HERE AND THEIR

HERE AND THEIR (Story by Jasmine Joshua and Alexei Cifrese, Book by Jasmine Joshua, Music and Lyrics by Heather Ragusa) was originally developed as a part of The 5th Avenue Theatre's First Draft Program. The show received a professional 29-hour-reading in October 2019 at the Open Jar Studios in New York City. With support from NAMT grants, HERE AND THEIR was workshopped at the Seattle Repertory Theatre in 2020, had a reading in 2021, and in July 2022. In August 2022, the writers continued to develop the show at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. The writers participated in the Goodspeed Musicals' Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove in February 2023. In 2023, HERE AND THEIR was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award, a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference, and a finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant.

For more information and demos, head to www.hereandtheirthemusical.com

Synopsis:

HERE AND THEIR chronicles gender self-discovery and intergenerational queerness, with a side of punk rock. In a small town in Big Sky Country, Sam O'Malley uncovers an old family photo depicting an aunt that Sam has never heard of before. In an attempt to find this estranged relative through traditional means (Google), Sam discovers Aunt Meredith is '80s lesbian punk rock icon, Vikki Vektor. After tumbling down the internet rabbit hole, Sam also realizes they are nonbinary (what even is that?) and ends up with more questions than answers. But maybe Aunt Meredith can help, if only they can find her.

BREAD CRUMBS

BREAD CRUMBS was workshopped at The Scratch in Seattle, and premiered at ACT Theatre's Solo Fest in February 2020. BREAD CRUMBS was selected as a part of ANT Fest at Ars Nova in 2021.

Synopsis:

What even IS nonbinary anyway? A computer program? A tropical drink? A word that caused you to have an existential crisis when you finally realized oh my god, I think I might be one of those, but I’m married and have two kids already and what am I supposed to do now, I have SO many bras? Join drag artist Harvey Gent (Jasmine Joshua) in a hilarious and wholly autobiographical queer spectacle, featuring pregnancy, trekking across tidepools in your underwear, and peeing one’s pants in front of Very Important People.

YOU’D BETTER SIT DOWN FOR THIS

YOU'D BETTER SIT DOWN FOR THIS first produced in January 2020 at Annex Theatre in Seattle, WA.

Synopsis:

Written by Eric Navarrette and Jasmine Joshua — Margaret Lovelace was a normal citizen. At least, she always thought she was. But when a mysterious summons to the DMV turns her whole life upside down, she’s left with more questions than answers. How can she be a robot? Did she really contract Robotitis in the Bahamas all those many years ago? Why didn’t the DMV agent ask her to sit down for this before dropping this bombshell? And why—dear viewer—you ask, does the DMV handle these sort of cases? Why, because this is really the Department of Monster Verification (you see, their logo is different)! Robots, werewolves, lost loves, super powers, and more! A new and campy sci-fi tale about a person who discovers the scary, foreign parts of herself…and tries to make it all compute.

LET’S BE SILVER:
A COUNTRY SONG

Currently in the writing phase, LET’S BE SILVER: A COUNTRY SONG 
Book by Jasmine Joshua, Music and Lyrics by Heather Ragusa, Additional Songs and Lyrics by Jasmine Joshua.

Synopsis:

If the Gilmore Girls weren’t from old money and worked at a crappy musician dive bar, you’d have best friends Wendy and Mae. Both in their late 20s/early 30s, Wendy and Mae are living the small town musician life -- deadbeat boy/girlfriends, low paying jobs, hanging out, writing music, and playing all the cool haunts with their kooky musician friends. Shouldn’t that be enough for them both? Well, they hope so, cus in this job market, that’s all there is.

When Mae Maxwell gets back into town after doing a local tour with their band A is for Excellence, they stop by Billy O’s, the local musician haunt where their best friend Wendy has worked since it was legal for her to do so. Wendy, a brilliant songwriter, has been looking to get on stage again, but her boyfriend Justin keeps talking her out of it. Finally Mae suggests the two of them start a band together. They begin opening for their friends’ bands and get some momentum going, but an ex-flame of Mae’s stumbles into the picture and seems to be taking all of Mae’s attention. In the meantime, Wendy is trying to shed some romantic dead-weight of her own.

But when Wendy decides she’s ready to move on from living in a filthy and over-crowded musicians’ co-op and Mae wonders if working at Barnes and Noble isn’t quite the life they were promised (Mae went to college after all), the friends have to confront their inertia. Filled with a fun and whimsical country rock score, LET’S BE SILVER explores the world of the post-2008 millennial artist. When do you just quit and become a grown-up? Or do you just reinvent what adulthood means?