Spells of the Sea
By Guinevere Govea and Anna Pickett | Directed by Julia Flood (Guest Artist)
A collaboration with UT Austin's Drama and Theatre for Youth And Communities Program and Metro Theater Company.
Spells of the Sea
Presented at Pegasus PlayLab in Orlando
June 4, 2022 at 7 PM | June 5, 2022 at 2:30 PM
About the Show
This musical tale follows a fifteen-year-old fisherwoman named Finley Frankfurter and an old lighthouse keeper named H.S. Crank as they journey through the ocean to find the Elixir of Life to cure Finley’s terminally ill father.
This show involves the death of loved ones and the processing of grief. All topics are handled with a youth audience in mind. After the performance, discuss what you saw and heard with the playwright, director, cast and the rest of the creative team. This workshop is a collaboration with UT Austin’s Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities Program and Metro Theater Company.
Creative Team
Guinevere Govea
I Book, music, and lyrics
Guinevere Govea recently graduated in Dance and Journalism from the University of Texas. Recent acting credits include “Desamaya” in La Ruta (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020) and “Hannah” in her first original musical, Trash! The Musical (Take the Wheel Productions, 2020), which was selected as a semi-finalist for the O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference this year. Gwenny continues to pursue acting, writing, and songwriting. For more info, go to guineveregovea.com.
Anna Pickett
I Assistant Director
Anna Pickett recently graduated in Youth and Community Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, and as a member of the first cohort of Texas Immersive. Recent theatrical credits include playing “Son” in The Trail to Oregon! (Take the Wheel Productions) and directing Gwenny’s first original musical Trash! The Musical.
She’d like to thank her parents for their constant love and support, the cast and crew for their amazing work, and her bestest friend Gwenny for letting her live out her directing dream. You can keep up with her work on Instagram @zooweeanna
Megan Alrutz
I Dramaturg
Megan Alrutz is an artist, educator, and scholar with over 20 years of experience in theatre, media, and interdisciplinary performance for youth and families. She has directed and created several nationally recognized theatre pieces and interactive installations, with a special interest in theatre for the very young, interdisciplinary performance projects, and visually dynamic staging. Megan’s work has been produced or presented by the Alliance Theatre, The New Victory, Kennedy Center, Orlando REP, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Arts on Horizon, and Metro Theater.
She is a long-time collaborator of author/illustrator Mo Willems and has worked as the producer, dramaturg, and/or director on his musicals, interactive arts engagements, and other live and televised performance work.
Megan is currently the dramaturg and producer on Mo Willems' artistic residencies and productions with the JF Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and HBO Max. She is also a professor and associate chair at The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance where she writes and teaches about Theatre for Young Audiences, Applied Theatre, and Digital Storytelling.
Deborah Wicks La Puma
I Music Director
Deborah Wicks La Puma (she/her/hers) is a composer, music director, orchestrator and choral conductor. She is one of most produced Theatre for Young Audiences artists working today, with her work being seen across the globe and enjoying both popular and critical success. Her awards include an Off-Broadway Alliance Award, the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Robert M. Golden Award, a National Endowment for the Arts’ New American Works Grant, a Helen Hayes Award, two Parent’s Choice Awards, and an iParenting media award. Her work has been commissioned and premiered at The Kennedy Center, Cornerstone Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, the Alliance Theatre, The Theatre at Boston Court, Childsplay, Bay Area Children's Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Olney Theatre.
Her arranging credits include TYA hits such as The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny, and Joan Cushing's Miss Nelson is Missing and Petite Rouge. As a music director and orchestrator she has worked with major regional theatre companies including the Guthrie and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Ms. La Puma received her MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, her BA from Stanford University, and studied folk music with ethnomusicologist Alfredo Lopez Mondragona. A proud Mexican-American with dual citizenship and "Navy Brat" who grew up in Brazil and Portugal, her other musical works include a bilingual Mass and two Rock/Jazz albums with the Brazilian band Turba Multa.
he is a member of TYA/USA, the national association for theatre for young audiences, as well as ASCAP, the Dramatist Guild, and Maestra Music. Mother to three wonderful daughters, she resides in Southern California, the ancestral lands of the Tongva people, with her husband/PR agent Chris and Mimi the cat.
Julia Flood
I Director
Julia Flood (Artistic Director / Director, Digging Up Dessa) has directed The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Girl Who Swallowed a Cactus, The Hundred Dresses, Frida Libre, Bud, Not Buddy, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, And In This Corner: Cassius Clay, Out of the Box, Talkin’ Trash, Afflicted: Daughters of Salem, Unsorted, and Say Something, Do Something! for Metro Theater Company since she moved to St. Louis to become artistic director in February 2014.
Previously, Julia spent 16 years as artistic director of Eckerd Theater Company in Clearwater, Florida where she commissioned such plays as Vote?, by Eric Coble, provoked by Florida’s role in the 2000 presidential election, and Battledrum by Doug Cooney with Lee Ahlin, a musical about the effects of war on young people through the lens of Civil War drummer boys, subsequently produced at Metro Theater Company. A graduate of Northwestern University, Julia spent seven years as a resident member of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble in Pennsylvania, a unique artist-led ensemble founded under the guidance of legendary acting teacher Alvina Krause, before following a freelance career as actor/director/playwright/teacher. Julia served on the national board of directors of Theatre for Young Audiences/USA from 2011 to 2019, and brings more than 40 years of experience to her role as artistic director of Metro Theater Company.
Megan Ann Rasmussen
I Producer
For 20+ years, Megan Ann Rasmussen has served as an Award-Winning Producer, Director, and Educator, impacting multigenerational audiences.
As President of MAR Productions, she is committed to creating theatre that uplifts and strengthens each of us, building engaged communities.
As a Producer she brought FREE PLAY: Open Source Scripts Towards an Antiracist Tomorrow to The TheaterMakers Studio’s Reading Series. Additionally, Megan Ann is developing Heaven Come Home by TheaterMakers Studio Member Justin Payne, which features the moving One More Day, a musical number where families and their deceased loved ones yearn for one more day to be together. Composer and lyricist Justin Payne says of Megan Ann’s contributions to the production, “To have Megan Ann produce this show has been monumental!”
Megan Ann is Co-Producer of the new musical JOY ON BROADWAY with two-time Tony award-winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport.