Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop
The American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University is excited to announce the creation of a new, weekly writers’ lab for Chicago-based musical theatre composers, lyricists, and bookwriters. The Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop will launch in Fall 2025 for a 10-week session, providing selected participants with a forum and feedback to develop their existing work and build essential skills in the craft of writing/composing for the musical stage, free of charge. In addition to serving early-career writers/composers from the greater Chicago music and theatre communities, the Workshop will offer Northwestern students the opportunity to learn from rising professional artists by performing new work and assisting with the process of new musicals development. The Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop is led by Tony-nominated songwriter Masi Asare, associate professor of Theatre and incoming director of AMTP.
The Workshop will serve as an incubator for new work, whether in the early phases of development or in the process of significant revision. The program will also enable participants to strengthen fundamental skills in musical theatre writing and composing through a series of collaborative assignments. It will culminate in an informal sharing of work, performed by Northwestern students, in early December. Industry professionals, including additional NU faculty members, will be invited to give feedback and share insights at key points throughout the fall.
Interested composers, lyricists, and bookwriters should apply in teams (or as an individual composer/bookwriter/lyricist), submitting work samples relevant for a newly conceived show or current musical-in-progress as well as a statement of creative goals. See below for more details below on the application process. Application Deadline: August 1, 2025
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for the Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop, applicants must:
- Be 18 years or older
- Reside in the Chicago area and able to regularly attend weekly meetings from late September to early December.
- Not be a full-time student at Northwestern. (Northwestern students who wish to study musical theatre writing/composing, please reach out to Prof. Masi Asare and/or Prof. Ryan Nelson about the Creating the Musical module curriculum.)
2025 Application Process Timeline
- August 1: Application Deadline
- Mid-August: Finalist Interviews
- September 1: Selected Participants Notified
- September 15: First Workshop Meeting
2025 Workshop Dates and Location
In Fall 2025, the Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop will take place on Monday evenings from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Meetings will be held in person, primarily in downtown Chicago at Northwestern’s Wirtz Center Chicago in Abbott Hall (710 N. Lake Shore Drive), with an additional session to be held on Northwestern’s Evanston campus.
Questions?
Email amtp@northwestern.edu with any questions.
About the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP)
The American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University was created in 2005 to support the development of new musicals, providing artists and their work-in-progress with the resources and dramaturgical support to meet key creative goals along an individualized developmental journey. By inviting artists and their work to Northwestern’s campus, AMTP enables Northwestern students to engage with new work in rewarding and illuminating ways through performance opportunities, assistantships, and observation. AMTP strives to foster a welcoming environment for artists of all backgrounds to create vibrant new songs and stories that bring original and valuable perspectives to the musical theatre.
About Masi Asare
(Director, AMTP)
DR. MASI ASARE is a Tony-nominated songwriter and dramatist, and associate professor of theatre at Northwestern. Her work includes Paradise Square (Broadway, Chicago), Monsoon Wedding (Off-Broadway, Delhi, Doha), Odyssey (SF Bay Area, national tour), Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood: The Musical (Concord Theatricals), and Sympathy Jones: The New Secret Agent Musical (Broadway Licensing). She has been commissioned by Theatre Royal Stratford East, the Lilly Awards, Broadway producers, and Marvel. A past Dramatists Guild Fellow, Masi’s honors include the Ziegfeld Award for a woman composer of musicals, the Holof Lyricist Award from the Eugene O’Neill Center, a grant from the Theater Hall of Fame, and the “Women to Watch on Broadway” list. She has several new shows in development, including the blues and gospel musical Delta Blue and a commercial jukebox musical. In 2024 she won Northwestern’s highest honor for teaching when she was named a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence. Masi holds degrees from Harvard and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.