Announcing a New Fellowship for Across a Crowded Room

“Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger/ You may see a stranger across a crowded room.” Doug Reside, curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division, had those lyrics from “Some Enchanted Evening” by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers in his head when he conceived of an incubator and networking event nearly ten years ago called Across a Crowded Room. 

After realizing that emerging musical theatre makers had little opportunity to meet each other in professional settings, Reside launched this incubator event to connect people working in the industry. Since 2014, this summer-long event has put lyricists, composers, bookwriters, and performers into a room to form connections, collaborate, and ultimately create new 20-minute musical theatre pieces to present at the Library for the Performing Arts. 

This year, for the first time, past participants of the annual Across a Crowded Room events were offered the chance to apply for a fellowship for the work created during any year of the event. That opportunity comes with $5,000 for a production budget to get the musical off the ground. 

Today we’re excited to announce that this inaugural fellowship has gone to the musical theatre collaboration of A.J. Freeman, Gil Varod, and Jonathon Lynch for their piece The Carousel of Inevitability and Certain Foreboding. This musical presents itself as the final ride of a classic mid-century World's Fair audio-animatronic stage show, centered around the joys of humanity's progress courtesy of a multinational conglomerate.  These animatronics appear friendly as they sing about their electric ovens, but it quickly becomes clear that their frequent mechanical failures indicate something far more horrific than faulty hydraulics.

The collaboration presented an early version of their musical-in-progress through an online event in 2020.

The fellowship panel review also awarded an honorable mention to A.J. Freeman and Kristoffer Bjarke for their musical Tomorrow. That performance follows a glamorous American actress performing on London’s West End as she grapples with issues of self-worth and meaning. When leaving the theatre one night, she finds herself lost in the thick London fog and meets several strangers along the way who change her perspective on fame, art, and connection. For this recognition, the collaboration will receive $2,500 to support a reading at the Library.

After this year’s Across a Crowded Room summer-long workshop, participants will perform their new work and solicit feedback from musical theatre professionals at a free event. All are welcome to join this presentation on November 19, taking place all day at the Library for the Performing Arts. Sets are performed from 11:00 AM to 1:15 PM, then after a short break from 2:00 to 4:30 PM. 

The Across a Crowded Room Fellowship was funded by Linda Feinstone and Jody Falco.

A.J. Freeman
A.J. Freeman is a writer, teacher, and performer originally from Los Angeles and now based in New York. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Theatre Now New York Writers Lab. A.J. has worked for over 12 years in educational theater, directing dozens of full-scale productions (favorites include The Secret Garden, Into the Woods, The Pirates of Penzance, White Christmas, and The Boy Friend), and running her own literacy-based musical theater nonprofit for underserved students. Through this program, The Troupe, thousands of children in schools across Los Angeles received free reading books and theater workshops.

Jonathon Lynch
Jonathon Lynch is a songwriter and music director who wrote the musicals "The Baroque Cycle" (which played at New York Theatre Festival's Winterfest), "Peter and the Pied Piper"(with Holly Hepp-Galvan, Lincoln Center's Summer in the City series), "Again and Again and Again" (with Gil Varod, development fellowship winner, Unsung Musicals Co), "Time Travel Makes Complete Sense" (with Kit Goldstein-Grant & Gil Varod, Bruno Walter Theater), and "Slam!" (with Danielle Trzcinski, Soundbites musical festival 2013 finalist).

Gil Varod
Gil Varod is the bookwriter who also co-wrote Oedipus for Kids! which extended at NYMF, was featured in concert at 54 Below, is published by Sam French/Concord, and has had productions as far as New Zealand where they don’t even pronounce Oedipus correctly!  His musical Again and Again and Again was recently developed at UnsungMusicalCo’s 4-week intensive writer’s lab. Other works include time, et al (FringeNYC), The Commuters (Riant Theatre, 2 awards), RansomWHERE??! (Bite-Sized Broadway), Time Travel Makes Complete Sense and Musicals Will Save The World (Lincoln Center’s Across a Crowded Room festival), A Jury Line and The Zegend of Lelda (West Village Musical Theatre Festival; Best Musical/Lyrics/Book).

Kristoffer Bjarke
Kristoffer Bjarke is a composer and pianist originally from Seattle. He began his theatrical career in college, where he started his university’s first theater writing club and went on to co-write and produce three original musicals: Francesca, The Little Radio Girl, and Neurotistic. After graduating, he moved to New York City to join the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, eventually joining their Advanced Workshop, and has since had work produced by The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Theatre Now New York.