Chicago Musical Theatre Festival: Out of Focus

Launched in 2013 by Underscore Theatre Company, the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival is a showcase of new musicals from Chicago and beyond! The aim is a celebration of musical theatre creators, emerging authors and innovative artists looking to push the boundaries of storytelling within the form. Festival submissions are reviewed by volunteer adjudicators from the music and theatre fields, with five finalists being selected for concert presentations over the weekend of the festival.

Out of Focus
Music and Lyrics by Kelan M. Smith
Book and Lyrics by Quinn Rigg

Directed by Frankie Leo Bennett
Out of Focus is a coming of age rock musical about a young photographer named Nick in his first year of college. As Nick struggles with his newfound independence, he is faced with his mother's own struggle of a newly diagnosed case of early onset dementia. In his journey to find himself, and grapple with familial uncertainty, he comes of age alongside a cast of other young characters, all of whom are dealing with their own unique familial imperfections. As demons from the past threaten their clarity of the future, each of them attempts to fill in the missing pieces of their lives. But only through one another can they bring what’s out of focus into frame.