HOOKED ON HAPPINESS –The Musical for a Cooler Planet
HOOKED ON HAPPINESS spotlights a high-school drama class that decides to create their own original musical about global warming, instead of selecting from the musical and play their drama teacher has suggested. They want to join their voices with other young people across the globe to confront the threat our warming climate poses to their future. As one of them says, “If 16-year-old Greta Thunberg could sail across the Atlantic to demonstrate against climate change, we should at least be able to do a show about it.”
HOOKED ON HAPPINESS is an inspiring new look at climate justice and what the generation that will have to endure its most dire effects is doing to ignite immediate action. As one of the students says, “Just remember — a fish can’t be happy in hot water, a bird can’t be happy in dirty air, a bear can’t be happy in a dead forest, and people can’t be happy in an environment that’s collapsing beyond our control.”
Many of their parents are very conservative, and the often frank, passionate content of the lyrics upsets some members of the audience, but by the end many are won over by the passionate and eloquent appeals of their children.
Enjoy the video and help us continue the run of the show, which completed its scheduled 4-week run Off-Broadway in December, 2019, with a rave review.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Tom Attea(Playwright). Hooked on Happiness is the 16th produced show that Tom has written, beginning with Brief Chronicles of the Time, which was presented as a showcase by The Actors Studio, where he was a member of The Playwrights Unit for 10 years. Since then, he has written three plays and the book and lyrics for 11 musicals that have been presented by Theater for the New City. Two of the musicals, Heather Smiley for President and Abstinence, are published by Rebel Belle Publishing. StageAgent.com, “The leading resource for theater artists,” has posted selections from a number of his works and has recently decided to post selections from all of them, including Hooked on Happiness. Tom received a TNC/Jerome Foundation emerging playwright grant and is a member of The Dramatists Guild. He is a published poet. To learn more about him, visit his website at tomattea-playwright.com.
Mark Marcante(Director/Set Design) has directed and designed sets for plays and musicals in the US and Europe. He directed Rizzante Returns From the War, Benny’s Barber Shop, Promises Best Kept, British Music Hall, Strangely Wonderful and One Director Against His Cast, written by Crystal Field, which premiered in Italy. This is the 15th show he has collaborated on with Tom Attea and Arthur Abrams. His set designs include the OBIE Award winning Heathen Valley by Romulus Linney and Hiroshima by Ron Destro and Yoko Ono, which received a Kennedy Center award. Nominated twice for an AUDELCO Award, he was the theatrical and technical consultant for the Arts Connection. Mr. Marcante studied and performed Commedia Dell’arte with Alessandro Bressanello and Michael Conenna from the T.A.G Theatre of Venice.
Arthur Abrams(Composer) began his frequent collaboration with Tom Attea at The Actors Studio. His last four collaborations with Tom were the musicals America’s Favorite Newscaster, An American Worker, Heather Smiley for President,and The Folk Singer. Mr. Abrams wrote the score for the ballet The Velveteen Rabbit and the musical The Open Gate. He also composed and directed music for the Yiddish Theater documentary film The Golden Age of Second Avenue, often shown on Public TV. He has been honored with numerous awards, including a DAAD music fellowship to Mannheim, Germany, a scholarship to the Orff Institute at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and a Meet the Composer grant for the score of The Golden Bear. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild.
ABOUT THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Theater For the New City (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service.
The biggest risk is that this lovely and inspiring new musical will not find the funding to move to a theater where it can enjoy an extended run. Since we have resources from the original production, we can move it very cost-effectively to a small Off-Broadway theater and continue the run. We don’t need the usual millions. We just need $100,000 to get it going again. Naturally, if we raise more, we can run it longer. Obviously, if we can’t find the funding to continue the run under our auspices there will no free tickets.