the one thing I have learned about kind of that whole, the younger age group in there, I have a daughter who's a programmer up at a company called Stripe. And she's had imposter syndrome forever. And we talked about it all the time. And what I was trying to explain to her last night, I'm going through my own stage. And I talked to my daughters and she said, Dad, you don't even know what imposter syndrome is. I said, my wife started laughing, it's your dad's whole life. So, you know, my point is keep going. I thought that was good. And last but not least, uh, as the worst Catholic, the female Pope really kind of captured what I want. I'm giving it 50 cents. Um, I'm, I would rip the jargon from your presentation and your mouth because it, it's so not you compared to the compelling component of what you're doing. Very excited to see where you guys end up with that. And with that, I'm off.

Wonderful, wonderful, Frank. Thank you so much. And this is now number 12 for you. Hopefully there'll be a 13th time you can do this. But until that time, we'll go to Patricia. How are you going to allot your change, please?

Well, I'm taking an opposite approach to Frank.

That's perfectly great.

Because my feeling is that out of all of these presentations, say, the fact that you made it to this point is quite an accomplishment and therefore all deserving of something. So given that, I've divided my dollar as follows. You, me, I, we. I love the— I come from a dance background. I love The dance, and I'm very excited to see who you partner with and, you know, what you do with it. I think it was a lovely presentation. I'm going to give you 12 cents. Fixing Einstein. I am really fascinated with the theme of what you are creating there and the questions, the ethical questions that that come along with that, with that theme. So I'm giving you 15 cents. The Book of Holding On. What I loved in the Book of Holding On was the fantasy you were creating with the technology. Some of the imagery in your presentation was absolutely stunning, and I applaud you for that. Being more in the Liz camp of being older and technology is a little different for me. What you did was glorious. So, but I, you know, it was not necessarily something that resonated as much with me. I'm giving you 5. In between, I'm also giving you fine. I was a little confused by the presentation, to be honest. It, in the end, it wasn't really, I couldn't grasp onto what the big picture was. I got the various elements, you know, and you were very heavy on the different elements, earth, water, fire. I'm missing one. But as a complete project, I was not as clear. Two in One, a Harlem— Two in One, a Harlem musical with loose morals. I am giving you 25. I'm really excited about this story. And to see where you go with it. I think there's so much potential, and, you know, just that era alone has always intrigued me. And to bring some new voices into it, you know, because we're all kind of stuck on The Great Gatsby, which there's 500 presentations now that it's in the public domain. Everyone's doing a Great Gatsby. It would be really nice to see something other than white men, you know, inhabit that era. So I agree, and I'm very excited, and I'm giving you 25 cents. The Path to Catherine, um, fascinating story, really intrigued by history. Um, your presentation was, uh, really excellent. I'm giving you 13 cents. Uh, "Then She Ran," fascinating. Also beautiful presentation and the passion of the women involved in this project. Kat and Alex is glorious and comes across, and that's what really sells the project is your passion. "Twelve Cents," and finally, "The Female Pope," again, historical. Love the story of the young girl going as a boy and what the repercussions of that is. It sounds like a fascinating story. 13 cents, I think that adds up to a dollar, virtual dollar, if my math is correct. I will say to all of you just one final thing, and I'm echoing Frank a little bit. Don't— make sure your ask is strong and clear. And also don't shortchange yourself. If you ask for $10,000, you get $5,000. If you ask for $15,000, you may get $10,000. You know, so, and there's always unexpected costs when you're doing a concert and then you try to turn that concept of that concert into something, you know, that could air on a platform. There's editing costs. There's this, and this stuff is very, very expensive unless you have a lot of dear friends who are really, really talented and are willing to do it pro bono. But don't shortchange yourself, and if you come in under budget, everyone's going to love you anyway. So there's always that. So just think about that when you're looking at your presentations.

Thank you, Patricia. I couldn't agree with you more. It's really great advice, and we're so happy that you're here giving it to our cohort. I'm sure they really appreciate it. Okay, we're next up, we have Jonathan.

