EXCUSE ME THERE'S A FAGGOT IN MY CLOSET
A Musical by Craig Harwood & Sxip Shirey
Craig Harwood / Author / Co Lyricist Sxip Shirey / Composer / Co Lyricist Darren Katz / Director
Synopsis
Bob, a depressed 16-year-old boy, is overwhelmed by his crush on the African American high school soccer star, his over controlling mother and the school bullies who torment him every day. So he goes on a hunger strike and locks himself in his closet praying to God for guidance. God, the non-racial, all-gendered benevolent dictator of the universe sends down two angels in training, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, to guide him. However, these roommates in purgatory are having trouble coming to terms with their newfound career paths. The play climaxes as each character discovers who they truly are and step outside of their own closets to live life authentically.
Craig Harwood / Author / Co Lyricist just completed a successful first run of his play Carmen Live or Dead at the Butterfly Theater in Melbourne. "Excuse me, there's a Faggot in My Closet" a musical that Harwood has written the book and co written the lyrics for concluded a successful two week workshop last year and recently had a reading with composer Sxip Shirey and director Darren Katz. He is the writer and director of "Anchovies", a short film completed in 2016 which has played in film festivals across the country including The 21st Palm Beach International Film Festival 2016, NewFest 2016 - New York LGBT Film Festival and Translations Seattle 2017 – The Worlds Largest Transgender Film Festival. Harwood has won many awards for his writing work including Outfest’s prestigious Screenwriters Lab in Los Angeles as well as many awards for his producing of theater "Dream Analysis” by the Mark Dendy Dance and Theater Company in NYC and television "Paternal Instinct", a documentary which premiered on HBO/Cinemax and other television stations all over the world. Harwood is currently shooting a short Documentary/Art film following the transformational work of the Oneness Center in NYC.
Sxip Shirey / Composer / Co Lyricist is a composer/producer and performer based in New York City. He most recently toured internationally with the theater/circus arts production "LIMBO "which was developed between Strut N Fret productions in Australia and Underbelly in London with South Bank Center as a coproducer. Shirey teaches at the Norwegian Theater Academy in Fredrikstad Norway, which Shirey considers "The Black Mountain College of NOW". Shirey has been a featured performer at TED. He wrote the music for the short film "Statuesque" written and directed by Neil Gaiman and staring Bill Nighy and most recently lead the band at Madonna's Birthday Party in the Hamptons. Shirey is a 2011 United States Artist Fellow. He is currently working on the music for "Excuse Me There's a Faggot in My Closet", a new musical by writer Craig Harwood. He is also working on "The Gauntlet: Fredrickstad" A piece to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Fredrickstad, Norway. His piece "The Gauntlet: The Highline" which is a choir you walk through, premiered on The Highline raised park in NYC as part of Make Music New York 2016.
Darren Katz / Director recently completed over 5 years as Resident Director of the Broadway production of The Lion King. He was Resident Director of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway; Associate Director of the San Francisco, Boston and 1st National Touring productions. He directed the 2nd National Touring production of the Bee and co-directed with James Lapine the 10th Anniversary Concert of the Bee starring the original cast. Upcoming: 60th Anniversary Concert of West Side Story with The Phoenix Symphony and Leading Ladies at The Gulfport Playhouse. Original shows include: Odd Squad Live!, a new musical written by the creators of the Emmy Award winning PBS television show; You Say Tomato I Say Shut Up by Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn (Orin Wolf/Blumenthal PAC; Nat’l Tour); and I Got Sick Then I Got Better written and performed by Jenny Allen and co-directed with James Lapine (NYTW). Currently developing: Pub Crawl written and performed by Rory O’Malley (Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, Falcon Theater); Squirrel Heart written and performed by Sarah Stiles (Joe’s Pub); The Real True Story by Holly Gewandter, (Joe’s Pub, Second Stage, Mass MoCA); SeXcurity written and performed by Yuval Boim (Joyce Soho, Dixon Place, Cleveland Public theater); Excuse Me There’s a Faggot in my Closet by Craig Harwood and Sxip Shirey.