Polyphone Festival of New And Emerging Musicals at the University of the Arts | uarts.edu
UPDATES!
*Now Accepting* Applications for 2021:
APPLY (Deadline September 4, 2020)
WHAT IS POLYPHONE?
The Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Musicals is a nationally recognized festival of the emerging musical at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. For the last six years, we’ve brought professional composers, librettists, directors, choreographers and music directors from the field to the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at UArts to work with student casts and creative teams on musicals in progress.
The Polyphone process supports creators of new musicals with a paid opportunity to make their work, while giving over 100 students on-the-ground training in new musical theater development. We give adventurous new musicals time and space to develop, free from the pressures of commercial interests, producing theaters, or reviews.
We have traditionally programmed 4 musicals each year, cast from around 150 auditioning students and workshopped over a 7-week process. The final presentations have been off-book, staged concert productions with a small band and full lighting and sound design. Our process has allowed creators to make changes throughout the rehearsal period and work their musical on its feet for the first time.
Past Polyphone Artists include:
Joanna Settle (co-founder), César Alvarez (co-found and founding Artist Director), Sam Pinkleton, Storm Thomas, Derek Lee McPhatter, Maggie-Kate Coleman, Erato A. Kremmyda, Michael R Jackson, Germono Toussaint, Christian, Jaclyn Backhaus, Andrew Neisler, Annie Tippe, Jeanna Phillips, Michael R. Jackson, Stephen Brackett, Malika Oyetimein, Joshua Gelb, Dan Fishback, Orion Johnstone, Andrew Butler, Andrew Farmer, Kent Nicholson.
Polyphone has also developed musicals by UArts students, which have gone on to further development at Ars Nova.
TAKE A LOOK!
AMERICAN THEATER WING’S DOCUMENTARY ABOUT POLYPHONE:
The American Theater Wing’s documentary, Working in the Theater
Previous Festival Line-Ups:
Contact for additional information about the Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Musicals at the University of the Arts:
Lindsay Cram | lcram@uarts.edu