AN AMERICAN MUSICAL

Producer Overview

An American Musical is a contemporary ensemble musical for 10 performers, set in a neighborhood diner on Election Day, telling an intimate, character-driven story about ordinary people and civic choice.

Set entirely within a familiar, everyday space, the musical follows a group of regulars and workers whose routines are shaped by the emotional weight of a day that matters. As conversations unfold, personal histories, fears, hopes, and responsibilities surface revealing how civic moments are experienced not abstractly, but humanly.

The piece emphasizes story, character, and music over production scale, making it well suited for community and educational theaters seeking socially engaged work without large technical demands. While the setting is specific, the themes are universal: voice, belonging, responsibility, fear, resilience, and the quiet courage of participation.

Production Details

• Cast: 10 performers
• Running Time: 90–100 minutes (no intermission)
• Structure: Two acts
• Setting: Single primary location (neighborhood diner)
• Orchestra: Pre-recorded Tracks or optional small ensemble
• Genre: Contemporary musical / ensemble-driven storytelling

Tone & Style

The musical favors intimacy over spectacle. Songs emerge organically from character moments and ensemble interaction rather than traditional show-stopping numbers. The storytelling is grounded, accessible, and emotionally direct, designed to resonate with diverse audiences without requiring ideological alignment.

Intended Producing Context

An American Musical is designed for community theaters, colleges and universities with theater programs, and organizations interested in new work that supports discussion, reflection, and ensemble-driven performance. The show’s scale and single-setting design allow producing organizations to focus on performance and storytelling while maintaining manageable production demands.

Status

The musical is fully written and revised, with a completed book and score, and is currently seeking staged readings and productions with partner organizations.

CONTACT Jack Tierney for more information. 
 

Synopsis

ACT I – Freedom & Voice

Early morning on Election Day, a neighborhood diner opens as it always does. László “Lou” Kovács, an immigrant who fled authoritarian rule years earlier, prepares for the day alongside his daughter, Lucía “Lucy,” who works as the diner’s waitress. A radio hums quietly with election coverage as the first customers arrive—regulars who share space but not necessarily perspective. As the diner fills, conversations unfold naturally: comments about routine, work, family, and the significance—or insignificance—of voting. Through a series of musical moments and exchanges, the patrons reveal personal histories shaped by immigration, labor, faith, law, journalism, and civic responsibility. For each character, freedom means something different: safety, justice, speech, belonging, or the right to be heard.

Lou reflects on the cost of losing freedom and the gratitude of having found it again. Lucy, newly eligible to vote, prepares to exercise her voice for the first time as a citizen. As individual reflections begin to converge, the ensemble moves from abstract ideas of democracy toward a shared, personal understanding of participation. Act I culminates in “We Are the People,” as the characters collectively claim ownership of the civic moment—not as ideology, but as lived experience.

ACT II – Fear, Courage & Connection

Act II shifts focus to Lucy and the emotional weight of what participation demands. Though surrounded by familiar faces, she feels fear and uncertainty—about being seen, about choosing wrongly, about whether her voice matters at all. Her anxiety becomes a mirror for the unease others carry quietly. Lou responds not with argument, but reassurance, grounding Lucy’s fear in perspective shaped by experience. The ensemble, however, gives voice to the darker currents beneath the day: warnings about power, manipulation, and the enduring presence of authoritarian impulses. These moments do not point to a single enemy, but to a persistent human vulnerability.

Gradually, Lucy finds her way forward—not by denying fear, but by moving through it. As the characters confront their own doubts and responsibilities, the diner becomes a space not of agreement, but of connection. Differences remain, but so does the recognition that participation itself is an act of courage.

The musical concludes with “Power to the People,” not as a call to action, but as an affirmation: democracy lives only through ordinary people choosing to engage, again and again.

CONTACT Jack Tierney for more information.