If you live in Los Angeles, or can get to LA one weekend a month, and you want to join the ANMT community of
bookwriters, lyricists, and composers, then the CORE
CURRICULUM is the place to start. The first part of ANMT's
famed Writers' Workshop, the Core Curriculum is where experienced writers and novice writers
alike begin,
concentrating on the unique vocabulary and collaborative
process of creating new musical theatre.
ANMT’s
exciting curriculum takes you from blank page to
stage in nine months. Along the way you’ll study and write charm songs,
ballads, duets, ensemble pieces, musical scenes, plus,
you’ll have a production of your original 15-minute-musical
in a professional theatre in Los Angeles.
Additional
craft lab sessions focus on the specific tools you will use
when you write your full-length musicals: adaptation, rhyme, structure, music notation, style,
spotting songs, prosody, character through diction,
progression, popular music vs. theatre music, plays vs.
musical books, etc (see more details in Lab section)
You’ll
write something new - with a different collaborator - every
month, and you’ll get direct, immediate, and honest feedback
from the ANMT staff.
Your
final collaboration is a 15-minute musical, which ANMT casts, directs,
rehearses and produces for you. It’s a very intense and memorable experience. You’ll write an original show for five specific
actors, and over the course of eight very active weeks,
you’ll write an outline and three drafts, receiving readings
and feedback at every step of the way, before your script is
launched into production. The annual 15 Minute Musicals
are a much anticipated sold-out event, attended by ANMT
bookwriters, lyricists, and composers anxious to check out the
new talent joining the community.
ANMT’s
Core Curriculum is run by internationally-acclaimed John
Sparks, who has conducted workshops in Los Angeles and Chicago
for thirty-five years, with support from Elise Dewsberry, who
for ten years ran Toronto’s renowned Script Lab. Lab instructors include Director of Music Curriculum
Ross Källing, and multiple Emmy-nominated Scott Guy, whose
musicals have been seen in Chicago, London, New York, Los
Angeles, San Francisco and beyond.
Beginning in the fall
of 2009, the
Core Curriculum will meet one weekend per month from
September to June.
Saturdays: 10am to 2pm
Sundays: 3:00pm to 8pm
Location: 5628 Vineland Ave. in North Hollywood
September
11 & 12
October 9 & 10
November 13 & 14
December 11 & 12
January 8 & 9
February 12 & 13
March 12 & 13
April 9 & 10
The 15-Minute Musicals
writing, revisions, rehearsals, and performances take place
from April 10 through (approximately) July 1st.
The fee for the Core Curriculum is $895, plus a minimum
of one of the three Craft Labs ($495 each).
Fees are payable in full in September, or in quarterly
installments (Sept. 15/Nov. 15/Jan.15/Mar.15). For Lab
schedules, CLICK HERE.
Testimonials for ANMT's Core Curriculum
"John Sparks is
a wonderful
teacher and was a real help
to
me.
I still think about things he said in that
workshop. He's a
real boon to people writing musicals."
Mark Hollmann
Tony Award-winning
composer, Urinetown
"I couldn't be
more impressed with the folks at ANMT. They are dramaturgs,
coaches, and teachers of the greatest, highest caliber. The
feedback they'll offer you on your work is astonishingly
insightful and detailed. I was amazed to find this level of
professionalism and intelligence about musical theater outside
of NYC. ...when they critiqued a project I wrote there, I
found 90% of their feedback right on the money and incredibly
helpful, and the project I was working on there grew by leaps
and bounds because of their input. I highly, highly recommend
getting their input on your new musical projects. Their teeth
are sharp as sharks', but they don't bite."
You can complete all or part of your application online by
clicking below:
Or, download an application
and submit it to us with your resume, and a sample of your
work.
Lyricists: include three sets of lyrics.
Composers: include a
CD or cassette of three musical selections and the piano/vocal
score for the same selections. If no lyrics exist, piano
score is sufficient, but no lead sheets please.
Bookwriters: include three writing samples of any kind
of writing (each sample should not
exceed ten pages).
If you are applying in more than one category, please send the
samples applicable to each category.
Send resume, application, writing samples, and a $60 application fee to:
ANMT
5628 Vineland Avenue
North Hollywood, CA 91601
The application fee will be
applied to your first year's dues if you are accepted into the
workshop. If you are not accepted, the fee will be
refunded.
