Penguin Rep Theatre to present reading of new musical TAKE ME AMERICA

PRESS RELEASE

PENGUIN REP THEATRE TO PRESENT READING OF

“TAKE ME AMERICA,” A MUSICAL BY NEIL BERG & BILL NABEL, DIRECTED BY JOE BRANCATO, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 IN NYC

STONY POINT, NY – February 4, 2026 – Penguin Rep Theatre (Joe Brancato, founding Artistic Director, and Andrew M. Horn, Executive Director) will present a 29-hour reading of TAKE ME AMERICA, a new musical about seven immigrants applying for asylum to the United States, with book and lyrics by Bill Nabel and music and additional lyrics by Neil Berg, directed by Mr. Brancato, Friday, February 13, 2026 at Studios 353, 353 West 48th Street in New York City.

The reading will feature Jennifer Apple (1st National Broadway tour of The Band’s Visit; Off-Broadway: Hannah Sennesh), Jonny Lee Jr. (Signature: Pacific Overtures; Utah Shakespeare Festival: Gold Mountain), Sharone Sayegh (Broadway: Beetlejuice, Come From Away, The Band’s Visit, Mamma Mia!), Sam Snyder, Akron Watson (Broadway: The Color Purple; The Public Theater: The Fortress of Solitude), and Paulina Yeung (U.S. National Tour U.K./International Tour: The King and I).

Bill Nabel is an American Academy of Arts and Letters Richard Rodgers Prize finalist for an earlier incarnation of the musical. As an actor, he appeared on Broadway for the entire run of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and performed in the original casts of A Chorus Line, Sweeney Todd and 42nd Street.

Neil Berg is the composer/co-lyricist, along with Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, of The 12, which was directed by John Doyle at Goodspeed Opera House. He also composed the music and co-wrote the lyrics (with Cary Gitter) for The Sabbath Girl: The Musical, which was presented by Penguin at 59E59 Theaters in 2024. His credits also include Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, The Prince and the Pauper, and How My Grandparents Fell in Love, which will be produced at 59E59 Theaters beginning March 17, 2026. He is currently developing the musical version of My Cousin Vinny, based on the iconic movie, with book and lyrics by Dale Launer.

Director Brancato’s credits include Cary Gitter’s Gene & Gilda (Penguin/George Street Playhouse/59E59); the Neil Berg-Gitter musical The Sabbath Girl (Penguin/59E59); Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband, which transferred from Penguin to Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre and then onto its commercial production at the Westside Theatre/Upstairs; Erasmus Fenn’s Drop Dead Perfect at Theatre at St. Clements (NY Times Critic’s Pick); The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off B’way Alliance, and Audelco Award nominee); Freed (Audelco Award nominee); Tryst (Outer Critics nomination for Best Play) at the Promenade and at Irish Rep; and Cobb (Drama Desk winner).

Wendy Bobbitt Cavett (Broadway: Come From Away, Hamilton, Mamma Mia!) is musical supervisor and arranger; Matthew Stephens is musical director; and William Bastiason is musical transcriber. Michael Palmer is stage manager and Isaac Goldbaum is assistant stage manager.

Attendance is by invitation only.

For further information, contact Penguin Rep Theatre @ info@penguinrep.org.

ABOUT PENGUIN REP THEATRE

Under the dynamic leadership of founding Artistic Director Joe Brancato and Executive Director Andrew M. Horn, Penguin Rep Theatre has grown in 48 years from a summer theatre in a repurposed 1880’s hay barn in historic Stony Point, N.Y. to become one of the Hudson Valley’s most impactful nonprofit cultural institutions, now reaching tens of thousands of theatergoers each year at its home theatre upstate, in New York City and beyond – with plays and productions premiered by Penguin moving to Off Broadway and to stages across the country and around the world. Hailed by The New York Times as “the gutsiest little theatre” and by Lohud.com as a theatre that “continues to astonish,” Penguin is also a resident co-op member at 59E59 Theaters where it has transferred such productions as Gene & Gilda, The Sabbath Girl, Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise, and small. www.penguinrep.org.