Welcome to tonight’s Industry reading
— thank you for pulling up a stool.
Part rock concert.
Part social experiment.
Can a person’s life be reduced to their choices? Which ones count? And who gets to decide?
This is a story about choices — and the audience gets to choose how the story ends.
Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir follows the story of John Casey, an ambitious young songwriter determined to get his mom out of her abusive marriage to her alcoholic husband. When ambition turns to desperation and confidence turns to pride, John finds himself haunted by the addiction he grew up resenting. On the night of his worst choice, he wakes up in Rathskeller — an eerie dive bar in the basement of the afterlife. The devilish Bartender and her ghostly staff of souls offer him the elixir of a lifetime — but the consequences could be deadly.
Five Years, Disciplined Development
Commissioned
Released
Theatre Festival
Dream Theater
List
Best Musical & Best Choreography — BroadwayWorld Off-Off-Broadway Awards · NYC Women’s Fund Grant Recipient · 2021 Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist
38th Annual Festival of New Musicals
2026 Recommended — Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir
“A hot purgatorial rock musical”
— The Virginian-Pilot
Development & Touring Strategy
The Road Ahead
Continued Development
Tonight’s reading, plus a placement in a 2027 Emerging Artist Festival, road-test the book & score in front of industry — and build the room of producers and investors for the next step.
Grassroots Audience Building
Our West Coast premiere at Jansen Art Center (dir. Andrew Cooper) kicks off a national community-theatre licensing rollout — 20 theatres in 2027, drawn from a warm pipeline of 480+ already prospected.
UK Non-Traditional Venue Tour
Five rock & roll venues, three nights each — 15 performances that turn the show’s own premise into the staging itself: a bar between heaven and hell, no black box required.
How You Can Help
Lead Producer & Investors
Step in as lead producer, and we’ll introduce you to a list of possible investors — we’ll even set the appointments for you.
Community & Regional Theatres
Know a theatre that should be next on our 480+ theatre licensing pipeline? Point us their way after they see what a production can look like.
Spread the Word
Share the concept album, tonight’s reading, and the West Coast premiere with your circle — word of mouth is how this show has always traveled.
Come See the Premiere
Join us at Jansen Art Center in Lynden, WA this fall, and follow along as the UK tour route and 2027 festival dates are confirmed.
Invest in Rathskeller
Pre-Production $117,348 + Touring Run (4 wks) $159,917 = Total Cost $277,265 · Ticket Revenue = 2,025 Seats × $35 · Licensing Modeled Over Years 2–3
Rough-order-of-magnitude planning estimates in USD, detailed fully in the companion budget workbook. No royalties are payable on this UK tour engagement.
Let’s Talk
Chris Rudd
Executive Producer
chris@dameproductions.org · (814) 882-6433
Rathskeller Is Always Open