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OUR WERK WILL GET SANTASIZED IN 2012!

We hired this plus-sized model to remind everyone that beginning in 2012 "Roofless," along with our new stage and screen projects, will continue being developed under the banner of our new production company, "LoJoWERKz"   

 This blog will continue full-steam ahead and we'll add a LoJoWerkz blog to our lineup as well (LoJoWerkz.com) but our facebook page will officially change from "Roofless" to "LoJoWerkz" on Jan 1st.   

ENJOY THE HOLIDAYz ROOF FAM!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS - TULSA CASTING for FEB VIDEO SHOOT

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ROOFHEADz!
Here's a lil gift for ya - We are going to stage and film one of the production numbers from "Roofless" in Tulsa this coming February.   We are seeking 6 male dancers, 6 female dancers, 8 singers (SATB x 2)   - If you're in the Tulsa area and think you've got what it takes to be a Roofhead - Click on the pic to the left to see the details about casting.


2011 has been a great year of building. Lots of newness jumpin off in 2012! Enjoy the Holidays!

Name change for our Facebook account in 2012

Just a reminder for our facebook fam, As we begin to expand our production slate under the name of LoJoWerkz, we'll be changing the name of our facebook page from "Roofless" to "LoJoWerkz." Here... this should illustrate it...

DEC UPDATE

Our NYC premiere about a year ago was designed to give Industry insiders their first "public" glimpse of our show. What resulted was lots of great feedback and a top theatrical agent who offered to shop the show to potential Broadway producers.  In the months that followed we created a new draft of the libretto, tweaked a lot of the songs and replaced one song with a hot, new joint.  Then we set out to create more professional demos of the songs (up to this point Jerome and I had been performing lots of the demos ourselves).  

We've needed to keep a tight lid on the new demos --- that's why our posts have concentrated on highlighting Roofless songs from the distant past. lol --- We will try to tip our hand to our online fans, with discretion, in the coming months & give some glimpses of the current score.

Our first big Roofless project of 2012 will be a fully choreographed demo of one of the songs in the show "All of the Above."  We'll be showcasing the best Tulsa Talent in this demo, along with our NYC Body Percussion Roofhead Khalid Greens. (Stomp the Yard, The LXD, Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour.)  If our advisors think its still wise to keep the new material out of the public eye at this point, we'll at LEAST post some behind the scenes footage & audio of our efforts as it makes its way through the Industry insider channels.

2012 is shaping up to be a great year for us as we begin operating under our new company name, "LoJoWerkz" (more about that in Jan) and also a great year for "Roofless" development as we continue climbing the ladder towards Broadway.

Thanks to ALL of our fans, friends and famz!   Keep lookin up ya'll.  Lots happenin up there on that roof just out of view.   -Tim & Jerome

Special shoutout to Bryant Hamilton, 4th Man Music Production, official studio sponsor and Boogi Walker, MOVEMENT918 Dance Studio, official venue sponsor of the 2011 Roofless Demo Project. We'll give the performers some shine as we reveal their work in the coming months.   Much love to ALL our supporters and collaborators!   

DEMO SUPPORTERS NEEDED! 

Since "Roofless" has yet to sign with specific producers or backers, the cost of producing these demos is still coming out of our own pockets.  The cost of competing at this professional level can quickly run into the thousands of dollars.  It's quite a hurdle in the current economic climate. (It also explains why its taken us 8 months to produce the demos. lol) Any financial support from our fans, friends, & fam is always GREATLY needed and appreciated!

MANY of our Tulsa fam are donating their time and skills for our current demo projects, at no cost.  Some costs still remain.  Our current video demo project has a barebones expense budget of $700.   If you would like to donate or become and official sponsor, click the donate button to the right or contact us for more information.  Donations of ANY amount are greatly appreciated!

Click on the above icon to email us.

NOW CASTING IN TULSA for a Demo Video of One the Roofless Numbers

WE WILL BE STAGING AND SHOOTING ONE OF THE ROOFLESS PRODUCTION NUMBERS IN FEB.   Casting up to 20 dancers & Vocalists.  Click below for info.

ROOFSGIVING: PT IV Ready for the NYC Premiere

SUBMITTING TO NYMF....

So when we decided "Roofless" was in good enough shape to submit it to the New York Musical Theatre Festival, it called for a new round of demo recordings for the new songs and rewrites.  We called on some of our favorite highly talented Roofhead alums, got to work with a coupla new folks and even reached back to our MugTown roots (Okmulgee, OK) to reunite with Jerome's classmate Tamisha who used to sing hooks for us back in tha day.

