Hello- Izzie here- welcome to our fundraising campaign!

We are raising funds for a workshop of a one-person musical that encompasses all things from neurodivergence, flawed families and of course bean bag races.

Let's talk shop.

What?

Basil's sister is missing...

After being made redundant from the laundrette, they have a lot of free time.

With a passion for fixing things, they decide to take matters into their own hands. Basil may not like change, loud noises, or bus journeys, but nothing will stop them from collecting evidence and finding their sister.

MY SISTER IS MISSING is the new British thriller musical comedy that puts a nonbinary protagonist centre stage. This one-person musical explores how Basil's view of the world is impacted by their neurodivergence, with care. From humble beginnings, writer and composer Izzie Winter created the musical to ensure their own graduation from drama school. An early version of the musical was previewed at the Pen Theatre as part of their season 'Queer Up', and later premiered at the Drayton Arms earlier in the year. Since then, we have assembled a fantastic creative team to workshop the musical over 5 days in October. We will perform the musical to a closed industry audience on the final day.

Who?

We are delighted to share our director, Georgie Rankcom (they/them), who is a London-based theatre director specialising in new musicals and reimagined revivals. Recent work includes the OFFIE nominated 'Anyone Can Whistle', 'You Are Here' and 'Before/After' (Southwark Playhouse), 'Help! We Are Still Alive' (Seven Dials Playhouse), 'Perfectly Ordinary' (Hope Mill Theatre). With their company 'The Grey Area', they have worked as a dramaturg on numerous new musical theatre projects currently in development.

Our movement director is none other than William Spencer (he/him). Two-time Offie nominated, Will has worked with West End creatives such as Carole Todd, Steven Dexter, Bronagh Lagan and Nick Winston. Most Recently his movement direction of 'A-Typical Rainbow' received critical acclaim at the Turbine Theatre.

Other choreographic and directorial credits include The ‘Supermarket Suite’, 'Don’t Play That Song Again', 'Next Thing You Know', 'Gradfest’s Showcase', 'Frostbite', 'Queereteria TV', 'Diary of a W*nky Actor', and the cabaret show 'Cut Before Curtain Up' all in London’s Off-West End.

Providing book and lyrics is Izzie Winter (they/them). Izzie graduated from drama school this year. Since graduating, their theatre credits include ‘Four Miles’ at the Pen Theatre and ‘What’s Wrong With Me?’ at the Lion and Unicorn. With screen credits including 'Bea' in 'Today I Will Marry You' and 'The Ghost' in the music video 'for when i sleep'- the title track from their debut EP (available on all streaming platforms). Izzie will portray the character of 'Basil' in 'MY SISTER IS MISSING.'

If we raise enough money, we look forward to expanding our team further!

Why?

A little note from the writer:

At the beginning of 2022, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I have always found the world- in how it is set up presents all sorts of challenges for me on a daily basis. From the extraordinary sensory input from taking a simple bus ride, to keeping track of the days of the week. I wanted to write a character authentic to my own experience: Basil is nonbinary and neurodivergent, two things very underrepresented in musical theatre, but alMY SISTER IS MISSING so two elements of my own experience. Growing up, I didn't have the vocabulary to describe how I felt about my gender, I didn't see myself reflected on stage. Frankly, there need to be more trans/nonbinary characters in musical theatre, written to have as colourful and authentic lives as we live off-stage.

But beyond these things, put simply, is a story about what it means to care about someone, so much that you would go to the ends of the world to help them when they are in trouble.

What we need:

Just a little bit of time.

We will workshop the musical over 5 days, focussing on developing the musical ready for the stage. The money we raise will be used directly to pay our team fairly for their time- following equity rates as a base minimum and hiring the space to allow us to rehearse. On the fifth day, we will present the production to a closed audience. Having already gone through an R&D period focussed on audience and industry feedback, and adjusted our script accordingly, we just need this time to focus on getting our show ready for audiences!

With cuts to arts funding, making new theatre is more difficult than ever, with the workshop under our belt, we will be ready to share the show with new audiences, in new and exciting places. If we meet or exceed our target, we can focus on expanding our team further and directly investing in the show, which could mean developing a cast recording- no money will be wasted.

More:

We also have some beautiful concept art by the wonderful Ciara Pidgeon, demonstrating some early costume and set design in developing our protagonist: Basil- inspired by the original run.

Even if you aren't in the position to donate, thank you so much for reading! Please do give it a share on social media if you like the sound of our musical and would like to see it on stage in future!