Stage Door Foundation Launches New Next Now Musical Development Program

The program will help get in-development musicals in front of audiences at Open Jar Studios.

February 27, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

The Stage Door Foundation is preparing to debut a New Next Now series, which will offer development opportunities of in-process musicals through a variety of programs designed to reach projects wherever they are within the development cycle. All of the program's performances will be held at Open Jar Studios, owned by New Next Now co-founder Jeff Whiting.

The "new" designation will go to early-phase musicals that could benefit from writers getting to hear actors read and sing the material, launching with Benjamin Velez and Joel Perez's Lost City Radio.

The "next" stage will include a 29-hour industry reading aimed at getting projects in front of producers and theatres. This phase of the program will launch with three works: Afloat, by Zoe Sarnak and Emily Kaczmarek; One Way, by Ben Bonnema and Christopher Staskel; and The (Disaster) Marathon of 1904, by Tyler Joseph Ellis, Jacob Ryan Smith, and Daniel Mertzlufft.

As for the program's "now," the program will also offer fully-staged concert productions of works that are open to the public. This part of the initiative will launch with Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond's An Optimist's Guide to the Dark Ages. The performance is expected to be held in fall 2026, on a date to be announced.

“You might think of it as the Encores! series, but for new musicals,” says Whiting in a statement. “We are also in discussions with regional theatre partners who would provide yet another step in the pipeline—a World Premiere production, giving the productions much-needed insight from public audiences."

"This initiative came from a deep desire to create the kind of space I wish more creators of musicals had," adds fellow Co-Founder Jesse Kissel, “one that feels safe, rigorous, generous, and truly creative—a place where emerging theatre artists can take bold risks, stretch themselves, and develop new work while being supported by our amazing team of advisory board members.”

That Advisory Board includes Lynn Ahrens, John Kander, Michael Starobin, Sergio Trujillo, Susan Stroman, Christopher Gattelli, Michael John LaChiusa, and more.

You can find more about this inaugural slate of works at StageDoor.org.