Download The Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival

For Immediate Release:
The Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival
Producers Vatican Lokey* and Edward R. Cox* are thrilled to announce The
Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival, April 7th and 8th at the new
Gretna Cultural Center for the Arts in Old Gretna, LA. The Festival, a project
that the Messrs. Lokey & Cox have been working on for over six years, presents
two brand new musicals over two nights in staged concert readings: Move It,
And It’s Yours! By Bill Weeden, David Finkle, and Sally Fay, April 7th at 7:30pm;
and Gumbo by Brett Macias and New Orleans writer Christina Quintana, April 8th
at 8pm.
The two shows are winners of the Mainstreet Musicals annual competition.
Established in 1984 by Broadway veteran Timothy Jerome, Mainstreet Musicals
takes dozens of applications each year for all-new music theatre scripts and puts
them through a rigorous adjudication process with some of Broadway’s biggest
names, selecting three shows to be sent out across the United States and
Canada to be performed in staged readings: minimal sets and costumes, a single
piano, and the audience. The actors perform the show with their scripts and
scores in hand, bringing the essence of these winning productions to audiences
and theatrical producers that otherwise would never have the opportunity to
enjoy. Currently, The Gretna Mainstreet New Music Theatre Festival is the latest
entry onto the Mainstreet Musicals festival circuit of 20 American and Canadian
cities.
For our first year, the GMNMTF will enjoy some of the brightest professional and
community talents in the city. Film and television star Lance Nichols* heads the
Festival casts alongside AEA actors Idella Johnson*, Ronald Flagge*, Wendy
Miklovic*, Soline McLain*, and Donald Lewis*, as well as Big Easy Award
winner Michael Sullivan, current Big Easy Award nominee Preston Meche II,
and New Orleans stage and music stars Givonna Joseph^ and Aria Mason^
(of OperaCrèole,) Eric “Shoeless” Pollard, Nori Pritchard, Greg Nacozy,
Annette Foulkes, Keith Beverly, Nathaniel Jackson, Kebron Woodfin, Evan
Autin, and Marigold Pascual. The production manager for the Festival is
Stacey Morigeau.
( * denotes members of Actors’ Equity Association, the professional actors’
union.)
( ^ denotes members of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the professional
opera union.)
“Move It, And It’s Yours!” and “Gumbo” are presented under the auspices of
Actors’ Equity Association’s Members’ Project Code.
The Festival is made possible through the generosity of The Post Backstage,
NOLA Voice Theatre, and The City of Gretna. Tickets for The Gretna Mainstreet
New Music Theatre Festival are $15 each, with all proceeds benefitting the new
Gretna Cultural Center for the Arts, 740 4th St., corner of Huey P. Long Avenue
in Old Gretna. For tickets, go to shows.gretnacca.com.