Development – Milo At The Movies

Development History

Seven Devils Playwrights Conference

Milo at the Movies was initially developed at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, under the auspices of Artistic Directors Jeni Mahoney and Sheila McDevitt, in June of 2010. This two-week conference brings playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, actors and theater artists from around the country, and from every walk of life, to McCall, Idaho for two weeks of rehearsals, readings and workshops of new plays.

This first public reading was directed by James Abar, dramaturged by John M. Baker and performed by Doug Paulson, Rachel Simpson, Peter O’Connor, Kati Sheldon, Maggie Low, Christopher Curry and Simon Brooking.

Seven Devils Playwrights Conference is part of id Theater, a development-only theater company.

In 2014, Milo at the Movies was workshopped at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, Georgia with the support of a grant from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT).

The cast was composed of members of the Aurora’s apprentice company: Ben Davis, Edward McCreary, Catie Councell, Traci Weisberg and Evan McLean, joined by Equity guest artists Jill Hames and Brandon O’Dell.

The workshop was directed by Alexander Greenfield with music direction by Ann-Carol Pence. An invited reading was offered to subscribers and guests of the Aurora Theatre with generous support from Aurora’s Producing Artistic Director Anthony Rodriguez, Associate Producer Ann-Carol Pence, and Associate Artistic Director Justin Anderson.

Aurora Theatre

Goodspeed Musicals

Milo at the Movies was one of three featured musicals in Goodspeed’s 11th Annual Festival of New Musicals held at the world-famous Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut in January of 2016. Produced by Donna Lynn Hilton, Robert Alwine and Matt Tolbert, the three-day festival weekend includes readings, seminars, cabarets and symposiums.

Performers are promising BFA candidates from Hartt School at the University of Hartford and Boston Conservatory of Music, invited by Goodspeed to participate in the festival.

The public reading of Milo was directed by DB Bonds and music directed by Jordon Cunningham. Michael Hornig, Monica Allan, John Cardoza, Karis Gallant, Cody Garcia, Justine Rosales and Mike Zaharczuk made up the cast.

The Goodspeed festival was very generously supported with a NAMT grant.

In March of 2018, Milo at the Movies was included in the Phoenix Theatre’s Festival of New American Theatre, which is dedicated to bringing new theatre to life at the largest producing regional theatre company in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Produced by Robert Kolby Harper, the festival includes rehearsed readings, talkbacks, composer/lyricist cabarets, and panel discussions.

Two presentations of Milo were offered at the festival, under the direction of D. Scott Withers, musical direction by Craig Bohmler and dramaturgy by Katie McFadzen. The readings were performed by Michael Schwenke, Elise Stoffer, Logan Scott Mitchell, Cassie Chilton, Johanna Carlisle, Rusty Ferracane and Skylar Bean.