If this crazy pandemic has taught anything, it has taught us that human contact is key to survival. Luckily, we have all kinds of video chatting platforms available to us these days, and “Un-Block The Music” has also been so lucky to be part of WFYL 1180Am’s (www.1180wfyl.com) From Bullets To Broadway, Anatomy of A Show, featuring Emergency The Musical. This past weekend, host Sgt. Dan McCaughan brought together the Foys and another musical writer, Sally Rosenberg, co-founder (with Jill Lesser) of Ladybug Productions. The topic of the show was how connecting with other writers can move your own work forward.
Sally met the Foys as all are part of Ken Davenport’s Inner Circle https://www.theproducersperspective.com/the-inner-circle. I have talked about this in 
the past. “Un-Block The Music” met Jeff and Jacob when they won an Inner Circle contest and became the recipients of a $10,000 grant to begin Emergency’s journey to the New York stage www.emergencythemusical.com. Each quarter, Inner Circle members gather in New York City for a weekend of training sessions and to hear top industry leaders talk about various aspects of the business. Participants are able to spend time speaking with VIP guest speakers in a Q&A session, as well as to talk with them individually after the session.
Sally told “Un-Block The Music” a bit about her own journey and her company Ladybug Productions https://www.ladybugp.com/. “Early in our long friendship, Jill and I discovered our shared passion for the performing arts. We nurtured our creative selves, even as we pursued rigorous careers in advocacy and law. Our opportunity to work together crystallized in creating a musical based on my novel, Invincible, which is the story of strong females overcoming obstacles,” she said. The duo realized that they wanted to foster other theatrical projects as well. “Soon, our friend and, mentor Ken offered us our first opportunity to co-produce his Broadway play, Gettin’ The Band Back Together, and we leapt.”
As for Sally’s relationship with The Foys, “She is very personable, easy to talk to and full of knowledge. It is always great to get her perspective. It was a natural friendship,” Jeff said. It is not uncommon for some participants to think about each other in the Circle downtime, and offer suggestions the next time they see each other. Jacob said Sally is that person for them.
“What we love about the Inner Circle,” Sally said is that “everyone in the room is doing theater, and all of the participants are working from a place of natural passion. If putting a show together was a snap of a finger, it would be totally unsatisfying…part of the joy is the whole journey. The Inner Circle bolsters support, and when a milestone hits, like Emergency’s placement in the New York Theater Festival last summer and the plan for an Off Broadway run in the near future, there is a cheer coming from everyone. We have seen how hard it has been to get there.”
Sally and “Un-Block The Music” also spoke about her show Invincible, so stay tuned for a separate story on Ladybug’s process.
And….if you missed the last installment of From Bullets To Broadway, there will be an encore broadcast this Saturday, May 23, 2020 at noon eastern time. You can hear any of the earlier chapters of the Foys story, on SoundCloud. Go to : www.BroadwayBullets.com.
Un-Block The Music 