Hi. Yeah, wow. Um, this has been such an absolute pleasure. These projects are all really fascinating, really engaging, um, very distinct and diverse. Um, I just want to echo what Patricia said about not selling yourself short. Um, I definitely felt like I wanted to hear more about what your big idea was if money was not the first concern, and then work your way backwards so that we could hear about how you would get there. And also to say, these are the things that I know, and we know how to do this, whether it's we know how to do it for on a shoelace, and what we are excited about is partnering with somebody who helps us figure out how to do this big idea that we're going to throw out there. And we don't know how to do it, and that's why we want to partner with people or institutions or raise money to be able to do that. So just encourage that. And I think XR really fits in well with projects that are ambitious because you can figure out how to break the laws of gravity or physics or show us something we've never seen before that feels like we're in the room with it, whether it's through augmented reality, projections, virtual reality. So with all that said, I think the projects for me that I really gravitated towards were the ones that kind of had a mix of all of those things. So they kind of run through them. You, me, I, we. I'll first say disclaimer, I was certainly excited to see my castmate, Celia Mae Rubin, in this production.

Very, very excited.

And also the music really, really, I felt like captured something really strong about how to marry dance with the musical storytelling. I would just push back a little bit about the decision to keep the dancers only in the virtual space and think about how it doesn't have to be an either/or, that there may be a way that you set that up as a rule and then break it with physical dancers in the space. If you are going to have them just virtually represented, are there ways that they're not just recognizable human forms, but that can take multiple forms? You're taking motion capture data and displaying it in ways that can be unexpected and sort be able to create a really exciting visual space. So for that one, I awarded 20 cents. Fixing Einstein, again, as others have said, really compelling subject matter. I was left a little bit with some questions around characters and motivations and kind of how some of the lead characters' choices felt grounded and real and how to kind of follow some of that narrative. So I, you know, I'd probably have more questions down the line about that and a little bit about the choice of having so much focus on the film and the cost of the film. Are there ways that part of it's about getting more information about it out there? Do you have to do a full film or would there be ways to do small clips or cuts from it that would live asynchronously that people could engage with it and do something more fleshed out live? And that I awarded 5 cents. In between, I, you know, others have said they were a little lost with what the narrative was in the story. I was as well, but my first question was, is this a song cycle? And I actually think maybe a way to do it is to lean into it being a song cycle and not worry so much about having to have a traditional narrative. Maybe the way that the heroine's journey is in there for you is about sort of bucking that and making it something that's less narrative, more environmental. I don't know what that is, but I'd be curious with the strength of the music to see where that goes leaning into the music. And that I awarded 5 cents. For Two in One: A Harlem Musical with Loose Morals, beautiful music. I wish I could have heard a little bit more of it in there, which just is to say everything that I heard, I found myself perking up with. The two of you presented really, really well. And again, a great time period to be investigating and characters from that time period that we don't hear enough of. Totally agree with that assessment. So I awarded that 20 cents. And— oh, one, here we go. The path to Catherine. Yeah, Catherine's backstory. There's so much about her sort of flying around that it's fascinating to hear things about her that I I thought I knew that I didn't know. I got a little bit lost on what you wanted to do with it and why and sort of how the video director fit in and how that would sort of help you get to your goal of licensing. So I sort of got a little bit lost in kind of where you're going and how you're going to get there. And that I awarded 5 cents. Then She Ran, again, great pitch video. I think you've got lots of different ways that you're starting to think about how this could be a very engaging experience for people, whether it's a traditional narrative narrative, or whether it's a more environmental and interactive thing. I don't think they're necessarily either-ors. I definitely think it's a great thing for a place like Ars Nova. I think that's really smart. Yeah, I found that would just be a really strong presentation, so I awarded 20 cents. And finally, the female pope, speaking of Hadestown, Heather Christian, amazing artist to partner with. I probably have just some questions about about what the priority is since it is multi-platform. Is there sort of an order of operations that you're going to tackle first since there's only so much of you to go around at any given time? Because I think all the ways that you're thinking about it are very viable and can work well together. So I'm sort of— I got the big picture really clear with this one, and so I wanted more details about how to juggle the working on something that really could excel very well on a multi-platform environment and leverage technology. But it really seemed like I, I trusted that you had a clear idea how to do it, and we're working with people who could get you there. Um, so that awarded 20 cents as well. So again, great job everybody, really, uh, very inspired. Thank you.