We've written lots about NYMF on the blog so feel free to jump back and read the details.  Out of 500 entries, we were one of 30 musicals selected. The talented vocalists who volunteered to work with us  on these demos helped make this possible...no joke.

THE 2009-2010 DEMO RECORDING CAST

Dionne White

Kathryn Stefanic-Holder

Tamisha Howell Alexander

Taylar Smallwood

AnnaMaria Pasley-Horn

Mike Fruga

Jode Carter

Avionce Hoyles

Adrian Friday, Engineer (Before NYMF)
Bryant Hamilton, 4th Man Music, Engineer (after NYMF)

(We are actually still in the process of recording these new demos.  We plan to post some of these demos in 2012.)

We also realized we would need to assemble our first NYC cast of Roofheads.  We figured the best way to give interested peeps a vibe of the show and the types we would be casting for would be to put together some promo videos.  The budget was tiny so again, some very talented, very generous folk threw in with us to create some Roofness.  Here's a lil taste of some of that material:

Big shout to our

2010 PROMO VIDEO CAST OF ROOFHEADZ

Jermany Brown as "Marquee"

Keval Brown as "Scope"

Bryant Hamilton as "Hogeye"

Stefan Heath as "Marquee" (in the Alley)

Jode Carter as "Marquee" (studio footage}

Julian Thomas as "Father"

ROOFHEADZ

Shayna Acosta

Tyffny Johnson

Janna Smith

Kelsey Thompson

Tierra Thompson

Adam Acosta

Keval Brown

Jermany Brown

Jamin Jackson

Jerome Johnson

James Sims, Videography/Production Assistant; Chris Johnson, Videography; Tim Long, Director/Score Production/Editor; Jerome Johnson, Choreography; Kathy Thompson, assistance

Facilities donated by:

Boogi Walker, Movement 918

Jamin Jackson
Chris Johnson

Greenwood Cultural Center

Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League

"Scope on Ledge" logo features a photograph of model Mike Press, (NYC) taken by Parisian photog Michael Cruzz (NYC/Paris), designed by TuTchT IMAGING (that's me, lol)

ROOFSHOUT to the people who worked hard with us to raise the money needed for the New York premiere:

THE NYMF FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE:

Nita Smothers

Ben and Jessica Beresh

Tasha and JJ Scott

Tangi Brewer

Tyffny Johnson

Boogi Walker, emcee of our send-off party

Many other people supported our NYMF Premiere

see the complete list here  

And of course, Thanks to

THE NYC PREMIERE CAST OF ROOFHEADZ:

Chad Carstarphen as "Scope"

Ben Mapp as "Marquee"

Anita Welch as "Sela"

Alan H. Green as "Father"

Marquis Rodriguez as "Lil Man"

Alexander Elisa as "Loomin"

Dana Iannuzzi as "R'yonne"

Geri Brown as "Dimples"

Joshua Heggie as "Nine"

Omar Evans as "Tella"

Greg LuBuono as "Raz"

Khalid Freeman as "Hogeye"

Adam Matta as the voice of "Tagz"

Crystal Joy as "The Devil"

Keva Moolenaar Brown

Krystina Alabado

Paul Stancato, Director; Rachel Routh, General Manager; Nick Dalton, Assistant Director; Shelby Taylor Love, Stage Manager; Molly Gachignard, Musical Director

CLICK HERE TO SEE LOTS OF PICS OF OUR NYMF CAST  

HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE!!!!! 

WE LOVE OUR ROOFHEADZ!

 (I'm sure we've missed some folks in this history...if we forgot you, please hit us up and we'll get your shine right!)

ROOFSGIVING PT 3: The LA Development Years

Our first steps into the realm of professional Broadway Musical Theatre came in 2004 when "Roofless" was discovered by Stephen Schwartz and ASCAP's Michael Kerker.  We were invited to workshop a preview at the ASCAP/Disney Theatricals Musical Theatre Workshops in Burbank, CA.  This part of our story is pretty well-covered in the rest of our blog.

(Left: JP & Julian lift Rachel, Center: Stephen Schwartz introduces us at Disney, Right: Andrea G as "Lil Tiff")

THX TO OUR FIRST LA CAST OF ROOFHEADZ:

THE ASCAP/DISNEY WORKSHOP CAST (Los Angeles)

Mike Fruga*

Julian Thomas*

David Holmes*

Johnny Polygon*

AnnaMaria Pasley-Horn* 

Sufe Bradshaw

Pamela Holt

Rachel Genevieve

Andrea G

Jerome Johnson

* performers originally from Tulsa who joined us in LA.

