For over a decade, we have been passionately working on a performance piece that would combine the elements of a modern day pop concert with a character-driven, theatrical storyline exploring the psychology of a moment in time. When we first started working on the script, we took our inspiration from Madonna's groundbreaking concert staging of the early 90's. The song, dance and multimedia elements and social provocations that go hand and hand with these mega dance concerts has always been a point of fascination for us.  Add into the mix our love of the theater and nostalgia for the innocence of the 1990s and The Groove Factory is born:  a musical that looks at the last glory days of New York City’s mega-dance clubs through the filter of the impending turn of the Millennium accompanied by global Y2K paranoia.

 

As we work on the piece now, we of course know that Y2K is almost laughable and the real threat was a few years down the road on September 11th, 2001.  Our evolving social perspective post 9/11, looks back on the 90’s as a decade of decadence brought on by economic prosperity and childlike innocence without the dark clouds of terrorism and war.  The America of the 90's has been forced to grow up in the decades since. The Groove Factory allows the audience, for one night, to go back to that time right before terror, George W. Bush and iPhones.

 

After many song demos* and closed readings for colleagues and friends, our dream began to blossom. In 2006 the first incarnation of The Groove Factory was chosen as a finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award. Then, in February of 2010, the book and the score were revised and The Groove Factory enjoyed a two week artistic residency at IRT THEATRE in Manhattan's West Village. This process culminated in two sold out and very well received workshop readings.  And NOW, as our greatest achievement to date, The Groove Factory is an official selection of The New York Musical Theater Festival** which will see its world premiere in July, 2012.

 

Join us as we continue the adventure!  Mark your calendar for July 4, 2012 at 1:00pm EST.  

 

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