Hey Jonathan, I think you also awarded 5 cents to The Book of Holding On, correct?

I did, I did. Did I skip over that? I'm like flipping through my notes. Um, I did, I'm so sorry. Book of Holding On, yes, I did award 5 Yes, I know, I'm flicking through my notes and I'm so sorry, Sarah, I skipped over that. Yeah, I thought especially that the thoughts about how to reach out to your audience were really strong. I wasn't as clear about maybe some of the narrative elements, although there were little breadcrumbs that I wanted to know more about, like the whole element with fables with animals, a sort of very interested about how that plays out, what opportunities there are to engage through that. Yes, 5 cents as well for that.

Wonderful. Thank you, Jonathan. Well, well done.

Yeah, I mean, you can't leave out a hoarding squirrel.

No, no, no. As someone who, who definitely loves animals and plays them for a living, I definitely love that. For sure.

All right, Liz.

I'm like still doing the math. Okay, people, we can help you with the background. I know I'm a commercial producer, but I'm still doing the math. I'm like changing it as I go through.

Where's the general manager when you need one?

I don't believe in passing it off to the general manager. You gotta do the work yourself. First of all, congratulations to everyone. I am a believer in giving everybody something something because you guys have done extraordinary work. Just getting this far is so important and really such a big risk and risk-taking for you guys to put yourselves out there and to be judged, which I think is sort of a little harsh. But, you know, that's all right. It's also important because I hear what Tim and Pam are saying is you got to get feedback and it's important to know sort of where you are. So I gave everybody 6 cents. So that's sort of how I made myself feel better in knowing that like every project deserves to continue because it's subjective. You know, we're not building widgets. We're not making something that everybody is just gonna be like, I know what that is. It's gonna speak to somebody. So don't lose your faith or your hope in your project because just find your people, find your, you know, creative team and your audience. Because I'm sure they're out there. So I did hone in on 3— so I didn't break it down by show. I wasn't really going to go through each show. Sorry, I'm doing it a different way. So there were 3 pieces I felt like, boy, they have a lot of potential. They, again, speaking from a commercial theater sort of lens that I was trying to sort of think things through, there were shows where I was like, you know what, you have to do what you really connect with. As for me as a commercial producer, I cannot produce something that I'm not like, I get this and you don't want me to produce it if I don't get it. Okay. So like, I will now like filter through on things that I'm like, I can see where that's going and what it is. So I gave 7 cents to You, Me and I and We. I thought there was something so compelling about it. Enjoyed it. There was a lot of exciting elements. I have sometimes had trouble connecting more to dance pieces or that incorporate dance. I'm always trying to figure out like how I can understand the narrative better because I'm a story person. But you're doing wonderful work and like I said, everybody's doing wonderful work, but this is sort of one tier. The— I had the path to Katherine I just love the story. I love that it's female-centered. I think you guys have done a lot of work on it so far. It felt very polished. You're pretty far along in that sense of like where you are production-wise. I can't see you, so I'm looking for you. Oh, there you are. Hi, Patricia and Jan. So I gave you guys 7 cents because I think you guys have a lot of potential to get to like a commercial arena. With your story. So, and then Book of Holding, I also felt like there was just something really compelling there. So I gave that show 7 cents. It was felt like the mental health issue I think is incredibly important right now, especially for teenagers. I think they feel like not heard in so many ways. And I just think it's an area that people are just not very afraid to sort of touch and go to. And there's a lot of complicated things about it. You know, for me, I'd love to see a little more of the grit in that piece, you know, and the darker side of what struggling with mental illness can really mean, especially for young people, because they kind of go to the darkest places sometimes with that. So then I did award two shows, Let me look at the map. 10 cents. Those shows are 2 in 1. I thought that that just seems like a really compelling, very polished, very clear path. What you guys want to do with that show really, really compelled by your work, your presentation, the, you know, and you guys are really exciting artists and a story that I think really needs to be told. And then, Shiran, I awarded you also 10 cents. There you are. I really— your piece speaks to me. I just love it. Like, the ideas around it and the visual compelling, you know, moments were— I thought the bone crew idea is just really exciting. I do think it has a lot of potential. Don't sell yourself short. Again, like, please, just because it seems like it could really be something visually and emotionally powerful, and I want you to have all the tools that you can to tell that story that way and not edit yourself. And then I gave one show, Eleven Cents, which is the female pope. I am a fan of this show, full disclosure. I do know this show and I think it's incredibly compelling. I think the subject matter is really exciting. I think the storytelling and the music are really great and it has a potential to be on a great trajectory. Again, don't sort of— you've got a lot of balls in the air, Shannon. You want to cover a lot of territory. Focus, you know, people focus your narrative to the people who you're talking to that, you know, are going to like sort of buy that, right? Like, I'm the live theater person. So, you know, the VR is great, but like, I just want to know how you're going to tell that live theater story. I just want to say that, you know, the other two shows, In Between and Fixing Einstein, you guys are really incredibly compelling. And that's why I wanted to give everybody at least something because your stories are great. I was less clear on the pitches for those two shows and the subject matter wasn't quite as something as, you know, sort of resonant for me specifically. And again, you wouldn't want me working on that show because I wouldn't know how to help you create the best show because as a producer, I believe we're intrinsically involved in crafting a piece from the ground up. It's why I do theater and I don't do other entertainment mediums because I can be a part of the creative process in some meaningful way.

