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Held @ the New York Musical Fest

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Kelly Maxwell and I wrote a musical theater piece together called Held: A Musical Fantasy that premiered at Broom Street Theater in Madison in 2015. It was accepted into the 2016 NY Fringe Festival and got some great press. I entered it into the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) last year and we didn't get in. I took a chance submitting again this year and we were accepted!!! as a Developmental Reading. Only 10 pieces were selected out of over 300 submissions!

We want to make this show the best it can be, and this festival is an opportunity for us to get the show in front of industry professionals with the hope of getting it produced on a larger scale, maybe even Off-Broadway or get it in shape to publish and make available to community theaters or schools across the country.

For the 2016 Fringe Festival, we were entirely self-funded, and let me tell you, I learned a lot about how much it costs to produce a show *and get people to see it* This time we're asking for help!

It can be difficult for artists who are already self-doubting gremlins to ask for a monetary donation when we know you could choose to donate that $10 or $20 toward dinner, your Netflix subscription, some sort of real charity, gas, your dog, your kids, new socks, basically anything other than a show maybe you aren't even able to come see. So my most genuine ask of you that if you saw the show, or didn't see the show and appreciate the work of two best friends, a director, two string players, and three actors who are working really hard together on an original musical, if you appreciate the strength and power of a story that is expressing real truth and creativity, the moving and healing power of music and story to bring people together and promote feelings of love, forgiveness, understanding, and shivers on your arms, please consider giving a donation to producing this show. Your donation is tax deductible.

If you came out to our fundraising show at Broom Street Theater earlier this month, THANK YOU!! That was such a fun event and your support has already helped us offset some of the production costs. This GoFundMe is for anyone who may want to donate who doesn't live in Madison, or wants to support but wasn't able to make it to that event.

Your awesome donation will go toward:
*The NYMF participation fee (which covers all the benefits they provide including press, industry connections, marketing, the venue itself, a dramaturg to help us improve the work, logistics and ticketing, etc)
*Paying the actors
*Paying the musicians
*Paying the director
*Rehearsal space
*Marketing fees (ex. an ad in the program to attract festival pass holders)

Your support means so much to us.

Check out our website for more information about Held: www.heldmusical.com 
Check out the NYMF website for more information about the festival: www.nymf.org

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MORE ABOUT US
Kelly and Meghan have been writing and singing together since 2008 when they started Madison band Little Red Wolf. Since then they have collaborated in numerous theatrical and musical projects including Xanadu at The Bartell Theater and Fleetwood Mac tribute band Gold Dust Women, and their most intense collaboration to date: Held - an original musical theater piece.

In 2015, Broom Street premiered an original musical called Held: A Musical Fantasy written by Kelly Maxwell (book & lyrics) and Meghan Rose (music). Kelly directed our amazing actors, musicians, and crew for a production that broke a Broom Street Theater record for most attended 4-week run show.
In 2016, Meghan moved to New York City and the show was accepted into the NY Fringe Festival. The show evolved with a NY-based cast and new director. Still an all-female crew. The production received great reviews that made us feel even more validated that we made something special.

This summer 2018, the show was accepted into the New York Musicals Festival (NYMF) as a staged reading. The festival is a great opportunity to get the show seen by producers and theater publishers who can help the show get produced in other venues both in New York City and across the country. The reading series productions are paired with a Dramaturg to help the writers improve the piece and make it the absolute best it can be. The performances are July 12-18 in New York City.

MORE ABOUT HELD
How far would you go to save your best friend?
 
Three friends-Mera the soldier, Bardo the baker, and Korin the Dreamer have been trapped by an unknown Blood Wizard, who has kept them suspended in time. The only escape is into memory, where they put together the pieces that solve the mystery of their captor’s identity.
 
A magnificent musical fantasy which takes place in another world–one also beset with unrequited love and impossible love triangles. The music transports you on a score of beautiful harmonies and sad refrains that seem to make you miss people that you have never met.

PRAISE FOR HELD AT NY FRINGE
“A lovely fairy tale filled with sophisticated, beautifully layered songs, HELD is about love of all sorts as much as it’s about selfishness, jealousy, sacrifice and forgiveness.

Three friends — Mera the soldier, Bardo the baker, and Korin the Dreamer have been trapped by an unknown “Blood Wizard,” who has kept them suspended, without hunger or thirst, for weeks. Their cell is a cold stone room without windows or a door, and the only escape is into memory, where they put together the pieces that eventually solve the mystery of their captor’s identity.

Mera and Korin have been best friends since they were girls, though their families discouraged the relationship. Mera knew she was destined to kill or be killed, and Korin, as a Dreamer — a kind of magician — is supposed to protect and sustain life. As a child, Bardo had followed them to the clearing in the woods where they often met and ever since the three have been inseparable. Now, however, war approaches their village and Mera and Korin are called to take up their family mantles. Their destinies are at odds, but the source of their greatest strain has remained secret until recently.

Maxwell’s choice to make the women the more dangerous and powerful characters, leaving the man to fill the role of gentle baker and consoler, was a nice means of shaking up the standard fairy tale tropes. It also makes a nice statement about pursuing your truth, no matter what others think of it.”

-Marti Sichel, HELD Captivated - Woman Around Town

“A magnificent musical fantasy which takes place in another world–one also beset with unrequited love and impossible love triangles.

A layered play which explores the dynamic of longtime friendships that don’t know how to evolve with the next stages of their lives. It gets right to the heart of the situation and presses all of our emotional buttons.”

-Jacquelyn Claireon, Heroic, Big-Hearted and Finely-Detailed - NY Theatre Review

“The non-linear style of Held is a bold move that’s effectively pulled off. Like the magic prison, past and present blur as the tale progresses, but not in a way that’s confusing or overly vague. In that way, the audience can experience the characters’ sense of timelessness.

With no set, [sound] design and Rose’s tragically beautiful orchestrations invite the audience to imagine time and place. If you’re curious to see how fantasy looks in a musical, or if you generally enjoy new musical work, Held is worth checking out.”

-Sarah Weber, Held - Theatre Is Easy

NYMF CAST

Thank you so much!!

Organizer

Meghan Rose
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY

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