DULUTH — Untold thousands of journeys have wound through the St. Louis County Depot. The next journey's destination might just be the Great White Way.
"That's always the goal," said Clayton Phillips. "That's the top of the line: Broadway, the West End, that's where you want to be. And this has the potential."
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Phillips is a stage director based in New Hampshire, and he'll be in Duluth this week leading a workshop reading of a new musical. "A Collectible Sensation" was written by Florida playwright Arianna Rose and bicoastal composer Amy Engelhardt.
"The purpose of a workshop is to hear your piece living and breathing in humans who aren't you," explained Engelhardt. "All the demos that are currently recorded, all the vocals and instrumentation (are performed by) me."
At the Depot's Studio Four this weekend, 13 performers will bring the show to life in three public readings: the script and songs will be presented, with an actor reading stage directions aloud so audience members can imagine what they might see in a finished production.
"The piece is very good," said Phillips. "It really needs to be heard, and we're really excited about having an audience give us some feedback on it."
Although new plays have previously been developed locally, for example at the University of Minnesota Duluth, it's hardly been typical for a show like "A Collectible Sensation" to come from out of town to workshop here. Rob Hofmann, a Hermantown resident who's producing the Duluth workshop, thinks that could change.
"We have a depth of talent here: performance talent, design talent. They're coming out of UMD and going gangbusters," said Hofmann. "We've got a fairly sophisticated audience base, one that expects and anticipates professionalism."
"It is so financially difficult to workshop things in New York now, and quite often the burden falls to the creators to finance the project," said Engelhardt. "We're extremely grateful for the grants that we've received to make this possible."
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Key support came from the Depot Foundation, which contributed $30,000 to support the workshop. (Disclosure: News Tribune Executive Editor Rick Lubbers serves on the Depot Foundation board of directors.)
Jason Young, the foundation's development director, said that while his organization supports Depot tenants, it also welcomes non-tenant groups that can put the historic structure to good use.
"There are opportunities for outside organizations to come into the Depot and utilize what we have to offer," said Young. "A terrific theater, an amazing Great Hall, and other nooks and crannies."
Participating actors include Duluth and Twin Cities professionals — such as Duluth Playhouse favorite Alyson Enderle — and a number of current UMD students.
"They were casting their season," explained Phillips about UMD's theater program, "so we kind of sat in on their auditions ... there (are) very talented actors from the college."
The four primary characters in the play are based on four actual women who were part of the international art scene in the early 20th century; different actors will play them at different points in their lives.
The musical is based on a prior play by Rose, "The Equivalent of Sensation." (Engelhardt suggested the title change. "Titles of musicals tend to be a little more direct," she explained.) Including the process of writing the initial play, Rose has now been working on the project for over a decade.
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Rose's original inspiration, she said, was a magazine article about sisters Claribel (1864-1929) and Etta (1870-1949) Cone: art collectors whose paths crossed with those of writer Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) and her partner Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967).
"There was something about women and their journey, women in art, women as art," said Rose, "that I felt could have those emotions needed to become a musical and to really sing on the page and on the stage."
The story jumps back and forth through time, and Engelhardt didn't set out to write a musical period piece. "I just like the idea of delving into this world, which was foreign to me, yet bringing a contemporary sense to it," said the composer.
Although Rose has family history in Duluth — her father lived here for a time — the show's connection to the area came through Engelhardt, who met Hofmann when they took a producing class together.
"I mentioned this project, and I said we would love to workshop it," Engelhardt remembered. "He told me about the theater department at UMD, and I did my own research as well, and I thought, wow, there's a hidden gem here."
"Doing it in Duluth rather than New York is important because in Duluth, you're getting a real audience," explained Phillips. A Duluth audience will respond to what they actually see and hear, Phillips hopes, rather than being biased by industry buzz.
"I think we're so pretentious at times," said Phillips about New York audiences. A play there might be deemed "brilliant" even though "the people around me don't even know what's going on."
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Over 10 days, Phillips and the cast will rehearse the dialogue and songs, with Rose and Engelhardt in attendance along with musical director Amanda Weis.
From Jan. 11-13, members of the public will have three opportunities to hear the musical out loud: on Saturday (7:30 p.m.), Sunday (3 p.m.) and Monday (7:30 p.m.). (Admission is free but advance reservation is required; follow links or email katiekamps196@gmail.com.)
Following the Duluth readings, "A Collectible Sensation" still has a long road ahead. Engelhardt will be heading directly to Minneapolis, where Nautilus Music-Theater will be presenting excerpts as part of its Rough Cuts series.
The next step, explained Phillips, would be more readings and perhaps even a fully staged workshop production, at which point "the big guns" among potential producers could start to take notice.
Engelhardt said the Duluth reading is part of a national trend: An increasing number of theater makers are presenting their work, in its early stages, outside of New York to ensure that "you have the best-finished product possible" when it's time to hit the Big Apple.
"Rob's ultimate vision is to plant some seeds in Minnesota, grow them into baby plants, and then re-pot," said Engelhardt. "That is exactly what we need at this point."
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