Chicago's theater scene is known for its groundbreaking plays and experimental comedy, but when it comes to original musical works, local actress, director and choreographer Amber Mak felt there was something missing.
"We have a thriving musical theater community, but we don't really open it up a lot to writers and really encourage a lot of new musical works," said Mak, 34. "There aren't readings you can just go to, and that happens all the time in New York City, and I thought, why aren't we using our talents here to do that?"
After a stint working on Broadway last year and talking the idea over with Tony Award-winning actress and fellow Chicagoan Jessie Mueller, Mak returned home and got to work creating the FWD (Festival of Works in Development) Theatre Project, an initiative that will host its official launch with a sold-out concert Mueller will headline at City Winery (1200 W. Randolph St. 312-733-9463) on Monday at 8 p.m.
Made up of Chicago actors, producers, writers and directors, FWD started as a gathering around Mak's Rogers Park dining room table in December. "It was just this little idea in my head and now this amazing collective of people with so much experience and enthusiasm has gathered around it, it's just phenomenal," Mak said.
The idea behind the project is to create a seed organization that exposes new musical works to producers, directors and the public. In May, the group called for submissions of full-length musicals from around the country, receiving 230 instead of the 50 to 100 they expected in their inaugural year. Those productions were then narrowed down to five finalists. A cast of 25 Chicago performers, including Mueller, will perform three songs from each of the five shows at Monday night's event. From there, the diverse works will go on to be workshopped with FWD's help in January. Eventually, Mak said she would like to make running the project her full-time job, and the group hopes to create an actual festival where full productions are staged.
The event will mark Mueller's first performance in her hometown since winning this year's Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in Musical for her role in "Beautiful-The Carole King Musical." The actress said she's excited to be part of a project that has the potential to fill a void she sees often in New York productions.
"[This initiative can] help to shape new pieces that maybe aren't the easiest commercial sell or the ones with all their backers already in line, but that deserve to be heard," Mueller said in an email. "We have to get away from fast-tracking things into production before the bones are there. And Chicago is a place that is affordable, creative and has the talent available to do that work."
The song Mueller chose to perform for the launch concert comes from "Exposure," one of the five selected musicals, which uses photography to tell the story of a homeless teen and James Dean fanatic who forges a connection with a New York photographer. The show is one Chicago producer Cathy Nathan has been working on since the idea struck her seven years ago. With the attention being featured by FWD will garner, Nathan said she hopes she and her team might be able to find a Chicago stage interested in putting on their show in the coming years.
"Of course, that would be incredibly exciting for both us, personally speaking, but also for the FWD Theatre Project," she said, "to have these kinds of professionals [involved] and a really exciting gestation process [to] get us to where we want to ultimately be, which is up on somebody's stage and telling the story."
FWD highlights
Here's a look at the five new musicals that will be featured at Monday night's event:
-"The Black and White Ball," the story of an unlikely friendship between Truman Capote and a young black teen in 1966 New York.
-"Pride and Prejudice," a musical adaptation of Jane Austen's classic.
-"Exposure," a photography-centric tale of a New York photographer, a homeless teen and her passion for James Dean.
-"Swift as Desire," a production set to Latin music and based on a novel by Laura Esquivel that features an old man recollecting a long-ago love affair.
-"Love and Other Fables," a musical comedy that follows Aesop's early life.