On The Eve, A New Musical by Spacegrove Productions

Remind me

On The Eve, a new rock musical, is the almost entirely true story of Marie Antoinette and the first time-traveling hot air balloon.

How do you challenge the Powers That Be? How do you shake things up and rail against the status quo? The obvious answer is…you create a new rock musical about a time-traveling hot air balloon, Marie Antoinette, and a would-be hero with a really cool gun.

After a successful staged reading last November, On the Eve — a new musical by Michael Federico and Home by Hovercraft’s Seth Magill and Shawn Magill — returns this fall to the Margot Jones Theater in the Magnolia Lounge in Dallas’ historic Fair Park for a world premiere production. Produced by Spacegrove Productions, LLC in association with Nouveau 47 Theatre, On the Eve is set for a two-week run November 29 through December 14, 2012.

On The Eve is the almost entirely true story of Marie Antoinette and the first time-traveling hot air balloon. With Revolution on the horizon and a husband who is generally lacking, Antoinette turns to a space-busting aeronaut, a crazed scientist, and a beautiful muse to set things right in her kingdom before launching them on their way to a different time to take on Politics, the Church, Science, and a crazy dude in a bowler hat.

Bringing all of this to life has been an amazing experience so far, but we could use a little help to push over the edge. Sadly, the space-time continuum is not a cheap thing to master. Donations to On the Eve will go directly into the production—helping to support set, costumes, lights, and most importantly, the incredibly talented actors, designers, crew, and musicians who have come on board to make this thing happen.

Story by Seth Magill, Shawn Magill, and Michael Federico.
Book by Michael Federico.
Music and Lyrics by Seth Magill and Shawn Magill.

Meet the Director

Jeffrey Schmidt has worked professionally in theatre, broadcast, film, and behind the scenes for over fifteen years, and we are pleased to have him on board. He’s an accomplished, award winning director and set designer as well as an actor. Earlier this year he directed and designed the highly acclaimed The Farnsworth Invention for Theatre Three in Dallas. His design for Erik Ehn’s new play Diamond Dick garnered much critical praise and will be seen in NYC’s LaMama theatre this fall. His work has been seen on most stages in the metroplex including The Drama Club, a theatre he co-founded, which produces original, highly visual, design and ensemble driven theatre. Look for him in movie theaters as Dr. Day in the film adaptation of Bad Kids Go To Hell which premieres nationally this December. He’s often seen in national commercials and his voice can be recognized everywhere from radio commercials to online reading and math tutorials for students.

Meet Some of the Actors

We’ve been lucky enough to get some of the finest actors in Dallas (and we believe anywhere) to work on On the Eve. Here are just a few of them who have been a part of the process from even before the first staged reading.

Martha Harms was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and yes, she is a Packers fan. She moved to Texas to attend SMU, and graduated in 2008 with a BFA in Theater and a Greer Garson Award for Excellence in Acting. Martha is a company member at Kitchen Dog Theater, where her favorite roles have been Nina in The Seagull and Mrs. Givings in In The Next Room. When she's not acting in small industrial films for major corporations, Martha can be found in the sound booth, voicing both video game and anime characters. If she's not there, she's probably singing and dancing in front of her favorite audience- tiny children.

Jennifer Ledel Originally born in Fort Worth, Texas, Jenny is a locally acclaimed actor and company member at Kitchen Dog Theater. She graduated with a BFA in theater performance at Baylor University. She has performed Off-Broadway in Emily at the Public Theater and then Firebone theater in NYC (among other NYC credits). She performed with the Texas Shakespeare Festival in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cyrano De Bergerac, Macbeth, and Beauty And The Beast. Dallas credits include: Boom, Macbeth, The Turn Of The Screw, Becky Shaw at Kitchen Dog Theater; Romeo And Juliet, Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen Of Verona, and Hamlet at Shakespeare Dallas; The Crucible and Blackbird at WaterTower Theater; and Pluck The Day, The Glory Of Living, Anton In Showbusiness at Second Thought Theater. Tv/commercials: One Tree Hill (season 4), Bank of America, Bennigan’s Sport, Radio Shack. Film: Red Shirt and Karma Police.

Gregory Lush has been a professional actor and singer for over twenty years. His feature film I Become Gilgamesh is currently playing the festival circuit and Arbor Day: The Musical (The Movie) is in post production. As a stage actor has worked regionally at Victory Gardens in Chicago, Lime Kiln in Virginia, the Folger, the Source, and the Roundhouse in DC and served as Associate Artistic Director for the Genesis Shakespeare Festival, which toured the Midwest. In Dallas, Gregory has performed at the Undermain, Theatre Three, Second Thought, Uptown Players, Dallas Children’s Theatre, Kitchen Dog, Shakespeare Dallas, Stage West, the Contemporary Theatre of Dallas and The Dallas Theatre Center. Gregory is the recipient of numerous Column Awards and D/FW Critic’s Forum Awards, as well as having been named best actor by the Dallas Observer. He is a certified associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework and has taught Voice, Speech, Dialects, and Shakespeare at Ohio University, Oklahoma State, Colin College and currently teaches at KD Studio. He is also a singer/songwriter. He is represented by the Kim Dawson Agency.

Artwork by Doug Hale

Video Production by Can Turkylmaz

Risks and challenges Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

Any new show has its risks and challenges, but producing a full-scale, brand-new musical that doesn’t necessarily play like Guys and Dolls, has some risks and challenges all its own. Our hope is to create something unique in Dallas theatre. While On the Eve definitely draws from past works, it’s very different from what most people think of as a musical. Our hope is that we can bring in those old musical lovers, bring in those who avoid musicals like the plague, and maybe show them all that the form can continue to evolve.

On a more practical scale, On the Eve has a whole lot of people (and a bear fight*) on stage. Between actors, musicians, and dancers, we’re going to bring the largest show that’s been seen in the historic Margo Jones Theater in the Magnolia Lounge in a very long time. We know that it’s going to be difficult to pull off, but we have brought in some of the most talented people in Dallas to help us get there.

*No actual bears will be harmed during the bear fight process. We’re just going to make our youngest company member run around and look foolish.

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