Hart Island at Village Theater

In June, I was a part of the creative team as the choreographer for a new musical at the Village Theater in Issaquah, Washington. Here is a description from Broadway World:

Village Theatre will close out the 2019 Season of the Beta Series with Hart Island, an emotional tale of an immigrant woman fighting for her child, and the unexpected compassion of a disillusioned Rikers Island inmate who is the only person who can help her. This hauntingly beautiful new musical observes two people on the fringe of society as they change each other's lives forever. Written by Danny Haengil Larsen (composer & co-lyricist) and Michelle Elliott (bookwriter & co-lyricist), the show will run at Village Theatre's First Stage Theatre in Issaquah June 7-16, 2019.

Until a New York Times feature in 2016, Hart Island was one of America's best kept secrets. The largest potter's field in the United States, Hart Island is a public burial ground for New York City's unclaimed - people who experienced homelessness, immigrants, and stillborn babies, with burials performed by the incarcerated men of Rikers Island. In a system trying to literally bury the unwanted away from society, Hart Island is about two outsiders brought together by their shared grief and experience of the island which allows them to affect each other in a positive, redemptive, and healing way.

Village Theatre artistic director Jerry Dixon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) will direct the developmental production. Joining Dixon on the creative team is choreographer Amber Willett, music director Tim Symons (Into the Woods), scenic designer Christopher Mumaw (The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes, Newsies), costume designer Brynne McKeen, lighting designer Amber Lynne Parker, and sound designer Natalie Kinsaul.