Fourth of July may be over, but not for Becky Goldberg and Karl Hinze. In fact, they’ve been living it, on and off, for the last 4½ years while working on their musical collaboration, “210 Amlent Avenue,” in between their studies at Stony Brook University.
They set their musical on Independence Day in the Hamptons, though the duo won’t say much more than that. East End audiences will have to trek into Manhattan to see the action unfold during the 12th annual New York Musical Theatre Festival, according to Ms. Goldberg, who caught up with The Southampton Press before the worldwide premiere on Thursday evening.
The Press: How did you two meet? Did you hit it off right away?
Becky Goldberg: We met at a 24-Hour Theatre Event—where artists write, direct, act and perform a play all inside of 24 hours—while we were both graduate students at Stony Brook University. I was running the event and Karl was one of the directors. We became friends pretty quickly, but our relationship really started when Karl saw a production of one of my plays and approached me about a project that had been living in his brain for several years.
How did you come to start writing together?
Goldberg: Karl came to me with the beginnings of what would become “210 Amlent Avenue.” He had the seeds of this story and had already written some of the music, so we sat in a small rehearsal room for a few hours, listened to the songs and discussed what this story could possibly be if we worked on it together.
What was the genesis of this musical?
Goldberg: It’s hard to talk about this without giving away something big about the end of the show, but for Karl, this show developed out of the idea of a beautiful house in the Hamptons and all it could mean to the people who lived there, the people who vacationed there and the people who were all somehow connected to its story.
What do each of you bring to the table?
Goldberg: Well, Karl brings the songs and I brings the dialogue. We work very well with each other—and we know this because we’ve each worked with people with whom we clash! Not long after we started writing together, we quickly developed a shared vocabulary that we’ve used throughout our entire process. We are really good about listening to each other, hearing out possibilities and ideas, and working together to find the balance that our script needs. We sort of think about it like we’re raising a child together. We might have ideological differences about how to best create something that’s ready for the world. But when it comes down to it, we only want the best for our artwork, and for each other.
What was your reaction when it was accepted into the festival?
Goldberg: We found out we were finalists in December and that we were accepted in January. We were really excited and honored when we got the email. NYMF’s judging process is blind, so the amazing people—including Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris and many other award-winning New York City theater folks—who read our script had no idea who we were, or what the history of the show was. They valued it for what it was. After the excitement wore off, the idea of the festival and our very first production was daunting and overwhelming, but we’ve been working really hard to make sure it’s all it can be.
“210 Amlent Avenue” will stage on Thursday, July 9, at 8 p.m., at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater in Manhattan. Additional performances will be held on Friday, July 10, at 9 p.m., Saturday, July 11, at 1 p.m., Sunday, July 12, at 4 p.m. and Tuesday, July 14, at 1 p.m. For more information, visit nymf.org/210amlentave.
on Jul 7, 2015