Production assistance from Tyffny Johnson & Jeremy Griffin

TABLE READINGS:

What followed was several years with multiple table readings (about every 6 to 10 months) juried by Stephen Schwartz, Michael Kerker and a table full of other industry professionals. We would usually do a reading of ACT I, say goodbye to our actors and spend the next hour getting critique and advice from the panel.

To be honest, the table readings all kinda blur together, so here's a COMBINED list of all the ROOFHEADZ over that 4 to 5 year period. (Most of them did multiple readings with us)

THE LOS ANGELES TABLE READING CASTS:

Lij Kerai

Mike Fruga

Joe Holt

Sufe Bradshaw

Julian Thomas

Walter Randall

Elizabeth (Bate) Randall

Nicole Butler

Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Sydnee Stewart

Shonte Brown

Haran Jackson

Nick Huff

Production assistance from Tyff Johnson & James Sims

Big thanks to Michael Kerker & Stephen Schwartz and the dozen Industry professinals who have sat on our panels (Click here for a full list)

ASCAP also set up a week-long workshop on the "Roofless" book (story & script) for us. This was conducted by Kevin Bannerman and Stuart Ross.  Huge thanks to them as well!

SONG DEMOS featuring Tulsa's Best

In 2005 at the start of the Table Reading period, we needed to record some new demos to play during the readings.  Some of the very best vocalists in Tulsa - from R&B, Gospel, Musical Theatre & Opera - came together and volunteered endless hours learning the material so we could record in a live setting (not pieced together from multiple studio takes) to get the "cast recording" vibe. The results were pretty amazing as you can hear below.

ROOFLESS DEMO WORKSHOP CAST in TULSA, 2005:

Kathryn Stefanic-Holder

Nita Smothers

AnnaMaria Pasley-Horn

Evangeline Hope

Branjae Jackson

Andresia Moseley

Rosa Thomas

Kelley Childers Friedburg

Lawrence Rosenborough

Desmond Dansby

Gabe Royal

Jerome Johnson

Fred Custard

Tim Long, Musical Director

Michael Todd, Body Percussionist

Quinton Davis, FORREST PRODUCTIONS, Live Recording Engineer

James Sims, Videographer 

Jared Perry, Rehearsal Beatboxer

Additional assistance from:

Jessica and Ben Beresh, Nita Smothers, Tyffny Johnson, Lawrence Rosenborough

In-Kind Donations from:

FORREST PRODUCTIONS, Tim Kennard (2 full days, live recording sessions)

HIGHER DIMENSIONS FAMILY CHURCH ( Recording facility)

RUDISILL REGIONAL LIBRARY (Rehearsal facility)

ROOFLESS DEMO WORKSHOP CAST in TULSA, 2005:

Kathryn Stefanic-Holder

Nita Smothers

AnnaMaria Pasley-Horn

Evangeline Hope

Branjae Jackson

Andresia Moseley

Rosa Thomas

Kelley Childers Friedburg

Lawrence Rosenborough

Desmond Dansby

Gabe Royal

Jerome Johnson

Fred Custard

Tim Long, Musical Director

Michael Todd, Body Percussionist

Quinton Davis, FORREST PRODUCTIONS, Live Recording Engineer

James Sims, Videographer 

Jared Perry, Rehearsal Beatboxer

Additional assistance from:

Jessica and Ben Beresh, Nita Smothers, Tyffny Johnson, Lawrence Rosenborough

In-Kind Donations from:

FORREST PRODUCTIONS, Tim Kennard (2 full days, live recording sessions)

HIGHER DIMENSIONS FAMILY CHURCH ( Recording facility)

RUDISILL REGIONAL LIBRARY (Rehearsal facility)

PREPARING TO SUBMIT TO THE 

NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL

 As a final step, we did a Tulsa table reading in 2009 as a final test of the newest updates before we submitted the show to NYMF.  

 (L to R: Stephen King, Jerome Johnson, JFresh, Michael Fruga, Branjae Jackson)

 (L to R: Taylar Smallwood, Tyff Johnson, Jessica Beresh, Janna Smith)

 (L to R: Jerome Johnson, JFresh, Michael Fruga)

TULSA TABLE READING CAST!

Mike Fruga

J Fresh (from Dallas)

Branjae Jackson

Roderick Hudson

Stephen King

Jerome Johnson

Taylar Smallwood

Tyffny Johnson

Jessica Beresh

Janna Smith

Production assistance from Dionne White & Nita Smothers.

The event was videotaped  for us by James Sims and Chris Johnson. 

Don't miss the last Thanksgiving post -  Part IV: READY FOR THE NYC PREMIERE