I think that was a dollar. Was that a dollar?

I think you have a little change in your pocket right now. Throw it to you.

You can compare to— let me ask the question.

Did you want to add 6 cents to everyone? Is that what you were saying?

So yeah, like that's a base. I had tiers. I did it in tiers, like 6 cents to everybody, and then that's perfect.

And then you're adding on top with 10 cents. And the 11 cents. So we're gonna have our, um, backstage wizards figure that one out. But thank you so much, Liz. Amazing feedback. Thank you. And now we have our friend Ivan. What'd you think?

Well, first of all, I was blown away by everything. Everything— there was creativity, there's innovation applied in all different levels. And so I want to congratulate each one of teams for putting on an incredible show. So one of the things I look at it, and you have to look at it from my perspective of as a one-time at this point Broadway musical producer, but mainly a film producer, the visuals really stimulate me. I get really excited when I see something that excites me. So when I looked at each of the pitches and thinking about the pitches, I'm running through almost kind of my list of criteria. So I'm a chemical engineer in background. I'm looking at each dimensions. And in essence, what I found is each of the pitches had their high points and other pitches had some other high points. But at the end, for me as a producer, and particularly a commercial producer, two things that hit me is that, is this material, this story, is this, this project gonna, as Elizabeth just said, excite me? Is, and more importantly, is it going to excite people to buy a ticket? I make it to? In essence, can I talk to an investor to put money in something and with full faith and confidence that I believe there is going to be someone making their money back and meeting the breakpoint? So these are the lenses I create primarily because most of my work is as an executive producer. I've got to raise capital, millions or whatever, and I've got to talk to people, their face. I believe in this project. I believe it has a pathway to Turning Black. So that's, that's criteria. So I'm like setting the bar. So for me, and then the other side of the quirkiness is I have this podcast that loves quirky, weird stories, interesting stories from history. So I have this grounding in history. So given those frameworks, given those criteria, when I looked at it like Elizabeth and I think others, I kind of wanted to give— I felt everyone deserves some part of my dollar. So again, kudos to everyone. But when I looked at the elements, the ones that really brought out the spark, the excitement of what I saw, where I think it could go, I kind of put it in tiers, kind of a tiering structure. So from that standpoint, I had this tier of the 15-cent contribution that I'd like to offer to the Two-in-One Harlem Musical Loose Moral. A story that is grounded in a historical element, but the other side of it, the power of the presentation to me really hit it right in the ballpark for me, really hit it right in the spot where I could say as an investor, I understood what the money's gonna be used for, where it's gonna go. So kudos to you. The other 15-cent focus was you, me, I, and we. Jessica, I have a couple nonprofits that I'm very focused around dance and movement and using the AR/XR technologies, mapping technologies. And really, I was stimulated by what you were— your vision and what you're thinking of taking that with the, what I call the performative subject matter of dancers in that space. So I gave you 50— awarded you 15 of my 15 cents of my dollar. The other one is The Path to Catherine. Um, you know, again, uh, I am a history freak and like it. I— these stories, like, great. Uh, Catherine, Helen Mirren— I, I can't get enough of this stuff. I literally have to hear it. And so you've done something with the story that we have heard before but in an innovative way, and I, and I liked your vision where you're going to take it. So kudos