Main fundraiser photo

STEP SHOW: THE MUSICAL

Donation protected

STEP SHOW:THE MUSICAL is an original two-act production that celebrates the African-American legacy of step. It is a fictional show inspired by the history of step among African-American fraternities and sororities, Black College life, and the step culture that still carries on today. We follow the journey of a college freshman as she tries to preserve her grandfather’s legacy and find a voice for herself through rhythm. The show is fresh and vibrant and illuminates stories about America’s young Black intellectuals – stories that are disturbingly under-represented on Broadway. Our show celebrates Black youth – their perseverance, ingenuity, faith and brilliance. It confronts cultural appropriation, systemic oppression, sexuality, mental health, sexism, and colorism, all while placing a Black female heroine at the center of its story. STEP SHOW can have a great impact on diverse communities that are underexposed to the language and transformative power of step. It can also reignite conversation around affirmative action and the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and add to the discourse on inclusivity and equity across many spectrums. I am proud of this work and proud to say that I am writing, composing, choreographing and producing it. I intend to bring it to Broadway (with your help). Whelp. I said it. If my boldness and sure-fire certainty about a big ‘ole goal doesn’t frighten you, then read on...

My journey to fulfill this dream began back in 2003. At the time I was a recent graduate of Williams College, where I co-founded a step team. As a student of color on a predominantly white campus, step had been my lifeline – it amplified my voice, magnified my presence in a sea of white faces, and allowed me and my classmates to claim a cultural space for ourselves. After college was over, I felt naked without my percussive mouth-piece and the community it provided. To fill that longing, in 2005 I founded Soul Steps LLC, a professional step company based in the NY-NJ area, which has served as an artistic home for myself and other step enthusiasts who want to join me in building cultural bridges through step. My passion to further Soul Steps and produce a Broadway show led me to Columbia University School of the Arts where I received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Theater Management and Producing in 2009. From there, fully armed with the right tools, Soul Steps took off! We brought step into new and exciting spaces all over the globe – Kosovo, Cameroon, Ireland, Paris, the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2007 and again in 2011; Good Day NY, CBS News, and Ars Nova Theatre, to name a few (for you non-theater folks who don’t know Ars Nova, that’s the same space where Lin-Manuel Miranda performed with his improv group, Freestyle Love Supreme). Throughout this period, I relentlessly worked towards my dream of a step musical. Not considering myself a playwright, I steadily pursued other playwrights to bring my ideas into fruition, but, for one reason or another, things never worked out. Overtime I learned that the same power I possessed on stage I also had within me. With the encouragement of friends, I found the courage and sat down to finally write my show – FOR MYSELF! It took me two and a half years to write it (a more seasoned writer could’ve spit it out in months). While some might be embarrassed to share such a detail, I feel it’s important to be transparent about my journey so that you know that I am crazy in love with the work I’m doing and remain just as committed to this dream now as I was in 2003.

All that relentlessness brings us to this oh-so-precious moment. Shepherd University in West Virginia has generously agreed to open its doors to us for two weeks at the end of the summer to develop STEP SHOW: THE MUSICAL and present it for the first time to the world! At the culmination of the two weeks we will present STEP SHOW as a work-in-progress to the Shepherd community. The university has offered us free theater space, on-campus housing, and meals, which is a truly rare opportunity that is so difficult to secure. Furthermore, on the heels of that experience, we will do a more developed presentation at the Bickford Theatre in Morristown, NJ on Saturday, November 9th at 2pm. The Bickford is giving us a great deal to bring our work to the theater. Our performance will be open to the general public as well as to members of the Broadway industry in the hopes of securing producers and investors to help push the show towards Broadway development. With all this amazingness on the table, our heads are spinning, but we cannot move forward with one ounce of it unless we have funding. I humbly ask for your support to help move the dream off the page and onto the stage. We are in need of $30k to cover our expenses for travel and artist fees to get to Shepherd University, and then another $15k to cover production costs for the Bickford Theatre performance. We are starting this phase of our GoFund Me campaign with a request for $15k. Please support us however you can and thank you for being a part of our journey. On to the next step!

With gratitude,

Maxine Lyle


Donate

Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $50 
    • 4 yrs
Donate

Organizer

Maxine Lyle
Organizer
Newark, NJ

Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

  • Easy

    Donate quickly and easily.

  • Powerful

    Send help right to the people and causes you care about.

  • Trusted

    Your donation is protected by the  GoFundMe Giving Guarantee.