OFF-BROADWAY-BOUND MUSICAL, ‘PAPER OR PLASTIC’, DEBUTS AT GROUND & FIELD THEATER FESTIVAL

By Vic Gerami

The Jade/Anthony Company proudly announces the first developmental reading for its new Off-Broadway bound musical, Paper or Plastic , which will be presented as part of the Ground & Field Theater Festival (GFTF) at UC Davis by Bike City Theater Company . The Off-Broadway production is set to open in fall 2020 with more details to be announced in the coming months. Sign up for email alerts at PaperMusical.com.

The cast for the reading stars Mackenzie Johnson (Paige), Noah Mac (Gabe), and Jacob Michael (Xander), joined by principal cast members Lisa Quoresimo (Charity), Tara Henry (Johanna), Kevin Gish (Joel), Talia Friedenberg (Angelica). In the ensemble, Paper or Plastic features performers from the GFTF Ensemble, including Naveen Bhat, Alyssa Buchthal, Ben Carter, Olivia Caserta, Joseph DeLeon, Katie Halls, Erolina Kamburova, Charlie Lavaroni, Shannon McCoy, Stephanie Nielsen, and Noah VanderVee-Harris.

Hazel Jade

This first reading will have one evening presentation at the Della Davidson Performance Studio in Nelson
Hall on the campus of UC Davis, on Monday, December 9, 2019 at 7:30 pm PST , which is open to the public. For more information and to RSVP for the reading, please visit JadeAnthonyCompany.com.

Information, dates, and tickets for the Off-Broadway production will be announced in the coming months.

Paige is adapting to her family’s new normal after her parents’ very public divorce. Gabe wants nothing more than to escape his parents altogether. What do these two seniors from Nichols Hills, Oklahoma have in common? They both work for Singleton’s General Store and have to decide their futures now. Through an achingly beautiful folk/rock score, Paper or Plastic explores the journey these two will take in search of something real, proving that chasing your dreams is hard to do at any age.

Based on a completely original concept, Paper or Plastic features a book by Broadway investor Hazel Jade (Hadestown, Once On This Island ) and her writing partner Jeff Brown ( Jesus Freak! ) with music and lyrics by Joe Stevens and Keaton Wooden ( Albert Cashier, Hills on Fire ).

Jeff Brown

Paper or Plastic ’s director is Mindy Cooper , a Broadway veteran performer and choreographer ( Chicago, Titanic, Dracula ) and winner of ten Bay Area Theater Critics Awards ( Ranked, American Monkey, Mojave! The Musical ), and Amanda Rafkin ( The Lightning Howler ) is the music director. Additional members of the development team include Dan Pardo (arranger and orchestrator) and Mika Kauffman (dramaturg).

This reading of Paper or Plastic is produced by Ground and Field Theater Festival under the direction of Mindy Cooper , and Bike City Theater Company under the direction of J.R. Yancher , by special arrangement with The Jade/Anthony Company under the direction of Miss Hazel Jade . Associate producers Molly Skye Brown and Curtis Howard also join the reading.

BIKE CITY THEATER CO. ( Producer ) is a professional, non-profit, democratically run theater company based in Davis, CA. Their mission is to create theater that is sustainable, invested in the community, and vibrantly, provocatively theatrical. Founded in 2017, BCTC focuses on new and original work to provide the widest variety of quality theatrical performance to the Davis and Yolo community. Their motto: Expect Everything.

GROUND & FIELD THEATER FESTIVAL / UC DAVIS ( Producer ). The Theater and Dance Ensemble at UC Davis brings together a unique partnership between professional directors, emerging theater artists, and world-class scholars culminating in the Ground & Field Theater Festival . Presented at the UC Davis Department of Theater and Dance, GFTF provides a venue for the development of new works of theater.

THE JADE/ANTHONY COMPANY ( Special Arrangement ) is a Los Angeles-based theatrical producing firm that focuses on developing new musicals. Since forming their partnership, Hazel Jade and Kyle Anthony have been investors on several Broadway plays and musicals, including Waitress: The Musical, Once On This Island (Tony Award-winning 2017 Revival), SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical , Frozen on Broadway , Moulin Rouge! The Musical! , Hadestown (8 Tony Awards, 2019), Beetlejuice , Pretty Woman: The Musical , and Moulin Rouge!