Honeck-Moss Productions is proud to present “In The Works.”  This exciting new series was conceived as an opportunity for composers to try out new work in front of an audience and see how it plays in a supportive environment.  It is also an opportunity to create community among the composers and their performers.

In The Works will be presented monthly and feature three composers or composer teams, each presenting about 20 minutes of new material.  This month features the works of composers: James Ballard, Robert Farruggia & Cristina Farruggia and Colin Gallagher & Justin Gates.  Hosted by: Thomas Honeck.

JAMES BALLARD is a composer, lyricist, and writer who was written works for choir, concert band, orchestra, pop/rock/jazz ensembles, and musical theatre. As composer, shows include the full-length musical The Oxford Epidemic, the one-act musical The Jerk Next Door, the 10-minute operetta A Door, and the (in-progress) musical Awake, all co-written with lyricist/librettist Seth Christenfeld. As composer/lyricist, shows include the heavy metal oratorio The Darkest Day and the theatrical song cycle Worlds To Explore. His work has been performed at venues across the country including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Rockwell Table & Stage in Los Angeles, and numerous clubs and cabarets in New York City. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Curtain Up Songwriting Workshop at the University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, Virginia. James holds an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU and a BM in Music Composition from James Madison University.  

ROBERT & CRISTINA FARRUGGIA: Cristina and Robert’s first collaboration was a Christmas pageant reenactment in their living room when they were four and three, respectively.  Their parents thought it was an award winner.  As they got older however, they decided to try their hands on a few more professional collaborations; their first being their cabaret, Family Album.  Having written some original pieces for Family Album they decided to collaborate on a full-length musical which eventually became On the Air.  It was selected as one of 10 musicals to partake in The PiTCH as part of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival at Merry Go Round Playhouse and was a finalist in The Santa Fe Musical Theatre Festival and The Rhinebeck Writer's Retreat.  It was presented at The York Theatre Company as part of their developmental reading series, starring Nick Spangler and Farah Alvin and directed by Tony Nominee, Hunter Foster.  Most recently it had a workshop production in Brooklyn, NY. Their second musical, The Store Under the Portico, which takes place in Italy during WWII, has been a finalist in numerous festivals and will have a developmental reading at The York Theatre Company in the new year. They recently began work on their third musical based on the life of Hedy Lamarr. Their work has been featured at Feinstein’s/54 Below, The Green Room 42, and The Laurie Beechman Theatre among others. For more information visit www.farruggiaandfarruggia.com      

COLIN GALLAGHER is a New York based writer and performer, working mostly in musical theater. He recently received his Masters in Fine Arts at New York University Tisch School of the Arts in the Graduate Musical Theater Program where he studied book and lyric writing. His thesis project, “Sawyer Thompson” received its first ninety minute reading here  and is currently in development. His first public work was staged at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI where he received his Bachelors in Creative Writing, as a part of the annual One Act Festival. Additionally, Colin received the Bermont Fellowship allowing him to take a master class with Pulitzer Prize winning author Paul Harding. Since then, Colin has had work and songs presented at various institutions such as the Two River Theater in New Jersey. Currently, Colin is writing and developing a web series entitled “Unintentional” with collaborators Justin Gates and Sarah Mickey, among others. 

JUSTIN GATES is a Brooklyn-based songwriter, librettist, and performer, with an eclectic and enthusiastic taste. Fresh out of NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Gates is continuing to work on both of his thesis musicals for which he is the composer - the beachy-indie-pop Sawyer Thompson with Colin Gallagher (written under the advisorship of Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinken), and the Lovecraftian horror story The Place Between with Celine Snippe. Other current works-in-progress include Unintentional, a new musical webseries created in collaboration with Colin Gallagher and Sarah Mickey (which features Gates as an actor as well as his original pop songs) and The City Below with Celine Snippe, a new noir podcast produced in association with the Podcast Academy at the NYU Production Lab.

Gates first began writing original musical theatre at Berklee College of Music, from which he earned a Bachelor of Music degree with a focus in Musical Theatre Writing and Drama. His theatre work was featured in masterclasses with Jeanine Tesori, Adam Guettel, Larry O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and his songs have been selected for the Curtain Up Musical Theatre Festival three years in a row, most recently with “A Thousand Wonders” from The Place Between. His song “Unlucky”, for which he wrote both music and lyrics, has also been featured in the New and Newer Festival in Seattle. Since moving to New York, Gates has had works performed at the Two River Theater and the PIT Loft. 

$10 Ticket in Advance & a 2 Drink Minimum in the Cabaret Theatre*

$15 Ticket at the Door (plus service fee) & a 2 Drink Minimum in the Cabaret Theatre*