> current works-in-development

BIG MONEY

The year is 1982. Three game show contestants battle it out for a fifty thousand dollar prize that they all desperately need. But one of them has a secret: after studying the game for years, he’s discovered the key to winning it. Based loosely on the true story of Michael Larson, the man who broke the bank on the game show Press Your Luck, it’s a funny, freewheeling rock musical about big dreams, big money, and big hair. It explores the ups and downs of the American Dream with a driving 80s synth-pop score. Written in collaboration with Nathan Leigh, it received a workshop presentation at Williamstown Theatre Festival in summer 2008 and at Ars Nova in early 2009 and is now gearing up for the next steps of development.
Listen to a song: Make Me Someone New

RIP ME OPEN

Written with Desiree Burch, Michael Cyril Creighton, and Brian Mullin.
Rip Me Open follows two wise-cracking, desperate souls as they investigate a strange sexual act in a case of threatened violence and psychosexual intrigue. It ran at Galapagos Art Space and Dixon Place. Gothamist wrote about it: "From start to finish, [it] zigzags from moments of hilarity to moments of deep sobriety... the thrill in watching it is observing the actors negotiate such tricky emotional terrain and often literary script while at the same time putting on an entertaining show, and seeing them succeed."

THE CONSEQUENCES

A new indie rock musical co-authored with Nathan Leigh. In the early stages of development, it's a bittersweet love story about high school sweethearts who meet again ten years later -- and begin to examine the way their lives have changed through each other's eyes. Workshop at Williamstown Theatre Festival, summer 2009.
Listen to a song: All That You're Touching is Skin

THE LIST

It's a darkly comedic thriller about a man who uncovers a host of terrible secrets when his father dies. Before he knows it, he's in way over his head. Leigh Silverman directed a reading of it at Playwrights Horizons in September 2007, starring a great cast including Colin Hanks.

HYPOCHONDRIA

It's a pulpy dark comedy about a hypochondriac, a serial killer, a detective, and a man who believes he's Marilyn Monroe.  HYPOCHONDRIA explores modern society's obsessions with celebrity, trauma, and tragedy with lying, killing, dying and a whole bunch of original rock songs. It's had a number of developmental workshops, at theaters such as The Vineyard Theatre, SoHo Think Tank, and Ars Nova, and is currently awaiting a full production.
Listen to a song: Mama I Wanna Be Famous