The ASCAP Foundation and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will present the first annual Musical Theatre Fest next month.

The two-week event will offer emerging musical theatre composers an opportunity to learn from industry leaders such as Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Stephen Schwartz, and more.

The programming will begin with three days of educational panels July 11–13, led by top composers and industry executives. The panels will discuss the future of musical theatre and how it converges with the film industry and Hollywood. Speakers will include Dear Evan Hansen and La La Land composers Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, Schmigadoon!'s Cinco Paul, and songwriting duo Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond. There will also be a panel for song feedback led by John McGrew, Samantha Hilscher, Sarah McMullen, Elisa Rice, and Netflix's Stephen Chesley.

July 17–20 will feature the return of the ASCAP Foundation/Universal Theatrical Group Musical Theatre Workshop, led by Stephen Schwartz. It will be the first time the workshop has been hosted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will have the opportunity to workshop their developing musicals through sessions with producers, directors, performers, and composers. 

“Providing a mentorship program of this caliber with artists and executives of this stature has transformed The Wallis and Beverly Hills into a hub of innovation for musical theatre," says Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts CEO Robert van Leer.

The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Fest will be hosted at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. The panels and workshop sessions will be free for the public to attend as audience members. For more information, click here.