RisCassi and Davis have long supported charities doing meaningful work in our communities. In 2011, the firm is extending its support to yet another important project – the Festival of New Artists at Goodspeed Musicals.
The Festival, to be held January 14-16, 2011 at The Goodspeed is a unique collaboration with emerging writers and The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. This will be the sixth annual Festival and is a culmination of a two-week-long residency for new artists. Three teams of writers and composers, joined by senior students from The Hartt School, continue the development of new musicals through staged readings that are performed to the general public on the Opera House stage. In addition to the staged readings, festival-goers are treated to a Symposium, a Cabaret, a Meet-the-Writers Dinner as well as break-out sessions.
In addition, for the past two years, Goodspeed’s Festival of New Artists has featured a Symposium, which will be held on January 15, 2011. This includes a panel of major artists (writers, producers, directors, and performers) who are currently developing new musical theatre projects and represented by productions on Broadway and across the spectrum of theatres in the United States and worldwide. The 2011 Festival Symposium will feature the creative team of the Sister Act. Composer Alan Menken, lyricist Glenn Slater, and book writers Bill and Cheri Steinkellner will discuss the development of the musical. Sister Act recently closed after a successful run on London’s West End where it played for over 600 performances for nearly one million people. A new Broadway adaption of the Sister Act will open on April 20, 2011.