DIRECTOR'S NOTE

The central premise of Urinetown: The Musical is that in the post-apocalyptic dystopia of the play, water is in such short supply that it has become the key economic commodity, so much so that characters are obliged to pay a huge and corrupt corporation for the "privilege to pee."

Making musical theater in a time when people can't gather in large groups feels, in and of itself, more than a little challenging. We wanted a project that would speak to the moment and not be diminished by the need to record and stream the piece, one where COVID-19 protocols like mask-wearing could be integrated seamlessly into the reality of the play. We settled on Urinetown in part because it touches on so much of the socio/political climate of the moment: leaders manipulating popular opinion with a “big lie”, corporate mismanagement, social irresponsibility, what happens when capitalism becomes too intertwined with issues of basic human rights. Also, because its satirical comedy is very funny. In the spirit of this Brechtian musical -- which turns our every expectation on its head -- this talented all-female cast adds another layer to the alternate reality of the show.

When we began work on the project back in March, we truly did not know how all the pieces would come together. How could we create a musical in a time when we could not sing together in the same room? When some in our company were fully remote students? Would we need to record the piece on Zoom? We started work, and we had a tremendous amount of worry about the logistics of the production, but we never had any worry about the commitment of the students involved. From the very beginning this company was open to finding creative solutions: they would do individual zoom lessons online with the Music Director, they would record all of their singing on voice memos on their phones, they would lip-sync to their own voices, they would stay after rehearsal to reset the Garmany classroom, Choreographer Julianna Brown '23 would create socially distanced dance numbers. We would all learn (with the help and patience of videographer Helder Mira) to take a staged piece of theater and record it, sometimes out of sequence, into a film for online streaming. All of this they did on a much more truncated timeline than we were accustomed to, because, as you can imagine, this plan had many revisions along the way. Music Director Kevin Scott and I could not be more proud of this ensemble, the work they have put in, and the sheer joy it has been to collaborate with them. Many thanks to Eric Galm and the whole team at Austin Arts Center for their ongoing guidance and support. We hope you enjoy the show!

~ Nina Pinchin