Adam Gerber and Tori Allen-Martin are bringing two concerts of fourteen brand new songs to the Chiswick Playhouse on the 23rd and 24th of October. Their Chapter Next project launched in July aims to professionally record a collection of brand new songs written by Gerber and Allen-Martin and these concerts will not only premiere the music, performed by the chosen album cast, but will also act as a fundraiser for the recording.
Twelve musical theatre graduates will perform across two nights, alongside already established guest performers (yet to be announced).
Chapter Next was initially inspired by Gerber and Allen-Martin working together at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama on a project that involved writing songs for students. The project was a success and they decided to extend the process into a passion project that aims to give more opportunities to new talent, who they feel have gotten the raw end of the deal due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Training is expensive and the industry is brutal, 2020 graduates didn’t get the opportunity to finish their training properly – they missed out on the final chapter – the part where you get to hone your craft by performing in front of live audiences and showcasing in front of agents. It’s always been hard to start out in this industry, and in this current climate, it’s even harder. We have to keep nurturing, lifting and developing new talent and we have to give them spaces to find their own voices’. Says Allen-Martin.
‘Adam and I have always been passionate about new writing and new talent. To give performers the opportunity to originate a song, really make it their own and have us make changes around them, so that they are left with a professionally recorded song, and hopefully filmed performance that shows them to the best of their ability is the kind of thing I would’ve jumped at when I was starting out. It can be so hard to be seen, and especially difficult to find your own voice in a world that moulds us into whatever came before. We hope that by working with these students and creating around them, we’ll really help them to access a part of themselves that feels truly authentic and give them great materials to showcase themselves with moving forward. We hope to lift their confidence and shout about them and ultimately find alternative ways to ensure that their talent is heard. It’s been a difficult and uninspiring time for us all, so we hope that this project will breathe a bit of life into the beginning of their next chapters, and hopefully elevate these graduates in a time that feels otherwise stagnant. It will also serve as a great database of new performers for the industry and also new songs for graduates looking to expand their repertoire. We hope to make sheet music and backing tracks available also and as time goes on add more writers and more new talent into the mix. There is definitely a systemic problem with diversity in drama schools, that we really felt when searching for new talent, and we want to seek to improve on all levels there too. We’re excited for the following chapters but we’re really proud of this starting point.’
Tori and Adam met working on new musical Muted at The Bunker Theatre in 2016 and both having such a passion for new writing have wanted to work together ever since. They found all performers via social media call outs, and are always happy to hear from more artists. More information can be found at https://www.adamgerber.co.uk/chapternext
