The out-of-town tryout goes back to school

This article proposes that the high costs of out-of-town tryouts and the proliferation of Internet gossip and critique have created a need for a new approach to musical theatre development. A brief history of out-of-town tryouts is followed by an in-depth look at how unpublished musicals are currently being developed in writing workshops and at universities. The author makes the case that the university setting provides a low-cost, low-publicity environment for musical theatre writers to develop new works, and that there are innumerable benefits to the schools and the students who participate in these events.