The Paper Mill Playhouse has selected Verona’s Maya Fortgang to be a part of the theater’s prestigious Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory for 2017.
Members of the competitive Conservatory who earned coveted spots in the Senior (ages 15-18), Junior Plus (ages 13-14), and Junior companies (ages 10-12) are directed and choreographed by Paper Mill Playhouse’s professional artistic staff in a fully produced, original concert on the Paper Mill mainstage titled New Voices of 2017: Everyone Loves an Underdog! The concert is the culmination of the five-week program. Also appearing are numerous winners and nominees of the 2017 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards presented by the Investors Foundation, who won scholarships to attend the Conservatory. The Summer Musical Theater Conservatory and New Voices are generously supported by the Investors Foundation.
The 122 students chosen for this year’s Conservatory come from 67 towns. Fortgang, who will be a junior in Verona High School this fall, was the only student selected from Verona. As a student at H.B. Whitehorne in 2012, Fortgang won the part of Brigitta in the Paper Mill’s production of The Sound of Music.
Students from Paper Mill Playhouse’s Conservatory have gone on to appear in numerous Broadway productions, film, television, and regional theater. Past conservatory members include Anne Hathaway, Laura Benanti, Julia Knitel, Robert McClure, and Shanice Williams, among others.
Performances of New Voices of 2017: Everyone Loves an Underdog! will be held on Friday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, July 29th at 1:30pm and 7:30pm at Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn. Tickets range in price from $25 to $45. Tickets may be purchased by calling (973) 376-4343, online at www.papermill.org, or visit the Paper Mill Playhouse Box Office.
