Applications for the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshops Are Now Open
Deadline to Apply is June 1 for Bookwriters and August 1 for Songwriters
BMI is currently accepting applications to the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop for its Musical Theatre Songwriting and Bookwriting Workshops. These once-a-week courses take place at BMI’s lower Manhattan office located at 7 World Trade Center, from September through May. The deadline to apply for the Bookwriting Workshop is June 1; applications for the Songwriting Workshop are due August 1.
Are you the future of Musical Theatre Writing? Strengthen your craft, hone your skills and find your voice at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.
The Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop is a free weekly program where participants collaborate with peers to develop and cultivate their skills under the guidance of experienced instructors and veteran guest lecturers. Notable Workshop alumni includes EGOT recipient Robert Lopez (Frozen, The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q), Academy Award-winner Kristen Anderson Lopez (Frozen, In Transit), Tony Award-winner Alan Menken (Newsies, Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors, Aladdin), Tony Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Kimberly Akimbo, Violet), Tony Award-winner Maury Yeston (Nine, Grand Hotel, Titanic), Tony Award-winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once On This Island, Seussical), Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson (Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, The Book Thief, Between the Lines, Central Park), Benjamin Velez (Real Women Have Curves), Noel Carey (Death Becomes Her), and many more.
About the Bookwriting Workshop
The First Year of the weekly Bookwriting Workshop, moderated by Drama Desk Award-winning bookwriter Adam Mathias, unlocks the toolkit for musical theatre librettists. Through lectures, discussions, and assignments students learn how to apply the fundamentals of dramatic writing to the craft of creating musicals. As a class, writers deep-dive into the DNA of the musical theatre canon – from the Golden Age through today – dissecting what works and why and then applying it to their own work.
After the first year, select members are invited to join the Advanced Bookwriting Workshop which meets weekly to provide in-depth peer and moderator feedback on musical theatre libretti at all stages of development.
About the Songwriting Workshop
The First Year Songwriting Workshop is moderated by BMI’s Senior Director of Musical Theatre Patrick Cook, and Workshop Administrator Frederick Freyer, who met in the Workshop in 1983. The course is designed to help establish the participants’ foundational skills through writing assignments with different collaborators, discussions and in-depth analyses on select musicals throughout history and guest moderators, culminating in the creation of 10-minute musicals at the end of the spring semester.
In the Second Year, Sara Wordsworth joins Cook and Freyer in moderating the workshop where writer teams focus on crafting songs for a full-length musical with an emphasis on content and placement of songs and the use of music and lyrics to convey and develop characters.
The Advanced Songwriting Workshop hosts ongoing weekly sessions of talented graduates of the first two years.
For more information and to apply to the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, please visit: https://www.bmi.com/theatre_workshop.
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