POP!
Book & Lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman
Music by Anna K. Jacobs
Who shot Andy Warhol? The fabulous Candy Darling hosts a happening whodunit musical in which the famous—and infamous—denizens of Warhol’s legendary Factory all have motives to pull the trigger. But the pop art icon unravels an even bigger mystery as he confronts not only the prime suspects, but also his art and his own greatest creation: himself.
POP! received its world premiere production at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2009 and won three 2010 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards for Best Production of a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical, and Outstanding Lighting Design. The 2011 Studio Theatre production also received a 2012 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor. The 2012 Pittsburgh City Theatre production starred Anthony Rapp (RENT) as Andy Warhol and was named one of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review’s “Top Ten of 2012.”
POP! features a cast of 7 (3M, 4W+).
TEETH
Book and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Book and Music by Anna K. Jacobs
Inspired by the 2007 Sundance Award-winning cult horror film by Mitchell Lichstenstein, TEETH tells the story of Dawn O’Keefe, an evangelical Christian teen with a powerful secret not even she understands – when men violate her, her body bites back. Literally. Co-created with Pullitzer Prize and Tony-Winner Michael R. Jackson (A STRANGE LOOP), TEETH is a fierce, rapturous, and savagely entertaining new musical crackling with irrepressible desire and ancient rage – a dark comedy conjuring the legend of one girl whose sexual curse is also her salvation.
TEETH will receive its world premiere production in 2024, with details soon to be announced.
TEETH features a cast of 11 (7W, 4M).
Harmony, Kansas
Book and Lyrics by Bill Nelson
Music by Anna K. Jacobs
Heath is a gay farmer who’s making his way in a rural community where homogeneity rules. When his city-born partner, Julian, talks him into joining a spirited group of gay guys who meet once a week to sing, Heath discovers a love for making music and a kinship he didn’t expect. But his world is turned upside down when the group decides to perform in public, threatening everything that matters to him, including the life he’s made with the man he loves.
HARMONY, KANSAS received its world premiere production at Diversionary Theatre in 2012. The show has been nominated by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for three 2012 Craig Noel Awards for Outstanding New Musical, Outstanding New Score, and Outstanding Direction of a Musical. It also won four 2012 SCENIE (StageSceneLA) Awards, including Best World Premiere Musical.
HARMONY, KANSAS features a cast of 7 men.
ANYTOWN
Written by Jim Jack
Music and Lyrics by Anna K. Jacobs
Star athlete Hope Baker sports a 4.0 GPA and limitless potential. But when a boy she likes offers her a pill to reduce the pain from a soccer injury, Hope makes a decision that rapidly transforms her dreams into an escalating nightmare.
Based on interviews with families struggling with the disease of addiction, opioid prevention experts, law enforcement officials, and educators, this original musical was developed in response to the devastating impact prescription opioid misuse, heroin, and fentanyl have had on communities throughout New Jersey.
ANYTOWN features a cast of 4 (2M, 2W). Running time: 65 minutes, including a post-play discussion. Appropriate for upper middle school, high school, and parent audiences.
WITNESSES
Conceived by Jordan Beck
Book by Robert L. Freedman
Music by Carmel Dean, Matt Gould, Adam Gwon, Anna K. Jacobs, and Gerald Sternbach
Lyrics by Jordan Beck, Mindi Dickstein, Matt Gould, Adam Gwon, and Anna K. Jacobs
Five songwriting teams and Tony Award-winning writer Robert L. Freedman bring to life the words of five Jewish teen – Éva Heymann, Dawid Rubinowicz, Moshe Flinker, Renia Spiegel and Yitskhok Rudashevski – who recorded their experiences in diaries as their world descended into World War II. These memoirs are a testament to the human spirit during a period in history that must never be forgotten.
WITNESSES received its world premiere production at California Center for the Arts, Escondido in 2022. The production was awarded two 2022 San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding New Production and Outstanding Direction of a Musical (J. Scott Lapp). It was one of the San Diego Union-Tribune’s “Top 10 San Diego Theater Productions of 2022.”
WITNESSES features a cast of 8 (4M, 4W).
ECHO
Libretto and Music by Anna K. Jacobs
ECHO is a chamber musical-opera hybrid, in which three women – Maryanne, Beth, and Vanessa – reimagine the ancient myth of Echo and Narcissus, a story they’ve uniquely claimed as their own. As moments from the myth and moments from the lives of Maryanne, Vanessa, and Beth increasingly collide, the women start to question whether the myth is in fact their story… and if it isn’t, what is?
ECHO features a cast of 3 Women.
A HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS
Book by Anna Ziegler
Music and Lyrics by Anna K. Jacobs
Barbara Newhall Follett was the child prodigy author of a celebrated novel about a young girl who runs away from her family and vanishes into nature. Years later, on December 7, 1939, Barbara walked out of her apartment with $30 and a light overcoat, and was never seen or heard from again. A HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS is a meditation on the mystery of Barbara’s disappearance, and how the need to belong can be both a blessing and a curse, especially to a young woman who cannot – and will not – be contained.
A HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS features a cast of 9 (4W, 5M).
Image credit: Stefan Cooke/Farksolia
THE REAL GEMMA JORDAN
Book by Anna K. Jacobs
Music and Lyrics by Rob Rokicki
When aspiring influencer, Gemma Jordan, is taken down by an online troll, aka @therealgemmajordan, she sets out on a mission to confront them. But a troll isn’t the only thing that Gemma must come to face. Featuring a catchy, high-energy pop-rock score, THE REAL GEMMA JORDAN is a subversive and funny exploration of the human need to connect in an age when the line between reality and fantasy is mind-bendingly thin.
Originally a movie musical commissioned and produced by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, THE REAL GEMMA JORDAN is a stage musical adaptation featuring a cast of 7 principals (5W, 2M), and 8+ ensemble members.
KAYA: TASTE OF PARADISE
Directed by Paul Warner
Screenplay by Jerome A. Parker
Music and Lyrics by Anna K. Jacobs
In 1979, a young South African immigrant, Kaya, defies her older brother and fights for her American dream at the disco. But all that glitters isn’t gold in this coming of age story set in the streets and havens of New York City.
KAYA: TASTE OF PARADISE is a short movie musical commissioned and produced by the New York Film Academy, and featuring Lethabo Mofomme, Okieriete Onaodowan, and Victor Verhaeghe.
STELLA AND THE MOON MAN
Written by Richard Tulloch
Music by Anna K. Jacobs & Adrian Kelly
When Stella’s family moves from Narrangarra to the city, she suddenly finds she has no friends. In a dark room on the top floor of Stella’s apartment block, lives a blind astronomer. Everybody says he’s weird. He can’t see the stars, but he spends all his life studying space. But Stella gets to know him. He sometimes needs her to be his eyes, and he teaches her that our greatest problems can be put into perspective by comparing them to the vast beauty of the Universe.
STELLA AND THE MOON MAN is a family show that combines music with shadow puppetry and digital video. It was presented by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2005 in collaboration with Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image and the Australian Youth Orchestra. The production won a 2006 Helpmann Award for Best Children’s Presentation.