Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program alums Thalia Ranjbar (Cycle 31) and Kat Cartusciello (Cycle 30) and their new musical NIMA & THE JEN were selected to take part in the 2023 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
For its 13th summer, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is hosting 21 award-winning musical theatre writers of nine new musicals for nine consecutive weeklong residencies between June 25 and August 27. Each writing team will live in a private home in the Hudson Valley to focus solely on writing their musical for one week. They are provided a home, travel, food and a stipend. Plus, they will work with a member of Rhinebeck Writers Retreat's Sounding Board of artistic advisors for dramaturgical support. New this year is the "Writers' Choice" program, a flexible $1,000 fund the writers can use to support the development of their musical, which is made possible by a generous grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
The nine musicals were selected from a record 210 applications representing 453 musical theatre writers, which were reviewed by 29 readers in the first round and six readers in the final round.