Theater in Asylum’s latest project is a new musical about the life, literature, and legacy of the Brontë sisters: three of the most mythologized and misunderstood authors in English history. 

Since 2014, the creators—Lucas Tahiruzzaman Syed (music and book), Sarah Ziegler (lyrics and book) and Theater in Asylum’s Co-Artistic Director Katie Palmer (book)—have been researching, writing, presenting and rewriting! This summer, The Brontës has been invited by Piper Theater Productions to present a workshop production in Brooklyn—a huge step for a new musical!

This will be the first major public performance for The Brontës. We want to make sure we take advantage of this amazing opportunity and present the highest quality workshop possible. Will you help us? 

Since their first novels were published, literary circles and the public have been fascinated with who the “real” Brontës were and how they received inspiration. Through extensive research into their own writings, our musical will give asylum to these women whose life stories got obscured by the most famous of their works.  

We’re very lucky to be working with composer Lucas Tahiruzzaman Syed and lyricist Sarah Ziegler. Not only are both extremely accomplished artists, but their passion for bringing stories to life through music is contagious. 

Both are members of the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, the premiere training ground for emerging musical theatre composers, lyricists, and librettists. BMI alumni includecreators of Avenue Q, A Chorus Line, Next to Normal, Urinetown, and many, many more. Lucas and Sarah have presented work at a variety of NYC venues including Dixon Place, New York Theatre Barn, The Duplex Cabaret Theatre, and 54 Below.

We love Piper Theatre’s commitment to producing innovative, risk-taking theater that is free and open to the community. We’re thrilled to be able to continue our own commitment to making theater free and accessible. So accessible in fact, the production will be outside in a park in Park Slope, meaning anyone walking by has the opportunity to join the story. Yes, that’s right, this workshop production will be free for all!

This entire undertaking will cost about $13,000. An extra perk of working with Piper is that they are investing $4,500 in the project in addition to paying for the majority of publicity and marketing expenses. We will use about $1,000 from TIA’s existing funds. Because the production is free, we will need to raise the difference, about $7,500.

Here’s a breakdown of our expenses:

Physical Production: $1,485
Rehearsal Space: $1,200
Artist Compensation: $8,400
Marketing: $100
Administration: $1,315
Fundraising: $500
TOTAL 
$13,000

As you can see the majority of the money will go towards paying our artists—something that’s extremely important to us. We are committed to paying all of our artists an equal stipend, a small amount in relation to the number of hours they will spend in rehearsal. 

We have a number of great perks to say thank you for your donation from $5 up to $1000. If a financial contribution is tough but you still want to show your support, we always need volunteers. Email us at info@theaterinasylum.com!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again—without supporters like you, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. You allow us to expose audiences to obscured stories and promote new beliefs and empathy. THANK YOU!

THEATER IN ASYLUM is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of THEATER IN ASYLUM must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.