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In 2005, housed in Northwestern University’s highly esteemed School of Communication, the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) was founded by professor emeritus Dominic Missimi and Broadway producer Stuart Oken to answer the industry-wide need for the development of new musicals. In its first five years, AMTP supported full productions and developed new work by artists such as Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Tina Landau, Andrew Lippa, Sheldon Harnick, and Michael Friedman (full production history). AMTP also began a partnership with the Johnny Mercer Foundation, supporting burgeoning songwriters through a yearly summer mentorship program.

In the fall of 2010, David H. Bell was named the next Artistic Director of AMTP. With this change in leadership, the goals of AMTP shifted toward works in more nascent stages and less on full-scale productions. Mr. Bell brought well-established writing duos such as Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil, Paris & Lamont Dozier, Joshua Salzman & Ryan Cunningham, and Michael Kooman & Christopher Dimond to campus to workshop their newest material. In 2016, Brannon Bowers was named Producing Director and AMTP artist Ryan Cunningham was named Associate Artistic Director. During this period, AMTP began partnerships with the American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Grant award program, and with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to commission, develop and produce new musicals at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. From 2010 to 2022, AMTP helped develop over 50 new musical projects with many of them going on to world premieres.

In the fall of 2022, Alexander Gemignani assumed the role of Artistic Director to continue shepherding innovative musical theatre writing and create a new vision for the future. Under his leadership, AMTP instituted a new, open submissions process for musical theatre writers and composers to submit their shows for consideration, similar to that at the visionary new musicals development programming he helms at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference. Partnerships with the Royal Conservatoire, the Jonathan Larson Foundation, and the Johnny Mercer Foundation came to a close.

In the fall of 2025, Masi Asare was appointed Artistic Director of AMTP. Her leadership has brought a new focus on supporting and celebrating Chicago-based musical theatre writers and composers, with the launch of the Chicago Musical Theatre Writers Workshop in particular, and supporting new musical works in a revue format celebrating Chicago-based artists such as Cheryl Coons. She is also focused on building programs that leverage Northwestern’s resources as a leading research university, with the creation of an artist research residency to support early-stage development of new musicals.