Dress Rehearsal: The Making of a Musical explores the musical theatre creative process and the ability for the art form to encourage civic imagination and social change. Musical theatre, whether experienced as an actor, crew member or audience member, has the power to shift social conversation and action through the embodiment of new and alternate realities, yet various monetary and educational constraints limit access to the theatre arts. This project discusses the systemic issues within the musical theatre industry that create barriers to democratization, while providing a road map for the process of creating new musical theatre narratives as an independent creator through my own experiences. Through this project, I hope to demystify the musical theatre creation process and open up new avenues for connection amongst creators, while also exploring theories for creating a more democratized musical theatre industry.
