The Stone Age musical now available for educational licensing.
New original musical Stone Crossed from New York Stage Originals is now available for licensing by schools, offering a unique blend of entertainment and education for high school and college-aged singer-actors (14+).
With an original score written by composer Philip David Stern (www.pdstern.com)
Stone Crossed incorporates relevant current topics in a super fun and colorful setting, opening up a whole world of creative possibilities for young performers.
The plot of Stone Crossed, set in the Stone Age, revolves around two groups living on opposite sides of a fault line, bound by strict rules carved into cave walls to avoid interactions with the ‘others.’ When Stoney and Jewel accidentally cross the fault line that has divided their worlds since before they were born, they discover that they are more the same than they are different, contrary to what they’ve been taught to believe.
Director Janine Papin, a Broadway League Foundation Jimmy Awards 2018 Inspiring Teacher Award recipient, directed Stone Crossed for the Winter Park Playhouse in 2022, and is now bringing the show to her students at Trinity Prep.
“Having had the opportunity of directing Stone Crossed for the Winter Park Playhouse in the summer of 2022, I know that this will be a rewarding piece to work on with my musical theater production class this spring” Papin says. “This musical is socially relevant: division and misinformation about ‘the other’ persist, the climate is being threatened, and the education of the young is passed down without questioning the validity of the teachings. Along with the fun and fabulous music, this story provides us an opportunity for discussions and reevaluating what we accept as truth and how we treat each other. This spinoff of Romeo and Juliet is something all schools should consider producing. I can’t wait to dig into this show with my class!”
In 2021, Broadway Records released a vocal cast album of Stone Crossed, featuring Broadway favorites including Celia Rose Gooding, Samantha Williams, Krystina Alabado, Antonio Cipriano, Elle McLemore, Jon Rua, Will Connolly, Alex Boniello, and conference keynote speaker Telly Leung
Backing tracks, which are available to use for performance, can also be found on Spotify.
Lisa Hopkins, who directed the 2019 premiere of Stone Crossed at Proctor’s Theatre, shares that while the show alludes to the story of Romeo and Juliet, Stone Crossed also has central themes of hope and unity.
“Stone Crossed is anything but a tragedy – more like a call to action for young people to transcend old beliefs about their world and an opportunity to overcome and rewrite the stories they have about themselves,” Hopkins says. “Stone Crossed leaves us hopeful, with the belief that even though we may not know where we are going, we are stronger together than we are”
For licensing enquiries and additional information, click here or email nystage@gmail.com
