[SALT LAKE CITY, UT, AUGUST 19, 2025] — Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC), Utah’s premier professional theatre in residence at the University of Utah, announces a developmental reading in advance of its upcoming world premiere of Ten Brave Seconds by Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott. The one-night only event, taking place on Tuesday, September 9th at 7:00 PM in the Meldrum Theatre, will offer a limited number of tickets to the general public, and will allow a first hand exploration into the creation of a brand-new musical. A conversation with the creators and PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg will occur onstage immediately afterward. The reading (as well as the 2026 world premiere) will be directed by Ellie Heyman and music directed by Patrick Sulken. The new musical is described as follows:

Mike is having a very big day. He’s been holding onto a secret for awhile, and today his secret is totally coming out. It’s also a big day for the country – huge decisions are being made all over, and at the center of it is one family teetering on the brink of…everything. Ten Brave Seconds is a bright and vital new musical, infused with infectious pop melodies and rooted in a big-hearted examination of one day in the life of a kid, a family, and a community stepping bravely from the dark unknown into the daylight together.

“Fostering new works for the American theatre is an integral part of PTC’s mission. This has been showcased through past (and hopefully future) iterations of Play-by-Play (our staged reading series), and of course, through PTC’s growing list of world premiere works—including Jeff Talbott’s incredibly timely The Messenger,” said PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg. “We’re thrilled to be able to offer PTC audiences the unique experience of seeing a musical in process and on its way to being a fully realized work. And anyone familiar with Will and Jeff’s work at PTC or one of countless stages around the country knows that our audiences are in for something truly special.” 

CAST & CREATIVE

Leading the cast is Carson Stewart* (Broadway’s The Notebook) as Mike. He is joined by Tony nominee John Cariani* (Broadway’s Something Rotten!, Fiddler on the Roof) as Mr. G; PTC alum Ben Crawford* (PTC’s Next to Normal and Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables) as Carl; Jake Pedersen* (Broadway’s Parade, Wicked) as Tim; and Khadija Sankoh* (Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors) as Gabby. PTC alum Maggie Scott (Les Misérables, Elf – The Musical) will play Becky.

The ensemble features PTC alumni Makenna Ashby and Jordan Briggs (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and Ariana Bagley (Annie). They are joined by newcomers Kaden Conrad, Adam Moore, Sydney Rudel, Harrison Timm, and Ella Mei Williamson. 

Final casting for PTC’s world premiere of Ten Brave Seconds will be announced at a later date.

“We’ve been working on Ten Brave Seconds in a quiet little bubble, but now we get to let the PTC audience in! This musical is such a labor of love for us, and we are very excited to start our journey to PTC’s stage with this reading, because now we all get to learn about the piece together,” said the show’s creators Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott in a joint statement. ”This kind of support is so rare, and we couldn’t be more grateful to Karen for her trust in this musical or more ready to get to work.”

Both of the show’s creators are alumni of PTC—Van Dyke was the composer of incidental scores for The Lehman Trilogy, Ass, i, and The Messenger. Talbott has been featured both onstage (The Lehman Trilogy, Oslo, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Doubt, and The Odd Couple) and as playwright of the PTC world premieres of i and The Messenger. Together, they have written the musicals fuzzy, Imagine Harry, Wintersong, Seven Broken Hearts, and The Circle and the Wheel.

The reading will be directed by Ellie Heyman, who helmed the recent world premiere of Van Dyke and Talbott’s fuzzy at Barrington Stage. Other credits include: (Still) Asking For It (The Public Theater); Space Dogs (MCC); ThisTree (Prototype); Dinner with Georgette (New York Theater Workshop, Next Door); Jason Craig & Dave Malloy‘s Beardo (Drama Desk Award Nomination; Pipeline Theater) Erin Markey: Boner Killer (Under the Radar/The Public Theater); Becca Blackwell‘s They, Themself and Schmerm (Under the Radar/The Public Theater); Adrienne Truscott’s THIS (Bessie Award Nomination for Outstanding Production; NYLA) and cult classic, music-fiction podcast Dreamboy (Night Vale Presents). 

Patrick Sulken serves as Music Director, having also music directed the world premiere of fuzzy. Other credits include music direction of Broadway’s Pretty Woman: The Musical and Trisha Paytas’ Big Broadway Dream; Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors, Teeth, and We Are the Tigers.

TICKET INFO
Tickets for the Ten Brave Seconds Insider Reading are now on sale and priced at $10 each. Seating is extremely limited. Tickets can be purchased here or by calling 801-581-6961.

The fully-staged world premiere of Ten Brave Seconds will run at Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre from January 30-February 14 as part of PTC’s 2025-2026 Season. Final casting for the production is still pending. Tickets are currently available at PioneerTheatre.org or by calling 801-581-6961.