Join us August 14 & 15, 2026 for the public performances of Newport NewWorks 2026 Musical Theater Festival. Featuring developmental workshop presentations of three new Broadway-bound musicals: STUPID and A LIFE WORTH LIVING (Friday, August 14) and THE DEBUTANTES (Saturday, August 15). See more details on each work below!
Performances will take place at the historic Casino Theater in downtown Newport where audiences will get the rare opportunity to experience the heart of the creative process!
TICKETS ON SALE HERE MAY 14, 2026!
STUPID
A genius new musical
Book, music and lyrics by Benjamin Scheuer and Simon Scheuer
Agnes & Ferdinand are geniuses.
But when they meet one another, things get stupid.
Benjamin Scheuer’s musical The Lion won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and an Off-West End Award for Best New Musical, and has had over 20 productions worldwide. His album Songs from The Lion has four accompanying videos (directed by Academy Award-winner Peter Baynton) which have won prizes including Best Commissioned Film at the Annecy Film Festival, and two consecutive Public Choice for Best Music Video at the British Animation Awards. He is the author of two children’s books: “Hibernate With Me” and “Hundred Feet Tall” (translated into five languages). Recipient of the Kleban Prize for Lyrics.
Simon Scheuer is a humourist and songwriter. He co-wrote the original verse poem “The Dung Beetle’s Deli,” which he adapted for the stage with his brother Benjamin and Melis Aker, on commission by Little Angel Theatre, London. Simon contributed songs to the films A Street Cat Named Bob (Sony Pictures), The Real Thing (Parkville Pictures), and the album/theatre project Cover My Tracks (The Old Vic). He has been part of the Harry Chapin ASCAP Songwriters Workshop and the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Workshop. He has written and released several albums with The Surfboard Six.
THE DEBUTANTES
Book and lyrics by Sam Norman
Music by Eliza Randall
Set in war-torn Britain in 1940, The Debutantes tracks the meteoric rise — and quiet erasure — of the improbable female codebreakers of Bletchley Park.
Sam Norman is a librettist and lyricist for musicals and operas. Recent projects include ECHOLOCATION (Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award 2025–6) and COME DINE WITH ME: THE MUSICAL (Norwich Playhouse, Edinburgh Fringe, off-West End Turbine Theatre). He is a resident artist at the American Lyric Theater, a member of the Experiments in Opera Writers’ Room 4.0, a Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter, an American Opera Initiative Fellow, a winner of the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation, a Broadway Future Songbook writer, and a four-time finalist for the Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Prize.
Eliza Randall is a composer, pianist, and serial hobbyist whose compositional works include ECHOLOCATION (Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award 2025–6, Arts Council England Grant Recipient), BLACK HOLES LIKE DONUTS (Symphony Space), and THE YELLOW WALLPAPER (Alleyway Theatre, finalist for Mazumdar Prize). She is a Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter and Broadway Future Songbook writer, and has had compositions performed at Lincoln Center, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Other Palace, and Hackney Empire.
A LIFE WORTH LIVING
Book, music and lyrics by Jeffery Chen
When high school senior Gavin Zhou involuntarily lands himself in a residential treatment facility, he must confront the grief, guilt, and broken relationships he’s been running from—all while navigating an unexpectedly colorful community of patients and staff.
Jeffery Chen is an Asian American filmmaker, comedian, and songwriter from New York City and San Francisco. A recent Princeton graduate in Neuroscience and Musical Theatre, he creates original work that explores mental health through humor and emotional honesty. His musical A Life Worth Living, inspired by his experience in adolescent treatment, premiered at Princeton in 2024. As a stand-up comedian, he has opened for The Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr. and SNL’s James Austin Johnson. He is a proud member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild of America.