By you, for you: Pittsburgh CLO presents a Google Doc musical
Since Friday the 13th of March, when the sound of doors closing thundered through the cultural landscape, the race for theater companies to stay connected with audiences has been in full swing.
Traditional theatrical presentations burst from the stage to digital platforms and have continued nonstop as we observe social distancing.
Standing out amid the crowd of content as original and unexpected is one project underway by one of Western Pennsylvania’s longestrunning theater companies, Pittsburgh CLO. With its summer shows canceled, the company — now entering its 75th season — has pivoted to two weekly webcasts, along with what is perhaps the first Google Doc musical.
Why “perhaps”? If there’s another one out there, we haven’t heard about it.
From title to characters, libretto to lyrics and musical compositions, it’s all created by anyone who heard the message and wanted to dig in. Some have musical experience, but there’s no resume required.
Word started through email blasts and Facebook, where a poll resulted in the title, “Jagoff!,” and the subtitle taken from a quote by comedian and COVID-19 online sensation Leslie Jordan: “Well [expletive] ... what are y’all doin?”
As the musical has been unfolding, a line by one of five characters, the dog, Moon Wolf — yes, Moon Wolf the dog — sums up the exercise that CLO will see through to a finale:
“Jags, you won’t believe it. Karen is writing! She seems so happy, she never leaves her phone or laptop anymore, it’s been an entire week! …”
The Google Doc Musical project is the brainchild of Pittsburgh CLO’s Olivia O’Connor, manager of new work development, who will see its final words tapped out on May 24.
“We wanted something that people could truly participate in and contribute to that wasn’t just watching a video,” Ms. O’Connor said. “This is something where you can be creative, but it’s very low stakes. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about doing something together.”
Ms. O’Connor has been developing new musicals, including her own, since her days at Knoch High School, when she twice had her works produced at City Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival. Her new play, “Life Changing Magic,” had a virtual reading via City’s 2020 Momentum Festival on Wednesday.
She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University as a dramaturg and worked with Roundabout Theatre in New York before coming home to her current job with Pittsburgh CLO.
As a dramaturg, she is used to working closely with writers on the way to getting their works to the stage. With the Google Doc Musical,
she has had to learn to let it go.
“It’s not bound by time; it’s going on 24/7,” she said. “And we do have folks who go in late at night, which is fun to wake up and see something new in the morning.”
The CLO did deploy guidelines and deadlines for people to work within. One week in, 10 people had provided dialogue and lyrics, and eight composers were lined up, waiting to be assigned lyrics for songs.
The narrative unfolded from polls that gave us not only Moon Wolf but also Karen, described as “late forties, is living in the south side slopes of pgh. She is a total Pittsburgher [and] believes that her history as a teacher is all she needs to become the next Sedaris.”
“I think it’s hilarious that one character is named Sparkle Horse the Third and there’s another one named Pete,” Ms. O’Connor said.
Pete is described as “Karen’s former boss and lover. Peter or Sneaky Pete as he is known to people who know him best is a good guy but a bit of a mess.” In parentheses, the character description adds, “Please cast an actor with a disability in this role.”
The composers, who have not yet jumped in, had to submit snippets of music.
Among them are Jason Coll, a familiar name to CLO as a longtime stage manager, and the Temple brothers — Hank, 15, and Gideon, 17 — who recently moved from Morgantown, W.Va., to Pittsburgh.
“We lived in the Strip District in the fall. Also, we attend George Washington University Online High School in the mornings and Pittsburgh Musical Theater in the afternoons,” said Gideon, who added that they now are contributing to the Google Doc Musical from New Mexico. They had traveled there with their parents, both West Virginia University professors who are on sabbatical.
“This spring, our first musical, ‘You’re the Worst,’ was supposed to be staged and performed by the professional teaching artists at PMT,” Gideon said. The brothers’ original musical was scheduled to be presented by Pittsburgh Musical Theater in the West End before the pandemic hit the theater community.
Gideon described “You’re the Worst” as following “a young couple on a wacky road trip as they navigate their post high school relationship.”
Its premiere has been postponed until fall, or so the brothers hope. In the meantime, “The Google Doc Musical collaboration seemed like a cool way to collaborate with a new set of creatives, which we always love,” said Gideon.
As for the words for the Google Doc Musical, the current list of writers includes Hank Temple, plus Jordana Qi, Christine Laitta, Mimi RuthStiver, Melissa Trepa, Lucas Fedele, Zanny Laird, Laura Ferguson, Chuck McMichael and Lorraine Kollar.
They are from near and far, no resume required.
“You knew that some people weren’t from Pittsburgh because they would leave notes like, ‘Fill in a Pittsburgh drink here,’ ” Ms. O’Connor said.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for her is that people have tried to pull the musical together as a cohesive narrative. She had expected that it would go a little more off the rails — not that she’s complaining.
“I think the success of it is the collaboration,” Ms. O’Connor said. “We are working on plans on how we hope to share the final version with our audiences, but the joy of it is the process of making it and logging in and seeing all these different voices working together. That is the success, and a first for us.”