Jimmy!: A Musical Fable with Almost No Historical Basis (2014)
Written, directed, choreographed, orchestrated, designed, and performed by a team of almost fifty high school and college students, Jimmy!: A Musical Fable with Almost No Historical Basis introduced a new generation of American theater to the off-Broadway community. This world premiere musical — which included an ensemble of gospel-singing extraterrestrial environmentalists, homicidal swamp-dwelling bunnies, and burlesque peanuts (with a special appearance from the ghost of George Washington Carver) — featured sixteen original showtunes penned by I.B. Hopkins and Harry N. Haines, two undergraduates from the University of Georgia. Jimmy! ran for nine performances at Brooklyn’s Irondale Center.
“There is clearly something incredibly special happening with the National Theatre for Student Artists . . . The show was smart and funny, and it was so inspiring to see these young artists soar.”
– Hunter Bell (Tony Award nominated bookwriter of [title of show])
“The National Theatre for Student Artists is in the business of realizing dreams like mine, but what’s even more remarkable than this is that the work we do on this show fulfills scores of young people’s ambitions. By giving us, as students, the tools to build professional quality theater, we test our skills and our drive, and ultimately push our work to the next level.”
– I.B. Hopkins, Librettist
“I’ve made countless lifelong friends, met incredible people, and it’s because a company like the National Theatre for Student Artists is able to connect all of us and give life to the future of American theater.”
– Harry N. Haines, Composer