Musicals by César Alvarez

NOISE
by César Alvarez

NOISE tells the story of a bunch of musicians who agree that society isn't working so they try to redesign it with the most basic form of organization humans possess: music.

A commission of The Public Theater and Playwrights Horizons Theater School/NYU.

The Potluck
by César Alvarez

The Potluck tells the story of my personal recuperation from the Greensboro Massacre in which five of my parents best friends (two of whom I am named after) were murdered by the KKK in 1979. In the piece I turn away from Marxism and toward the queer witchcraft of musical theater to summon their ghosts and try to learn something about recovering from trauma that happened before I was born.

a commission of Barbara Whitman and Beth Williams


The Elementary Spacetime Show
Music by César Alvarez
Lyrics and Book by César Alvarez and Emily Orling

photo by Paola Nogueras

The Elementary Spacetime Show tells the story of a young girl who, after a suicide attempt, finds herself in a bizarre liminal show full of nonhuman spirit world avatars. In order to die, she has to star in the show.

Development: New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova Uncharted Group, EST/Sloan Commission, EST First Light Festival, Polyphone Festival at University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

The Universe is a Small Hat
Music, Lyrics and Book by César Alvarez

photo by Jesse Utracht-Oakner

The Universe is a Small Hat is a multi-player participatory musical about a space-bound utopian collective of sentient humanoid AIs who rescue a group of human refugees trying to escape earth. Audience members play the humans in a co-created musical narrative about weathering calamity and imagining coexistence across difference.

Development: LMCC Process Space, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, PRELUDE, The Civilians 2013 R and D Group, Silent Barn, 4-month developmental residency at Babycastles Gallery. NYU Playwrights Horizons Theater School Developmental Practicum, Student production at Sarah Lawrence College

Upcoming: Princeton University Spring 2020

FUTURITY
Music by César Alvarez with The Lisps
Book and Lyrics by César Alvarez

photo by Evgenia Eliseeva courtesy of American Repertory Theater

FUTURITY tells the story of Julian Munro, a Civil War soldier who tries to invent a steam-powered artificial brain that, through its all-powerful machinations, could create peace for humankind

FUTURITY World Premiered at American Repertory Theater in March of 2012 followed by performances at Walker Art Center. New York premiere Soho Rep/Ars Nova in 2015. Directed by Sarah Benson

Awards: Futurity won the 2016 Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, 4 other Lortel Nominations, and The Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical.


FUTURITY is a available for licensing.
For script requests and production inquires:

Rachel Viola
ViolaR@unitedtalent.com 
United Talent Agency
888 Seventh Ave.
7th Floor

New York, NY 10106

T: 212.500.3224