Inspiration
My writing partner and I thought the next big step as musical theatre writers was to write a piece and get a performance together. We decided that the Indianapolis Fringe Festival was a good way to in a way rip the band-aid off. We had been working on a few bigger projects but knew those we going to take more time to develop. At that point, not a lot of people had seen or heard my work. I felt like getting my work in front of the audience was the next big step in my early career. I wanted to grow through that experience because I knew to continue my career it was an aspect I needed to learn and feel.
We knew we wanted to develop a one-act musical, or at least one short enough to fit the parameters of the festival--- no longer than forty-five minutes, to be safe. My writing partner had recently gotten hooked on a History Channel show called “The Curse of Oak Island.” As he began describing the TV show to me, he suddenly had a light bulb moment, he stated “We should make this into a musical.” After a few months of tinkering away at a story. I came to him with a story about family, and we got to work creating “Oak Island.”
Development
Oak Island was originally developed as a one-act musical in 2018 and was set to be part of the Indianapolis Fringe Festival in August 2020. Like everyone in the theatre community, we didn’t know if the pandemic was going to last two weeks or two years, so we kept working. We did everything we could to develop it virtually over Zoom. When the festival was canceled, we decided to expand our 35-40 minute musical into a full-length musical. Since 2018 we have held one reading through the Indianapolis Playwrights Circle, as well as several independently produced readings and workshops. In 2019 American Lives Theatre, based out of Indianapolis, offered to assist us by facilitating two additional readings which led to a staged workshop production in May of 2022.
Development History
Workshop production with American Lives Theatre planned for (May 2022)
Fully-Staged Concert with American Lives Theatre in association with their new works initiative (February 2022)
Indy Fringe Festival Preview Concert produced by American Lives Theatre (August 2021)
Table reading with the Indianapolis Playwrights Circle (November 2018)
Table reading with Fat Turtle Theatre (April 2018)
Reviews from Oak Island In Concert
from 2021 Indy Fringe Festival
“This offering is an excellent peek at what promises to be an engaging show.”
Plays with John and Wendy - John Belden and Wendy Carson
“Expect beautiful harmonies from the cast, as well as stirring, relatable lyrics.”
IndyFringe Talks - Leah Beatty
“You'll be in the midst of smart-sharp-edged music, lyrics and dialogue by writers Brandi Underwood and Joe Barsanti”
“ I judge the preview of “Oak Island” a resounding success and highly recommend you see the show…”
The Aisle with Tom Alarez - Tom Alvarez
