Musical Theater Writing Boot Camp
ADVANCED WRITERS LAB
Click below to skip to the following topics on this page:What is the AWL?
Levels of participation
Feedback in the AWL
What kind of work are we looking for?
Submission requirements and application
Directions
What is the Advanced Writers Lab?NOMTI's Advanced Writers Lab is a peer feedback group open to a limited number of experienced bookwriters, composers and lyricists working actively on a project.
Once an applicant is accepted to the Lab, a $250 annual fee, payable in installments, covers costs for either a single project with all of its collaborating writers as full participants, or a Primary Artist who may present material from more than one project, providing each project’s non-attending Collaborators agree to the participation guidelines.
The Lab meets year-round on the third Saturday of every month, 9am - 4pm, at Berklee College of Music, usually in room B-16 . Monthly attendance year-round is expected.
Monthly presentation of new work encouraged; a minimum of three presentations per year expected. Writers sign up in advance for presentation slots (length may be 30 minutes to 2 hours, as needed).
Up to four singers are provided per session with four 15-minute rehearsal slots available between 9 and 10am. Outside rehearsal may be arranged with the singers. Performers appearing in the Lab this year included Abby Cordell, Bob De Vivo, Alisa Miles, and Shannon Muhs, along with a number of other guests.
Submissions for the 2009-10 Lab are now closed until Spring 2010. Applications for the very limited number of places will be accepted at that time for the 2010-2011 Lab. Watch this space for developing details. In the meantime, see submission guidelines below.
Other submission dates may be announced if openings become available.
Primary Artist – the composer or bookwriter/lyricist who pledges to attend meetings every month, to present work at least 3 times per year, and to give and receive feedback according to AWL guidelines.
Collaborator – any other person working on the project with the Primary Artist. Collaborators have varying degrees of involvement in the AWL. Some come to every session, functioning much like Primary Artists.* Others sit in only when their own work is being presented and discussed. Others live too far away to attend except on rare occasions. When Collaborators are present in AWL, they are expected to meet the same standards for receiving feedback as a Primary Artist. Collaborators do not offer feedback unless invited by the Primary Artist whose work is being presented.
*A Collaborator who participates fully without paying a separate fee can only present work developed with their Primary Artist. Collaborators who wish to present another project must apply to AWL as Primary Artists in their own right and pay the fee of $250.
Auditor – during the 2008-09 year, AWL experimented by opening two places to auditors. There are presently no Auditors in the Lab; the program may be reinstated in the future based on the applicant pool. Auditors are invited to attend the AWL without presenting work. Artists who accept our invitation to be AWL Auditors must agree to attend the Musical Theater Writing Boot Camp (at the student rate), to attend all AWL monthly meetings (also at a reduced rate), and to accept the AWL feedback guidelines.
Feedback in the Advanced Writers LabAWL exists to forward the early development of new musicals. Therefore we admit Primary Artists on the basis of their projects (which typically involve other Collaborators) as well as the individual applicant’s artistic merit, experience and understanding of musical theater.
Primary Artists are expected to apply as a team with their Collaborators (one fee admits all collaborators on a single project). All Collaborators on the Primary Artist’s project must “buy in” to participation with the AWL and be willing to consider revising their work based on AWL feedback, whether or not they can attend regularly. In musical theater the book (story line), music and lyrics are so deeply interwoven and interdependent that feedback is rarely very useful unless all elements are part of the discussion. If your collaborators are not willing to consider revising their own contributions, AWL is not the right setting for you to develop your work.
We prefer projects in relatively early stages of development because in projects nearing completion, the artistic team tends to be less willing to consider revisions that affect the overall structure of the piece – which might be where the critical problems are.
Current members of AWL almost always find the group’s feedback helpful and empowering. We try to maintain a safe environment where we acknowledge and celebrate each other’s accomplishments while encouraging ever higher standards of work. Feedback begins by stating what worked well in the presentation. We typically ask the artist what kind of feedback would be helpful at this stage (or the artist comes with a list of questions) and try to focus on those issues. See Feedback Guidelines here.
Continued participation in the AWL is at the discretion of the Admissions Committee. The committee is charged with preserving the tone and standards we have set in this group.
What kind of work are we looking for?While we list below some of the things we consider when evaluating applicants to the AWL, the clearest sense of NOMTI's admissions criteria can be obtained by attending the Musical Theater Writing Boot Camp. NOMTI recommends that aspiring writers become thoroughly familiar with a majority of the books listed on our Resources page.
General:
Is the proposed project viable? Would a theater company ever do a piece like this? Do the authors have a clear idea of their intended audience?Is the proposed project one we want to spend hours listening to and discussing over the coming year or years? Is it substantially different from other projects already being developed in the group?
How far along is the proposed project? Is the entire work open to revision? Time in the AWL is at a premium and cannot be spent trying to respond to a work or a writer not really open to change, nor in perfecting individual moments of musicals whose overall conception may be seriously flawed.
