Otto R&D at Leeds Playhouse

  Led by Co-Directors Ben Wilson and Amy Leach, OTTO WEIDT’S BRUSH AND BROOM WORKSHOP FOR THE BLIND had a one-week R&D hosted by Leeds Playhouse in December 2023. This time was spent interrogating the dramaturgy of the script and the inclusion of visual information throughout the material.

Along with our Directors, the R&D benefitted from an incredible team, including Dramaturg and Furnace Producer, Rio Matchett, Musical Director, Bobby Goulder, Writers Caitlyn Burt and Amir Shoenfeld, Actors Jake Sawyers, Karina Jones and Samuel Brewer, Associate theatre makers Ellie Wallwork, Charlotte Eyres and Stevie Cairns, Support workers Tessa Parr, Georgia Griffiths, Assistant, Janka Scepkov, and Thomas Pocklington Trust Manager, Matt Harrison. We had chats with Visual Designer Rebecca Pitt to brain-storm around the show art, and Ant Robling stopped by to take some shots of the process.

After an incredibly meaningful week of discovery, we are excited for the next iteration of OTTO WEIDT and are look forward to those re-writes!

Amir plays keyboard as Jake and Georgia sing behind him happily
Charlotte sings holding a script
Creatives smile while sitting at a desk with cups of tea
Ben sings in a burnt orange shirt
Caitlyn holds a script smiling. Bobby looks at her
Janka closes her eyes, pointing to the sky in front of a laptop
Amy laughs holding a pencil
Tessa whispers lines into Karina's ear while looking at a script
Rio sings holding her ear to hear the notes
Three actors stand with a serious expression
Jake poses looking over his shoulder smiling while holding an ipad
Bobby smiles. His hand on his chin
Four actors sing standing in a line
Sam holds a phone to his eyes reading the script
Ellie smiles while holding her lanyard
MD Bobby laughs from behind a keyboard as a line of singers stand in front of him singing
Karina smiles looking to the side in a bright red top
Amir smiles gesturing with his hands in front of him as though building a tower

Photos by Ant Robling

RETURN HOME

Best of Friends

Lucy and her friends sing and dance to our new song, ‘Best of Friends’, where they realise how boring it would be if everyone was the same.

What’s On Stage

Read the What’s On Stage article announcing the upcoming Signal Online, featuring our new song, ‘It’s You’, by Amir Shoenfeld and Caitlyn Burt.

READ HERE

‘It’s You’ debuted at the first ever SIGNAL Online

In the midst of cancelations and isolations, Adam Lenson’s Signal performance decided to keep its scheduled date, swapping what would have been a live BEAM2020 event, for a ground-breaking online format. Direct from composer’s houses all over the globe, SIGNAL ONLINE streamed live performances of new musical works.

Making its debut, ‘It’s You’, from our new musical ‘Out of Sight’ was performed by Amir Shoenfeld.

WATCH BELOW

‘From Inspiration to Stage’ Podcast - (Im)Perfect Rhyme

Hear Caitlyn’s opinion on the perfect/imperfect rhyme debate, along with the song ‘Offspring Just Spring Off’ by Amir Shoenfeld and herself, from their children’s musical, ‘Sheila the Tiny Turtle’.

The battle lines are drawn as Drew asks one of the big questions surrounding lyric writing.  From all over the world, lyricists have had their say on whether rhymes should be perfect, or if imperfect rhymes are now the norm.  What’s the answer?  Join Drew along with a very distinguished group of artists including Noel Katz, Caitlyn Burt, Cal Silbertstein, Krishna Alexandra, Millicent Sarre and Makayla Ryan as they tackle this fascinating topic.  This episode also features an array of songs from new musicals including tracks by Cal Silberstein and Jinhee Kim, Krishna Alexandra and Lorien Patton, Caitlyn Burt and Amir Shoenfeld, and Drew Lane himself.  Get ready for a passionate debate!

LISTEN HERE

Garden Theatre Songwriting Challenge

We are really excited to have our song ‘A Man Called John’ selected as one of the winners of the Garden Theatre Song Writing Challenge! A ‘watch party’ will be taking place on Tuesday 26.5.20 on the Garden Theatre Facebook page, 5.00pm (EST), where our song will be sung by the very talented Valerie Torres-Rosario.

Garden Theatre Songwriting Performance

‘A Man Called John’ selected as one of the winners of the Garden Theatre Song Writing Challenge! Watch the very talented Valerie Torres-Rosario’s performance.

Johanna, a very clever 16 year old woman in the year 819, has been secretly reading about John the Baptist with her friend Lucas. When she realises she won’t have access to books anymore, she resolves to change where her future is heading.

Bite-Sized Broadway Podcast

Announcement of Bite-Sized Broadway Podcast Musical, ‘Sheila the Tiny Turtle’

Amir Shoenfeld (Music) and Caitlyn Burt (Book and Lyrics) are excited to announce that ‘Sheila, the Tiny Turtle’, our 20 minute Aussie musical, will be part of the Bite-Sized Broadway: A Mini-Musical Podcast season. Episodes premiere on October 5th, with Sheila’s date to be confirmed.

Bite-Sized Broadway: A Mini-Musical Podcast consists of 50-minute episodes each featuring a 10-to-20-minute “mini-musical” presented as a fully produced radio play complete with top-of-the-line digital orchestrations and captivating sound effects. Each musical is followed by a discussion with its writers about their piece and their careers. In order to support these gifted writers, we have cast top Broadway and theatre industry talent to help get eyes and ears on these writers and help them launch a fruitful career in the theatre.

In the Australian desert, a family of turtles works hard to find food for their sick mother. Sheila, the cleverest – yet smallest – turtle of the family, is mocked by her brothers for not being able to contribute due to her size. When Sheila hears about a cure located dangerously far across the desert, she determines to bring the seeds back to save her mum. While crossing the sand, Sheila encounters a kangaroo, followed by a dingo, where she is forced to use her brain instead of her size to overcome the obstacles and make her mum well.

Go to www.indieworkstheatre.com/bitesizedbroadway for more information!

SIGNAL Online 6

‘Rich, Dead Saint’ Debuted at SIGNAL ONLINE 6

Introducing a new project, Amir and Caitlyn sing ‘Rich, Dead, Saint’ from their work based on 90s computer game, Grim Fandango at Signal Online 6.

WATCH BELOW