KUOW’s RadioActive partners with and 5th Ave Theatre’s Rising Star Project

SEATTLE, WA - KUOW’s RadioActive and 5th Ave Theatre’s Rising Star Project to present 10-minute musicals on Facebook Live Seattle WA - What do you get when you take four captivating stories created by teen radio producers, let another team of teens adapt them into original musicals, and bring in even more teens to remotely direct, produce, and perform these new musicals—during a pandemic? We’re about to find out!

May 8 and May 9, at 7:00 p.m., The 5th’s Rising Star Project, in collaboration with KUOW’s RadioActive Youth Media, will present a two-day festival of new 10-minute musicals via Facebook Live. Audiences can join RSVP to the Facebook Event or join the event at facebook.com/5thave. Post-performance discussions will delve into the student narratives that the musicals explore and allow audiences to join the dialogue about issues important and relevant to young people.

This events will be the culmination of eight months of collaboration between 36 Rising Star Project teens, working together to create, produce, and present these new works—inspired by 21 Chump Street, a 2014 Lin-Manuel Miranda mini-musical based on a 2012 NPR This American Life episode, as well as the interview-devised storytelling that shaped Broadway sensation Come From Away. This year’s Rising Star Project writing teams have adapted four RadioActive feature stories from 2018:

Premiering 7 PM, May 8, 2020

Bad Trip

Book and lyrics by Ana Hiciano de Gongora

Music by Tony McCahill

Inspired by "Sober for 27 years. Now her son is experimenting with drugs" by Enya Garcia

Jared, a young man struggling with an addiction to over-the-counter medicines accidentally overdoses. His mother, with whom he has an estranged relationship, responds accordingly— and unexpectedly.

Gut Feeling

Music by Emily Saletan

Book by Lilly Grey Rudge

Inspired by “Attack of the angry colon: How I deal with my chronic illness” by Kamil Saad

After grappling for five years with a debilitating chronic illness, Kamil Saad decides to undergo a life changing surgery. When Kamil is forced to face his greatest fear, a supersized personification of his colon, only one question remains... Should he trust his gut?

Premiering 7 PM, May 9, 2020

The Pen With Four Colors

Music by James McGough and Lucas Oktay

Book by Morgan Gwertzman

Inspired by "I was the saddest kid. The tears finally slowed when I started writing" by Tre'vion Sinclair

Writing, friendship, and toxic masculinity: A bold, colorful look at a middle schooler's journey toward self-confidence.

Beyond the Boundaries

By Lydia Hayes

Inspired by “The racist practice of mispronouncing names” by Keya Roy, Zuheera Ali, and Medha Kumar

In the future where society is split into groups and people are given memory-blocking pills, #117—a Group D member—is confronted by a stranger who urges #117 to escape the city with her. But their escape doesn't go as planned.

CONTACT: Bridget Anderson, Marketing Manager

banderson@kuow.org