Norton I - Stage Manager

Directors: Maggie-Kate Coleman & Kikau Alvaro Theater Company: Polyphone Festival | Run: April 5 - 8, 2023

So when, you gonna stop hopping over the fence? So when, you gonna choose a side? So When you gonna top the constant playing defense? So what’s it gonna take ta make ya swallow your pride? So When?

Performed for the first time at The University of the Arts’ Polyphone Festival for New and Emerging Musicals, Norton I tells the untold story of Joshua Norton, the self-elected emperor of San Fransisco in the 1840s and 1850s though his rise and fall of fame and fortune through a series of miscalculated choices that deter him from ever really choosing a side of history. The musical is told through the eyes of narrator Tommy Wiseau, creator of the The Room, and draws parallels between the absurdist nature of pop culture, who the public will actually listen too, and the human tenendacy to take the middle ground. With a cast of over 15 individuals, two assistant stage managers, and a crew of nine costume and stage hands, Norton was a full scale production in the context of a workshop festival with several unique challenges, all rectified by immense collaborative efforts of our production and design team.