In the Works~In the Woods Presents

 
Roja, A New Musical

The In the Works-In the Woods Festival at the Forestburgh Playhouse is thrilled to introduce you to ROJA, A NEW MUSICAL, written by Jaime Lozano and Tommy Newman and which will be featured at the 2024 Festival in September.  Lozano and Newman’s work, EL OTRO OZ, was a part of the inaugural Festival in 2021 and has subsequently toured the U.S. and performed Off-Broadway.  We are thrilled to welcome the team back to the ITW-ITW Festival. Lozano and Newman will travel to the Playhouse for a May residency to write and develop the show and then return for the September Festival with a full cast and performances during the Festival weekend.  

ROJA, A NEW MUSICAL, tells the story of a young girl, living with her grandmother in America, befriends a mischievous, magical coyote,who takes her on a journey across the border into Mexico to find her mother and make peace with the loss of her father. A bilingual musical, ROJA will explore a familiar tale (Little Red Riding Hood), through the lens of Mexican Folklore.  


To celebrate the collaboration, we'd like to invite you to be the first to hear a bit of the music Jaime and Tommy are creating for ROJA, as well as songs from Jaime's catalogue on SATURDAY, MAY 25th from 5-7pm. Meet the artists, have a light nibble and say hello. The bar will of course be open, and there will be the chance to renew your Passports for Festival 2024 To RSVP, email boxoffice@fbplayhouse.org

 

JAIME LOZANO is a Mexican multi-hyphenate musical theatre storyteller considered by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the “next big thing” on Broadway. American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Grant 2022. Joe’s Pub Working Group 2020-2022. The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. JACK Resident Artist 2021. Lincoln Center Resident Artist 2023. Selected works: El Otro Oz -formerly The Yellow Brick Road- (Off-Broadway & National Tour), Carmen La Cubana (European Tour), Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 “Best of Fest” Production), A Never-Ending Line (Comédie Nation in Paris, France & Off-Broadway), Savage (UAB at Birmingham), Present Perfect (Live & In Color), Desaparecidas (JACK). Albums: “A Never-Ending Line,” “Jaime Lozano and the Familia: Songs by an Immigrant” released by Broadway Records. Film: “In The Heights” (orchestrations), “Tick, Tick… Boom!” (cameo in Broadway composers scene). His project “Jaime Lozano & The Familia” has performed sold out concerts at venues such as Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, The Green Room 42, Two River Theater, and more recently as part of the prestigious Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series. His anticipated new album “Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2” was released on September 15, 2023 by Grammy Award winner label Concord Theatrical Recordings. Currently working on “Broadway en Spanglish,” and Frida, The Musical. BFA: Music & Composition, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MFA: NYU/Tisch, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Full Tuition Scholarship); part of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, AFM Local 802, BMI and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY member. www.jaimelozano.net  IG: @jaimelozano

 

TOMMY NEWMAN is a published playwright, composer and lyricist from Alabama and a 2013 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award Winner. Three of his shows have participated in the annual NAMT Festival in New York. He is a recipient of an Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant, and a 2014 Kennedy Center ACTF National Musical Theatre Award Winner. Productions include: The Single Girl's Guide with Gordon Greenberg, developed at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle (2016), The Village Theatre in WA (2015), Capital Repertory Theatre (2013), and NAMT (2013). Band Geeks! (Published by MTI, Goodspeed Musicals, Human Race Theatre Co., Red Mountain Theatre, NAMT Fest ‘09). Tinyard Hill with Mark Allen (Theatreworks Silicon Valley, Red Mountain Theatre, Human Race Theatre, Goodspeed, NAMT Fest ‘07). Off Broadway: We the People: America Rocks (Theatreworks, USA, NY Times Critic Pick, Lortel Nomination 2010), The Yellow Brick Road with Jaime Lozano (TheatreworksUSA, NY Times Critic Pick) and 29 with Gaby Alter (NYU Steinhart, Troy University). Recent works: The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and Other Stories (Theatreworks, USA), The Odyssey Suite, Savage, Jenny’s Damned Ex, and With Bell On: The Musical. He holds a BS in Music Education from Troy University and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch. Tommy is currently a full-time professor with Troy University's Department of Theatre and Dance in Troy, AL. Read more about him at www.tommynewman.com.