Jacqui Grilli to Star in Pre-NY Tryout of ROLLER DISCO THE MUSICAL, 6/13, Boston

Oberon in association with the Ministry of Theater will present a pre-New York tryout of ROLLER DISCO THE MUSICAL!, an unautherized parody of the classic film Roller Boogie, from May 30 to August 30 at Oberon in Cambridge Massachusetts, with its world premiere opening night on June 13. With executive producer Pablo Rojas, Roller Disco aims to transfer to Off-Broadway in Spring 2013.

The musical stars Jacqui Grilli as Debbie Sinclair and Ahmad Maksoud as Johnny Max. Featured are Kenard Jackson, Mariah MacFarlane, Mark Mauriello, Kevin B. McGlynn, Kenneth Miller, DJ Petrosino, Marissa Rae Roberts, Misch Whitaker and Claudia Yanez.

Jacqui Grilli is a recent graduate of the Boston Conservatory. Her most recent credits include the leading roles in the original productions of Necessary Monsters and Broken: The Musical. This production marks her OBERON debut.

Written by Sam Forman and Jen Wineman, Roller Disco The Musical! has been scored by Sam Forman (lyrics) and Eli Bolin (music).

Roller Disco is the love story of Johnny Max and Debbie Sinclair, two residents of Los Angeles, California that might as well live three continents away from each other. He resides in a three-flight-walk-up dingy room on the diversity-drenched Venice Beach Boardwalk where he sticks his head out the window for air-conditioning. She is the pampered only scion of one of the richest lawyers in the single-demographic enclave of Bel Air where she gets around town in $450,000 Rolls Royce Excalibur convertible powered by an engine meant for an aircraft. Johnny’s choice of transportation is his $12.95 Firebird Quad Roller skates. And here’s where the love story heats up.

The production is directed and choreographed by Jen Wineman. James O’Leary is the Musical Director.

The design team includes Dan Jentzen (Lighting/Video), Aaron Mack (Sound), Melissa Trn (Costumes) and Victor Yambao (Props).

Author/Director/Choreographer, Jen Wineman, has spent 15 hours a day on roller skates for the past four months.

OBERON is the A.R.T.’s Second Stage, a destination for theater and nightlife on the fringe of Harvard Square. In addition to offering work from the A.R.T’s main season, OBERON is also a thriving incubator for emerging artists to imagine new projects that could only exist in this exciting club theater environment. Hundreds of artists and performance groups brought work to the space each year. OBERON regularly features local performers including aerialists, beat poets, food artists, tap dancers, gender-bending sketch troupes, comedians, hula-hooping burlesquers, and pop-and-lock human statues to name but a few.

JEN WINEMAN (Director, Choreographer, Co-Book Writer) is a director of theater and opera, living in New York City. Recent work in New York includes a workshop of Charise Castro Smith’s The Hunchback of Seville at New Georges, Stephanie Dodd and Justin Badger’s new aerial circus/country rock musical Devil in the Hole at The Skybox, Charise Castro Smith’s Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen] at Ars Nova, the world premiere of José Rivera’s Lessons for an Unaccustomed Bride at 59E59, and John Eccles’ opera The Judgment of Paris at Manhattan School of Music. Regionally, she has directed at New York Stage and Film, the Experimental Theater of Vassar College, Williamstown Theatre Festival (workshop), WordBRIDGE, and with SquidShow in Telluride, Colorado. Up next for Jen is the world premiere of Roller Disco The Musical! (The Unauthorized Parody of Roller Boogie, the Classic Film that Inspired a Generation…For Like Five Minutes), which she co-wrote with Sam Forman and Eli Bolin, presented by the American Repertory Theater’s Club Oberon in Cambridge, MA. This fall she will direct a new production of Donald Margulies’ play Shipwrecked! An Entertainment at Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC. Jen is a co-founder and board member of Studio 42, a New York-based theater company that focuses on producing “unproducible” new work by emerging artists. She is a member of the 2011-2012 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and is an affiliated artist at New Georges. Training: B.A. Vassar College, M.F.A. Yale School of Drama (Julian Kaufman Directing Prize). Jen is represented by Paradigm.