Alice Bliss
2007, Upstate New York. When Alice’s dad gets deployed to Iraq, she’s furious, with no one to hate but her mom. Alice valiantly shoulders her way through tenth grade – driving lessons, first love, and all – trying to keep Dad safe by acting perfect at home. A heartstopping, richly harmonic score buoys this fresh, surprisingly funny look at girls and women on the frayed edge of America, taking the heat of war.
The Writers
Karen Hartman (Composer/Lyricist/Story) is a composer/lyricist who began as an opera singer and won the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Auditions. Unable to keep a straight face, she wrote a stand-up act and became a lifelong regular at the famed Comedy Store in LA, sharing the stage with the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carey. Karen also won 1st Place at Caroline’s “The Funniest Woman in America” competition. Karen has written comedy material, music and lyrics for HBO, Showtime and the Emmy Award winning children’s program Zoobilee Zoo, in which she starred with Ben Vereen.
As a musical theatre writer, Karen was a finalist for both the O’Neill and Syracuse Stage’s New Works New Voices festivals. She earned an award of excellence from the NY Fringe Festival, a developmental reading at Multi Stages, and a grant from the Beverly Hills Music Guild. She lives and laughs with her husband in NYC.
Jenny Giering’s (Music) current projects include Alice Bliss (Adam Gwon, lyrics; Karen Hartman, book) commissioned by Playwrights Horizons (Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, Goodspeed’s Mercer Colony, Orchard Project Residency, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Theatreworks/Silicon Valley New Works Festival); and What We Leave Behind(co-written with Sean Barry; TheatreWorks Writer’s Retreat, Weston Theater Company Writers Retreat, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Sundance Theatre Lab, Theatre Aspen’s Solo Flights Festival) which received its first production at Theatre Raleigh starring Jessica Phillips this September. Her awards include the Jonathan Larson Award, the Constance Klinsky Prize from Second Stage and the Tilles Music Chair from Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Adam Gwon’s (Lyrics) musicals have been produced on six continents in ten languages. Off-Broadway: All the World’s a Stage (Keen Company – Drama Desk nomination, Off-Broadway Alliance Award winner, Best Musical), Scotland, PA (Roundabout – Drama Desk nomination, NYT Critic’s Pick), Ordinary Days (Roundabout, Keen Company revival – Drama League nomination); Regional: Witnesses (California Center for the Arts – Craig Noel Award, Outstanding New Musical), String (Village Theatre), Cake Off (Signature Theatre – Helen Hayes nomination, Bucks County Playhouse), Cloudlands (South Coast Rep), The Boy Detective Fails (Signature Theatre), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); West End: Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios).
Development History
In 2011, Alice Bliss was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons. It has been developed with Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, residencies at Goodspeed Musicals and the Orchard Project. Playwrights Horizons presented multiple readings directed by Mark Brokaw. In 2019, Alice Bliss won the Weston Playhouse New Musical Award. Development continued with a workshop at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in December 2021, alongside a residency at the Montalvo Arts Center. A planned world premiere at TheatreWorks in June 2023, directed by Mark Brokaw, was ultimately cancelled.
Connect
Beth Blickers, beth@michaelmooreagency.com