PICKING UP
A New Musical
Four women.
Three generations.
Two best friends.
One phone call.
Book and Lyrics by Nathan Christopher
Music and Lyrics by Gregory Douglass
SOLD-OUT NEW YORK DEBUT in Emerging Artists Theatre’s Spark Festival
A TOP THREE WINNER in the Writer’s Digest Writing Competition
SEMI-FINALIST in the SDSU New Musical Initiative
BROADCAST SPECIAL on Musical Theatre Radio
FOUR WOMEN.
THREE GENERATIONS.
TWO BEST FRIENDS.
ONE PHONE CALL.
IT’S ALL ON THE LINE.
It’s the ’90s — when everyone relied on the landline telephone. That landline is a lifeline to four women who have been brought together and are anxiously awaiting a phone call. As the hours slip away, tensions run high, friendships are tested, and secrets are exposed. PICKING UP is a story about relationships, family, and what happens in a small town when everything is on the line.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
4 WOMEN: Two college/post-college age, one middle age, one elderly (Alto to Soprano)
4 MEN: Variety of supporting roles (Bass to Tenor)
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION DETAILS
RUN TIME: Two hours (with intermission)
SETTING: A kitchen (only one set)
SCORE: Twenty songs
PICKING UP Radio Show
PICKING UP RADIO SHOW on MUSICAL THEATRE RADIO
To celebrate our one-year anniversary, Musical Theatre Radio, the only station dedicated to showtunes 24/7, did a special broadcast about Picking Up on Monday, October 12, 2020 (exactly one year after the show took the stage for the first time). In this radio show, we share selections from the original workshop production in New York City and debut a few new songs.
PAST PERFORMANCES:
The Emerging Artists Theatre New Work Series
Saturday, October 12th, 2019
TADA! Theater • 15 West 28th Street • NYC
Sold-out world premiere staged reading
Directed by Giana DeGeiso
Starring
Leah Abrams, Jill Engstrom, Diana Kazakova & Andrea Schmidt
Featuring
Julianne B. Merrill on Piano & Lisa Liu on Guitar
October 12, 2019 • NYC Staged Reading
Images by Sean Akers
“Picking Up” (Opening Theme)
October 12, 2019 • NYC Staged Reading
“Joanie’s Song”
May 31, 2019 • Rockwood Music Hall • NYC
Selections from PICKING UP
NYC Spark Festival Staged Reading
MUSICAL NUMBERS
ACT ONE
PICKING UP
MOTHERLESS DAUGHTER
THE RED BANDANA
DEAD-END TOWN
EVERYTHING’S GREAT
NOW YOU’RE A STRANGER
PICKING UP THE PIECES (I)
HEARTS
JOANIE
IMAGINE WHAT COULD BE
ACT TWO
THE CALL
PICKING UP THE PIECES (II)
FIVE-AND-DIME
A KIND OF MUSIC
SHE’S THE ONE
FIVE-AND-DIME (REPRISE)
WHO WILL CATCH ME?
HOW CAN I TELL YOU?
PICKING UP (REPRISE)
LIVE WHILE YOU CAN
NATHAN CHRISTOPHER
(Book and Lyrics)
Nathan Christopher writes plays about the universal truths of everyday life. Through the exploration of familiar moments—falling in (and out of) love, the death of a loved one, an act of violence, the slow decline of age—his work offers new perspectives, questions the conventional, provides comfort, allows us to laugh and, most of all, ask us to look inward rather than outward because that’s how we start changing the world.
Christopher is the author of nine plays: PICKING UP, THE FAREWELL TOUR, A MAN WALKS INTO A BAR, GOOD BOY BAD BOY, TO REMAIN SILENT, SORRY (NOT SORRY), CLAIREVOYANT, DOWN TO THE WIRE, and EVE: A PALINDROME PLAY.
A MAN WALKS INTO A BAR was published in the Smith & Kraus Best Ten-Minute Plays anthology.
PICKING UP was a winner in the “Script” category of the 86th annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. A musical version of the show, created with lauded singer-songwriter Gregory Douglass, made its off-off-Broadway workshop debut to a sold-out house as part of the Emerging Artists Theatre’s Spark Festival. It was also featured in Undiscovered Works at Dixon Place’s Monthly Storytelling Series (NYC), and was celebrated in a special broadcast on Musical Theatre Radio to mark the one-year anniversary of the show’s creation.
Christopher is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and supports New York City’s Atlantic Theater Company.
Follow Christopher on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and read his work on National New Play Exchange (NPX).
GREGORY DOUGLASS
(Music and Lyrics)
Gregory Douglass has an evocative, alternative sound that blends “Rufus Wainwright’s opulent musicality and Justin Timberlake’s accessible soulfulness” (OUT Magazine). NPR’s Morning Edition coined him “one of New England’s best-kept secrets.”
According to Pandora’s co-founder, Tim Westergren, Douglass is one of the top independent artists on Pandora radio today. With ten independently released studio albums, his songs have reached millions of listeners digitally, and his videos have amounted to more than a million views on his YouTube channels.
Douglass’s song “Alibis” was featured on the Netflix original series The Rain in 2018, which sparked a fast-growing international following of his music. He has shared the stage with artists including Jason Mraz, They Might Be Giants, Regina Spektor, Shawn Colvin, and The Weepies, among others.
More information on Gregory Douglass can be found here.