Applications received by
July 1 will receive priority consideration.
The Craft Labs are specialized sections of the workshop, designed to
focus on particulars of each discipline. There’s one
for lyricists, one for bookwriters, and one for
composers. Labs are structured with small, bite-sized exercises that illustrate
and emphasize a particular aspect of craft. Some exercises will take place entirely within
the context of the lab itself; other exercises are
meant to be worked out on your own time.
Each
Core Curriculum participant attends a lab in at least one
particular area: music,
book or lyrics. You’re
allowed to take one, two or three labs, but the
workload gets fairly substantial, and most people
prefer to take only one in each particular year.
There’s
also a chance to take the Labs during the summer, for those who want to get
them out of the way and concentrate on the
Core Curriculum all by itself. We recommend this, if you can, as the
Core Curriculum workload can be significant. The
summer Labs can also be taken by people who are not
planning to take the Core Curriculum. For
information on the summer Labs, CLICK HERE.
The Book Lab is
designed as an introduction to writing the book of a
musical while also outlining the collaborative steps
involved in creating a new musical with the whole
team.
The Book Lab includes a series of six on-line video
lectures (The Idea, The Outline, The Rough Draft,
Adding Songs, Revisions, Finishing) with accompanying
handouts, tests, exercises, and assignments, along
with one-one-feedback. Topics covered include
theme, goals, character diction, exposition, pointing
forward, and much more.
All Core
Curriculum members specializing in the area of bookwriting are
required to take the Book Lab.
Structure
Rhyme
Character Through Diction
Spotting Songs
Progressions
The purpose of a song
in musical theatre
Which Structure to Use?
Writing with Parameters
Alternative Refrain Structure
Also: Interactive Tests,
Exercises, Assignments, One-on-One feedback with
evaluator
(The
Lyric Lab is offered on-line)
All Core
Curriculum members specializing in the area of lyrics are
required to take the Lyric Lab.
Style, melody,
prosody, harmony, rhythm, form, popular music vs.
theatre music, notation, accompaniment support from
the piano, chord symbols, and preparing a score for
rehearsal.
All Core
Curriculum members specializing in the area of composing are
required to take the Music Lab.
The Lab fee is $495 each.
It is possible to take more
than one Lab at a time, but
we discourage anyone from
taking three Labs at once
because the workload, along
with the Core Curriculum, is
just too heavy.
The Lab requirement for the
Core Curriculum can also be
satisfied during the Musical
Theatre Summer Boot Camp.
For the current Boot Camp
schedule, CLICK HERE.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Bookwriters, lyricists, and
composers who have successfully completed the Core Curriculum
(including at least one Lab, and a 15 Minute Musical) are eligible to
be invited to become a Member of the Writers' Workshop at ANMT.
The Writers' Workshop is a vibrant community of collaborators, and includes the Full Length Curriculum, the General
Workshop, and the Open Workshop. Writers' Workshop members are
also encouraged to write Guerrilla Musicals, and are considered for
the various producer-driven projects which come in through the
Developers' Workshop.
Bookwriters, lyricists, and composers who have successfully completed the Core
Curriculum, and been invited to join ANMT, will spend a season working on a full-length musical,
based on material from the public domain, under a set
of rigorous deadlines.
We give writers nine-months to go from initial idea to
first draft, guiding them at every step of the way. Before any songs are written, the collaborative team
submits an idea for approval, and then the staff leads the
project through a series of increasingly-detailed outlines.
Once the outline is approved (which sometimes takes
several drafts), writing teams begin presenting songs and
scenes in structured, twice-monthly workshops.
Teams which complete a full first draft of their musical
by mid-April receive the greenlight for a lightly rehearsed
reading and staff assessment as part of the annual 1000 Minutes of
Musical Theatre.
General Members of the Academy for New Musical Theatre are
invited to bring in projects of their own choosing in their
own timeframe.
Projects range from standard musicals to opera, children’s
shows, avant-garde pieces, contemporary, religious and just
plain bizarre. At ANMT, we believe that whatever you want to
write is fine with us: we’re here to help you make it the best
that it can be.
General Members also have access to monthly sessions
specializing in Book, Music, and Lyrics, and are automatically considered for projects we
are developing for producers.
"John Sparks is
a wonderful
