Friday Artist Spotlights
Evie Press
Evie Press (she/they) is a composer, lyricist, writer, dramaturg, and director. She took her first musical to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 to 5-star reviews and graduated from Leeds Conservatoire with an MA in Musical Theatre Creation in 2024. Evie’s current work explores themes of identity, community, and politics, through stories of medieval London mayors, rural funeral homes, and supernatural American road trips. Their music blends the storytelling of musical theatre with the lyricism of folk, inspired by heart-on-sleeve songwriting regardless of genre. Her next co-written show premieres at the Birmingham Hippodrome in August 2025 for BYMT.
My Current Project
Whittington
Whittington is a new musical about the real life of Richard (Dick) Whittington: medieval philanthropist, politician, and folk legend. Set to a score that brings together pop, folk, and medieval music, Whittington explores the responsibility of power, how a community can become family, and what hopeful politics might look like. It is a book musical in 2 acts, with a main cast of 7 and a minimum ensemble of 5, which can be endlessly scaled up or down to suit the scale of production. It is currently in its second round of development after its first performance in 2024.
Other projects in early stages of development include: a musical about a funeral parlour in a small rural town, who decide to murder people in the community to keep their business afloat, and a musical about a girl who is forced on the run across America after discovering a supernatural family secret; Stephen King meets classic Americana.
What I'm Looking For
When writing, my focus strengths tend towards lyrics and musical storytelling rather than orchestration, and while I have strong ideas around motifs, melodies and sound worlds, I’d love to find a collaborator who could take these ideas and elevate them musically to match, and widen, my vision. An Alex Lacamoire to my Lin Manuel Miranda! In general, I’m also looking for collaborators (directors, dramaturgs, composers) who vibe with my shows and my visions for them- at the moment I’m a bit of a one-man-band, and would love to have trusted collaborators to discuss my work with and bring new ideas to the table.