November 27th-December 1st, 2023, ATNW will present an AEA 29-hour reading of Goliath, a new musical with book by Cassidy Layton and music and lyrics by Ethan Carlson, culminating in a small presentation for an invited audience at Open Jar Studios in NYC.

GOLIATH is presented as part of Actor Therapy New Work’s inaugural fall season. ATNW, in partnership with Actor Therapy (Lindsay Mendez and Ryan Scott Oliver, co-founders) and Very Intense Productions, will develop musicals, plays and more by Actor Therapy faculty, students, and underrepresented writers, putting on full 29-hour readings, subsidized concerts, and work sessions (table readings, music/score development, etc.). Cast members will come from both inside the Actor Therapy student community and out, including established New York professionals.

Other offerings in 2023 from ATNW’s inaugural season included a concert presentation of Out: A Queer Songbook by Jaron Barney on Sep. 13, 9:30pm at 54 Below, and a reading of Ryan Scott Oliver’s new musical folk horror, Tomorrow, the Island Dies was presented for the first time in an intimate presentation at Open Jar Studios to an invited audience.   The winter and spring new works will be announced in early 2024.

  • DIRECTOR: Alex Hare

  • MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Steven Tran

  • MUSIC & LYRICS: Ethan Carlson

  • BOOK: Cassidy Layton

  • PRODUCED BY: Very Intense Productions and Actor Therapy


    Goliath,     follows Andrew, a recently out 20-year-old who is sent to a gay conversion camp to “become” straight, or else lose his parents’ tuition money for college. While he plans to blend in, remain gay and get out, his journey takes a completely different turn when he teams up with the other campers to shut down Camp Goliath for good. His feelings become even more complicated when he begins to fall for a closeted former camper, Hayden. When a storm forces camp to be held in an underground bunker, the campers must face and harness full-scale religious retribution. Goliath is a story about embracing your true identity, fighting for good in the wake of hopelessness, and the complicated nature of truth and salvation.