Who and What is Canary?

CANARY is a new musical that fuses blues to bluegrass to rock'n'roll, with a few stops in between. Set in the heartland of America and seen through the eyes of four lonely teenagers, it traces the generation and regeneration of our country's music. A band might form. A banjo might break. And a young girl will hear an electric guitar for the first time. 

CANARY is for anyone who ever was or dreamed of being a part of a band, for anyone who remembers listening to Led Zeppelin for the first time, and for anyone wondering what the sound pulsing at the center of our great American mess sounds like.

CANARY was first conceived in 2007 by Obie Award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos, Artistic Director of The TEAM), playwright/ musician Molly Rice (The Saints Tour, Don't Stop, book for Futurity, a Musical by the Lisps), and musician Ray Rizzo (Adam Rapp's Finer Noble Gases, Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night and bands Less the Band, Corporal, Dawn Landes and the Hounds, Days of the New). After several rounds of development, it's ready for its final shaping and presentation in a workshop supported by Off-Broadway's New York Theater Workshop in May. NYTW's generously providing space and time to work through their Production Assistance Grant; but the Canary team needs your help in paying the actors and musicians for their work on this quirky, offbeat new play. 

The artists' collaboration began with a quick coffeehouse meeting that expanded into an hours-long, amped-up conversation about 60's girl bands, ambient composition, high schools, Led Zeppelin, ghosts, Rush and the High Lonesome of bluegrass music. Unlike most musicals, Rice and Rizzo wrote the songs first, and in winter of '07, they played a concert in lieu of a play reading at the Lower East Side bar Jimmy 43. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater attended and offered them a workshop in the Summer of '08, which was a well-received jump-start. In December, Playwrights Horizons invited them to do a workshop, and since then it's been through several self-supported rounds of musical and text development. 

After 3 years, we believe we are entering the final leg of development-- a vital time for a new musical. We're counting on you guys to make this final step possible. Our NYTW workshop will be an opportunity to introduce this special piece to the theater community at large, and hopefully garner support for a long-awaited New York production.

Why do we need your help?

We have an amazing cast, including Jane Pfitch, Charise Greene, Carlo Alban, Rebecca Henderson, and Dale Soules, along with fantastic musicians like Rizzo and Don Piper.  They love the play and are willing to work for the barest minimum, but they can't work for nothing. That's where you come in!

What We Need & What You Get

Although a lot of volunteer hours go into the making of great art, our artists have to support themselves one way or another.  Our overhead for this project is low due to the generous support of NYTW; we just need to provide fair stipends to our performers for their time and work.  Any money we bring in over the actors' and musicians' stipends we will put into paying for the recording sessions for the show's demo CD-- an important tool for shopping the show around-- which you can obtain a copy of as a perk (see below).

What are our potential funding sources? You're looking at it! Our fundraising efforts are focused entirely on this on-line campaign.  We don't have a sponsor (although there's a perk for that, too; see below).  So if we don't raise the money we need now, we will have to somehow make up the difference out of pocket.  Please give what you can, and know that by doing so you are helping birth a fantastic new work of musical theater.

We are offering some great incentives as perks, so along with the knowledge you are helping us create great art, you could also get CD's of some of the artists' work, dinner with the creators, or even a song written specifically for you or a loved one!

NOTE: Your donation will be processed through Fractured Atlas, via our producing partner Motherlodge (www.motherlodge.com).

Please spread the word

If you caught Canary in one of its earlier incarnations and liked it, here is your chance to spread the word about it.  Share the info with your friends on facebook, twitter, and all those other social media thingies.  Email folks. Pick up the phone.  Come to the presentation!