to you on that. The female pope. Gosh, I mean, here is like I'm going, what? That's a story I'm not familiar. Wow. I want to understand that. There's a surprise, a suspense. I want to hear it. I believe it will resonate. I know from my podcast these kind of stories really light up the dashboard and getting people excited. So, Shannon, kudos to you. $0.15. But the one really put me in again in another league was that then she ran. Man, I'm just like sitting here as a commercial guy and going, wow, there's so many things that this thing can ring the cash register on. And I'm getting excited by seeing it. And the, the opportunity by which you want to explore it and exploit it gets me as an executive producer kind of guy really excited and thinking about all the different ways to take a very unique story. And I think of the young people How, as a theater, we go, we think of theater, what's the demographic? I want to, I really want to power into building that demographic up. I work with symphonies, uh, in Orange County, uh, and we've got to change the demographic coming into the theater space. We have to. So Dear Evan Hansen, this type of show, I think, has that possibility. Um, and then, um, basically the book of holding Great. The subject matter, I'm working actually looking at a theater show called The Notebook about Alzheimer's, but that aspect of the mental illness element, really powerful. I was probably a little concerned maybe that if there's, you know, there's a kind of this almost kind of the maybe less than positive side of it, but there is a positive side. How does that blend together? The subject matter, the seriousness, the which is important. But again, I want people to go to the theater— for me, I want to come out uplifted and feeling hope and promise. Um, but anyway, I awarded you, um, 10 cents on my dollar. Um, and then, uh, Fixing Einstein, I, I, I really thought it was quite innovative. I was probably not— I was having a little trouble following exactly what the story elements are, and that's just probably me, you know, I'm just not getting it, but But again, kudos to you for coming up with some quite innovative concept. I just wasn't clear in my head completely. So I awarded you $0.10 on my dollar in that. And then I think that in Alanya, in between, I'm a climate activist. I love it. I just really want to see you power it up and clarity around what the story is. The climate change issue is huge, and I think there is a strong feeder element to illuminating that story in a little more, I'd say, direct and fine-tuned manner with the elements earth, water, wind, and fire, or whatever. But again, I, I wanted to give you a contribution. Your concept, kudos for idea. I gave you my 5 cents. So there you go. That's how I looked at it. And thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

Thank you, Ivan. Thank you, judges. We're backstage feverishly doing math, and thanks, Liz, you gave them a little hard math to do, but I think they figured it out, which is wonderful.

And on that note, looking over here at the numbers, it was very, very close, which says that you've all done an incredibly, incredibly good job. We— it was Female Pope and Two and One were slightly took the edge with a Female Pope taking the most scents on there. But we had a very little differentiation on all of them. So let's bring everybody back to the stage now. Turn on your cameras, come back, and we will celebrate the absolute amazing work that we have all done on this. And huge thank you to our judges for joining us today and coming up with all of that amazing feedback. Pamela, I'm going to turn it to you to send us home.

What a blast to be with you all through the last 3 weeks and for our judges to be with you here today to share these stories. We're delighted you are all here. We're excited to see where these shows are going to go in the future. And for everyone watching, thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing you again. And have a wonderful day. Thanks, everyone.