“We Begin In Manhattan: A New Queer Musical” Arrives on the Powerhouse Theater on July 14 and 15

A one-night stand that goes just a little too nicely—this was the seed of the story that was planted in Ariella Serur’s thoughts when their companion, Sav Souza posed the query: “Should you may write a music about something, what would it not be?” As a easy train, the couple broke off into separate rooms to create their very own lyrics and melodies, after which got here again collectively to workshop what they’d made. “It ended up being a fluff music about nothing,” explains Souza, however nonetheless, they’d a music that may ultimately give rise to their present, “We Begin in Manhattan: A New Queer Musical.” As part of the thirty seventh Powerhouse Theater Season at Vassar Faculty, Souza and Serur will probably be bringing their musical to the Powerhouse theater on July 14 and 15.

Souza and Serur, who’re finest recognized for his or her roles within the current Broadway revival of “1776,” each harbored ambitions within the realm of musical theater from a younger age. Souza grew up performing within the small group in Tracy, California, and ultimately moved to the East Coast to review on the College of the Arts in Philadelphia. “I got here into myself as a trans and queer performer, and fell in love with writing for musical theater,” says Souza.

Equally, Serur knew she needed to be a performer all through her childhood on Lengthy Island. After graduating from Ithaca Faculty, she moved to Manhattan to pursue her ardour. “I had hassle discovering a spot within the business, particularly coming into my nonbinary identification,” explains Serur.

When the couple met in February of 2020, Souza was already making ready for his or her function as Dr. Josiah Bartlett within the “1776” revival. It wasn’t till after they’d begun courting in August, and the pandemic was slowing, that Serur joined the totally gender nonconforming and feminine solid of “1776” within the function of George Learn. After they weren’t rehearsing and performing for the Broadway manufacturing, the couple was writing and workshopping “We Begin in Manhattan.”

“This course of was born very organically as two people who find themselves in love. It’s a really pure factor for us to work collectively and to create one thing collectively,” explains Serur. “We’re creating this musical, we’re creating a house. It simply appears like one other factor that we’re placing our two brains and souls and our bodies towards.”

As Souza and Serur have been creating the play, they observed how family and friends have been drawn to the origins of their very own relationship, which roughly correlates to the beginning plot of the musical—two queer people have a one-night stand simply earlier than considered one of them leaves for a street journey. From there, the story veers away from Souza and Serur’s personal relationship—they’re nonetheless collectively—into an exploration of a distinct kind of intimacy. After their one-night stand, the 2 characters within the present, Linc and Jess, accompany each other on a month-long street journey. On this condensed time, their round the clock closeness intensifies their affection in addition to their conflicts, till they ultimately go their separate methods. “I believe one of the vital common experiences we’ve as people are relationships that don’t final ceaselessly,” says Souza. “We’re exploring the fantastic thing about that have by way of a queer and nonbinary lens.”

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Courtesy of Friday Anderson

Souza and Serur performing alongside solid members of “1776” at 54 Beneath.

The connection that Souza and Serur’s have with their musical has often posed an impediment. “Generally it has been a little bit of a wrestle when writing it, as a result of we really feel too related to our characters, and we don’t wish to make them flawed,” says Souza. “Ellie has been actually useful in that.”

Ellie Heyman, the director of the present, echoes this sentiment, “{Couples} go to remedy to resolve their points. I’m the other of that to those characters,” explains Heyman. “I’m the instigator.”

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Picture courtesy of the artist

Ellie Heyman directs the Powerhouse manufacturing of “We Begin in Manhattan.”

Heyman, who’s previous work has included “The Nice Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America” (2020), and “Dreamboy” (2018), met Souza after casting them in a studying of “The Tattooed Girl.” She joined the workforce when Souza and Serur reached out to her through the early levels of We Begin In Manhattan. “Content material smart, it’s a terrific match,” says Heyman. “I’m very concerned with intimacy, in lovers, in friendship, in mother and father and kids. I all the time had an actual want to grasp myself and the individuals round me, and I keep in mind being just a little child and watching individuals, nearly trying into them. I might play with dolls to discover these issues, and I kind of graduated from dolls to actors.”

Beneath Heyman’s affect, the present has reworked into one thing very separate from Souza and Serur’s relationship. “By the point we will probably be sharing this model at Vassar, it will likely be the primary viewers receiving this piece the place these characters really feel fairly completely different from who we’re,” explains Serur. The iteration of “We Begin In Manhattan” being shared at Vassar is in workshop kind, as is custom through the summer season season on the Powerhouse, which encompasses a dozen workshop performances and staged readings by way of July 29. Different notable exhibits to have handed by way of Powerhouse of their early levels embody the 2016 Tony Award winners for Greatest Play and Greatest Musical, Stephen Karam’s “The People” and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton.”

Heyman, Souza, and Serur are aligned of their need to discover and diversify representations of affection and intimacy on stage. “Musicals are areas which have historically been extraordinarily gendered,” Says Heyman. “To take a romcom and queer it on this kind of manner, with it being a musical, may be very thrilling.”

When requested who this musical is meant for, the workforce is obvious that the story is one that can enchantment to a various mainstream viewers. “You probably have notions about queer and trans individuals, you might go away with some damaged,” says Heyman. “However Both manner, this can be a story about love.”