The Jonathan Larson Grant Recipients

"As collaborators, we have always been drawn to stories of outsiders, the questions of faith, and the struggles for self-actualization. These topics resonate with us and therefore, we hear these topics sing.

Although we are working on several musicals that in their own way encompass these topics, the project that best illustrates what we are drawn to is SOUTHERN COMFORT. Based on Kate Davis' Sundance award-winning documentary of the same name, it tells the story of good-ole-boy/female-to-male transgender, Robert Eads and his 'Chosen Family' living in the back hills of 'Bubba Land' Georgia. At its most aggressive, SOUTHERN COMFORT the Musical, portrays a community that has never been seriously represented on the musical stage; political as it raises questions of equality and discrimination, particularly in matters of healthcare; and deeply philosophical as it challenges our perceptions of what truly defines gender. Ultimately, it is a simple story of a family defying the odds by choosing to live their lives openly, honestly, and courageously in rural Toccoa, Georgia; the home that they have grown to love and in which they will continue to live. It is with this spirit that we have approached every step of our writing process, and it is with this spirit that we hope to continue to tell these kind of stories."