Making Musicals with Holly Yurth Richards
Hello and welcome to Making Musicals with me - your host - Holly Yurth Richards. I am an award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist and librettist who is passionate about crafting new stories for the musical theatre stage. I created this podcast as a way to share my story about how I got started in this fascinating field of work and to offer insight and guidance to other writers about my process, about other writers’ processes, and on the available resources out there - which are surprisingly plentiful, when you know where to look for them. Come make musicals with me!
Making Musicals with Holly Yurth Richards
Episode 01 - Get to Know Holly and Welcome to Zion's Beginnings
In this episode, Holly gives you a glimpse into her upbringing and history as a writer of musicals, as well as insight into how she began writing Welcome to Zion and why.
The teen suicide rate in Utah has been rising exponentially in the last decade, especially among LGBTQ+ youth. This new musical follows one Mormon family who, upon learning their son is gay, must confront the beliefs that have been the foundation of their faith. Maya and Jason are devastated when their son, Tyler, lets them in on his long-held secret. Jason goes into denial, Maya seeks solace in a new neighbor, and Tyler must find a way to navigate the world of both hate and love that his coming out has introduced—a world where, sometimes, suicide feels like the only option.