Book:
Is the proposed project likely to develop as an effective piece of theater? Is there a clear story line? Distinct characters with clear objectives and power to achieve them? Stories in which every scene has a turn?Music:
Is the style of the music appropriate to the subject matter? Do we understand characters through their music as well as through their words? Is the music harmonically coherent? Is there variety in tempo, mood and ensemble from song to song? Is the composer able to use standard song structures to forward the story? Is the word setting natural and intelligible (stressed syllables on strong beats, long words like “dreams” on long notes)? Do the vocal lines show a knowledge of singing technique and vocal ranges?Lyrics:
Does the choice of words reveal character and motivation? Do the songs forward the story? Does the lyric contain imagery appropriate to the character and environment? Does the lyricist have control over the art of rhyming?Note:
While the proposed project may be at an early stage where these problems are not yet fully solved, we are looking for evidence in the work samples submitted that both the Primary Artist and Collaborators understand that these issues, at minimum, are critical to success and must be mastered.Applications for the 2009-2010 AWL must be emailed by September 1, 2009 to mwartofsky "at" nomti.org.
The application consists of a project proposal and supporting materials:
PROJECT PROPOSAL
- Completed application form
- Proof of adaptation rights if work is based on material not in the public domain
- Short project synopsis, including one-sentence summary
- Brief statement of how you are prepared for the AWL
- Brief statement of what you hope to accomplish
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
- Resume/list of past work (minimum expectation is a public staged reading of a full-length piece created by the Primary Artist).
- Completed collaborator agreement from each collaborator who will not be participating as a Primary Artist.
- Work samples (should be from proposed work, if possible; otherwise from past work)
Bookwriters / Librettists: Submit one complete scene with song, 10-15 pages.
Lyricists and composers: Submit mp3 recordings of 3 songs, with lyric sheets and context. If applying as a team (recommended), one selection should be the song from the scene submitted by the bookwriter / librettist. Choose songs with varied tempo, mood and voicing.
To clarify, if the composer's songs do not use words by the applying lyricist, the lyricist must also submit 3 work samples. We prefer recordings.
Applications will be reviewed by representatives from the NOMTI Board assisted by other theater professionals.
If you cannot meet the application's technological requirements or have other questions, please contact David Reiffel dreiffel "at" nomti.org in advance to discuss how to send your application in an acceptable format.
- Kevin Bleau (If You Want My Body)
- Steven Gilbane (Crazy Love)
- Deborah Henson-Conant (What the Hell Are You Doing in the Waiting Room for Heaven? This work has received two productions, and will receive a third in 2010.)
- Stephen Murray (Making Scents)
- Miriam Raiken-Kolb, Geralyn Horton (Precious Bane)
- Nancy Rexford, Charles Turner (The Princess and the Goblin)
- David Reiffel (Glory)
- Charles Turner, Juliet Lamb (The Guest)
- Michael Wartofsky (Running Back)
- Elliott Baker (That's Princess--with a P!)
- Kevin Bleau (If You Want My Body)
- Maggie Devine-Sullivan (The Malden Mills Project)
- Steven Gilbane (Crazy Love)
- Deborah Henson-Conant (What the Hell Are You Doing in the Waiting Room for Heaven? This work received its first production in August 2008 at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge)
- Amy Merrill (Silver Spoon)
- Miriam Raiken-Kolb (Precious Bane)
- Nancy Rexford (The Princess and the Goblin)
- David Reiffel (Glory)
- Charles Turner (The Princess and the Goblin, Molly Maddox)
- Michael Wartofsky (The Navigator)
Auditors:
- Adam Farouk
- Juliet Lamb
2007-08 participants:
- Elliott Baker (That's Princess--with a P!)
- Kevin Bleau (If You Want My Body)
- Maggie Devine-Sullivan (The Malden Mills Project)
- Deborah Henson-Conant (What the Hell Are You Doing in the Waiting Room for Heaven? This work received its first production in August 2008 at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge)
- Amy Merrill (Silver Spoon)
- Leah Miles (Various projects)
- Miriam Raiken-Kolb (Precious Bane)
- Nancy Rexford (The Princess and the Goblin)
- David Reiffel (Glory)
- Charles Turner (The Princess and the Goblin, Molly Maddox)
- Michael Wartofsky (The Navigator)
Directions to Berklee meeting space:
Room B16. Enter Berklee at the 150 Massachusetts Ave. entrance. Go down the stairs. Turn left, and go down the stairs again. Bear left, walking along a corridor lined with lockers. Go through the black door, past the elevator, and turn right. B-16 is at the end off the hallway on the left.
T stop: Hynes Convention Center
Parking: On-street parking is extemely limited. Allow at least 30 minutes to find a space (meters in effect through 8pm, 25c for each 15 minutes). Or park at any of the adjacent lots (on Hemenway or Boylston or on Dalton Street between Boylston and Scotia).
