This is a program in New York for musicals in early stages of writing and development. Our primary goals are to introduce emerging artists in the New York musical theatre scene who are all passionate about musical theatre, and to help develop new musicals at their early stages by seeing the material off of the page and with fresh eyes.

What will a typical Playspace look like?

  • 90-minute session to workshop 1 scene/song with a director, a music director, and up to 4 performers.

  • the workshop session will be centered around questions posed by the writing team.

  • at the end of the session, we will do a run-through of the material and record it for the writers’ archival use.

As we are getting started, we are looking for new musicals and emerging directors, music directors, and performers in the NY area! If you are interested, please click the corresponding forms below and we’ll be in contact soon!

History of Playspace So Far

Playspace 1
March 25th, 2025

Beethoven: Live In Concert | Book, Music, & Lyrics by Jad Jacob
“A musical about the world's first rock star - Ludwig van Beethoven.”

Playspace Team:
Em Hausmann (Director)
Trevor P. Bourland (Music Director)
Nick Brogan (Performer)
Laura Cetti (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

Hourglass | Book & Lyrics by Caroline Game, Music by Matthew Nassida
“We peer through the mirror looking at four different women who tell their stories of the complexities that have evolved from their experiences with generational & societal beauty standards from the 50s through to the modern day we witness how years have shaped each woman’s perspective on female bodies all while they grieve the recent loss of their grandmother/mother.”

Playspace Team:
Jenna Sage (Director)
Matthew Nassida (Music Director)
Laura Cetti (Performer)
Senna Prasatthong (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

Playspace 2
April 24th, 2025

I’m in Love with Bigfoot | Book & Lyrics by Timothy Thomas Leech, Music by Benjamin Walton
“I’m in Love with Bigfoot is a folk musical that explores the big question. Can grassroots activism save the environment from the ravages of late-stage capitalism? Can traditionally monogamous couples introduce non-monogamy in an ethical way? And most importantly…is Bigfoot hot? Beau and Cassidy are the perfect couple. They’ve spent their ten-year relationship pursuing their passions, protecting the environment through their non-profit, Chartreuse Truce, and falling more in love each day. But when protesting nefarious billionaire Paxton Pettibottom III’s illegal mining operation in the protected Great Smoky Mountains, Beau and Cassidy join forces with an unlikely ally – the infamous cryptid, Bigfoot. Together with this sex-positive, pansexual, nine-foot-tall smokeshow, Beau and Cassidy must save the forest – but can they save their strictly monogamous relationship from temptation?”

Playspace Team:
Maggie K Dunn (Director)
Jonja Merck (Music Director)
Ray Kao (Performer)
Ben Page (Performer)
Sabrina Koss (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

Blood Is Thicker | Book, Music, & Lyrics by Kate Rankine & Vaheed Ali Talebian
”In this new contemporary pop musical, we follow Cayden and his partner Tate as they explore the cycle of parenting, and what it means to be queer parents. To do so, they must reconcile with their own familial history.”

Playspace Team:
Julia Erickson (Director)
Jonja Merck (Music Director)
Joey Morof (Performer)
Ben Page (Performer)
Sarah Dacey Charles (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

Playspace 3
May 28th, 2025

Myers-Briggs Destroyed the Fabric of Society | Book, Music, & Lyrics by Stephanie Carlin
““What's your type”? “Who's your type”? “Why's your type”? In the turn of the century, Katharine Cook tried to answer all these questions but when her daughter Isabel Briggs wanted to bring her living room experiments into the public eye, their relationship and the world shifted for the worst. Myers-Briggs Destroyed the Fabric of Society is a musical comedy that explores the bizarre history of this popular personality test in a seminar and asks its audience how one can create a self that's already been decided for you.”

Playspace Team:
Callan Mitchell (Director)
Jonja Merck (Music Director)
Sam Wise (Performer)
Lison Tunick (Performer)
Logan Foster (Performer)
Timothy Adams, Jr. (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

Tapestries | Book & Lyrics by Valerie Work, Music by Evan Johnson
“Tapestries is a new full-length roughly 90-minute intermission-free musical about two NYC-based songwriters, Alaina and Emmett, who strive to launch a new musical theater project, an adaptation of The Unicorn Tapestries, while navigating the ups and downs of the second year of the pandemic, September 2021-spring 2022. Their progress, and their partnership, is tested by a fiendishly involved five-round program application, even as the Omicron wave worsens, their personal problems multiply, and artistic opportunities vanish. In 1495, their lead characters and doppelgangers, tapestry makers Alice and Edward, pursue a unicorn through an unnatural forest, dodging bro-like hunters and eerie forest creatures. In the end, both pairs unexpectedly find a version of what they seek, a renewed commitment to their creative work and joint path forward through a dark time.”

Playspace Team:
Rebecca Frazier (Director)
Aaron Nash (Music Director)
Vaheed Ali Talebian (Performer)
Sam Wise (Performer)
Logan Foster (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

Playspace 4
June 27th, 2025

Hide and Seek | Book & Lyrics by Alan Gordon, Music by Angelique Mouyis
“A one-act musical, set in a Seattle apartment, with two stories taking place simultaneously: The confrontation between a female con artist and the defrauded mobster who's tracked her down, and the investigation of the crime scene unit sent to figure out what happened.”

Playspace Team:
Jake Nielsen (Director)
Felipe Segovia Sanhueza (Music Director)
Nick Drivas (Performer)
Juliana Rose Smith (Performer)
Madison Mintzer (Performer)
Liza Suzanna (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)

The Vatican Menorah Heist | Book, Music, & Lyrics by Joshua H. Cohen
“The Pope is hiding the menorah from the Second Temple in the basement of the Vatican! ...Maybe. A group of extremely online Jews is going to find out and get it back.”

Playspace Team:
Jesse Desrosiers (Director)
Felipe Segovia Sanhueza (Music Director)
Madison Mintzer (Performer)
Sam Wise (Performer)
Anthony Hamilton (Performer)
Liza Suzanna (Performer)
Taylor Lozano (Performer)
Benjamin Walton (Program Coordinator/Producer)