John Lloyd Young Set for New Musical at O'Neill Center

Tony Award winning Jersey Boy John Lloyd Young will head to the O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Connecticut, this summer, starring in Myth, one of several new musical works being presented as part of the National Music Theater Conference, established in 1978 to develop new works. Myth begins performances on June 29, and will play July 2, 4 and 5, directed by Jeremy Dobrish.

In addition to Young, Myth stars Pamela Myers, Marva Hicks, Paul Oakley Stovall, Brandon Espinoza and William Parry. The show, with book, music and lyrics by John Mercurio, is a contemporary riff on three Greek myths set in present day New York. When a disenchanted rock star, a frustrated mother and a slacker teenager take off separately to get their heart's desire, they discover just how intertwined their lives are.

The 2008 Music Theater Conference lineup also includes In Transit July 5 and 6, a contemporary a cappella tuner set in modern New York; Max Understood July 11 and 13, about the transformative journey of a seven-year-old autistic boy and those around him; and Iron Curtain July 12, 16, 18 and 19, a 50s communist farce about kidnapping and musical propaganda.

Past participants in the Musica Theater Conference have included Maury Yeston, Joe Masteroff and Ed Dixon, and have helped to workshop shows including Avenue Q, Nine and recent Tony Award winner In The Heights.

The O'Neill Center simultaneously hosts the National Playwrights Conference in July, a similar developmental program for theatrical scribes established in 1965. Past playwrights have included August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, David Henry Hwang and John Guare.

The 2008 series will present Alex Lewin's The Near East July 3 and 5, about one American's controversial mission to find an ancient Arab artifact; Jason Grote's Box Americana July 4 and 6, which follows a Wal-Mart cheerleader and a devoted mother who seek the “promised land;” Rachel Axler's Smudge July 10 and 12, a new parent dramedy starring New York stage regulars Maria Dizzia eurydice and Mike Doyle The New Century; Regina Taylor's Magnolia July 11 and 13, about race and class in 1960s Atlanta; A. Rey Pamatmat's Thunder Above, Deeps Below July 17 and 20, which focuses on three homeless friends; Craig Wright's Mistakes Were Made July 18 and 20, the story of a small-time producer trying to launch a big Broadway show, starring Maggie Lacey Inherit the Wind and Michael Shannon Bug; Ann Marie Healy's The Legend of Minnie Willet July 24 and 26, the story of the town eccentric, starring Johanna Day Albee's Peter and Jerry, Almost an Evening and Kevin Geer Unconditional; and Ursula Rani Sarma's Without You July 25 and 27, about the wonder and chaos of love.