All the worlds a stage adam gwon

Review:
All the World’s a Stage
, a Musical Drama About a Closeted High School Teacher





All the World’s a Stage
, Adam Gwon’s new musical about a gay high school math teacher in a conservative rural community, is a period piece. It’s set in 1996, which would seem to put some distance between us and the events of the story. Unfortunately, that story is frustratingly relevant in 2025, a time of “groomer” panic, when so many parents think they can shield their children from unwelcome ideas by removing books from the library (much easier to do that than pry the phones from their kids’ hands). But children are resourceful, just as they were in the pre-Internet age. They have ways of finding what they seek.

Sam Bucknam (Eliza Pagelle) spots a lifeline in Ricky Alleman (Matt Rodin), her school’s new math teacher, whom she caught taking in a theatrical performance at a rival high school. Sam is the loneliest of loners—a theater kid at a school without a theater program—but she asks Mr. Alleman to coach her monologue for the upcoming Pennsylvania state thespian conference, where the grand prize is a scholarship to study theater in college. She wants to do Harper’s Ozone monologue fr

Exclusive: Watch a Sneak Peek of Adam Gwon's ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE




Previews are officially underway for Keen Company's world-premiere of All the World’s A Stage, the new musical by Adam Gwon. Under the direction of Jonathan Silverstein, the cast stars Eliza Pagelle, Jon-Michael Reese, Matt Rodin, and Elizabeth Stanley.

As a gay high school teacher in small-town 1990’s America, Ricky Alleman knows exactly what part he needs to play. When an offbeat student enlists his help to win a statewide theater competition, his efforts tangle with the local church and Ricky’s carefully compartmentalized life starts to unravel. All The World’s Stage is a brand-new musical about making connections and being true to ourselves, even in a polarized world.

"I’m overjoyed to work with this incredible cast, and tell this story, inspired by the teachers who changed my life," said Gwon. "This show is what I wish I’d had as a teenager, and what I discovered I need right now: a story about the courage to be seen, and the transformative power of seeing others in return. I’m grateful to Keen Company for assembling this team and giving u

Off-Broadway Review: ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE (Keen Company at Theatre Row)



A MEANINGFUL MUSICAL
WHERE IDENTITY, ART, AND SILENCE
COLLIDE IN

1996 PENNSYLVANIA


The title might suggest a classical drama—perhaps something Shakespearean or starchy—but
Keen Company
’s latest offering (in association with Michelle Noh) is neither Elizabethan nor antiquated.

All the World’s a Stage
,
a new chamber musical by
Adam Gwon
, trades grandeur for intimacy, unfolding on a modest stage at Off-Broadway’s
Theatre Row
. The scale is small, but the musical richness proves meaningful.

Commissioned in 2021 following Keen’s revival of Gwon’s
Ordinary Days
, this world premiere (with a running time of one hour and 45 minutes) enlists just four actors and four musicians. The result is a production that revels in its talented, tight ensemble.
Michael Starobin
’s orchestrations—masterfully arranged for violin (
Mike Hunter
), cello (
Buffi Jacobs
), guitar (
Beth Callen
), and keyboard/conductor (
Wiley Deweese
)—are lush yet never overpowering. The music breathes. Harmonies shimmer. And blessedly, there’s no over-amplification or unintelligible lyrics.

The story, set in a small Pen

Adam Gwon’s ‘All The World’s A Stage’ takes on life’s complexities in a gorgeous new musical


Coming to terms with who you are and living authentically is, at best, challenging, and it’s certainly nothing to sing about…except when it is.

Adam Gwon’s new musical “All the World’s A Stage,” now at Keen Company, addresses this challenge head-on with beauty, sensitivity, and honesty. Set in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1996, the story is a tale of four characters — each struggling to negotiate life and, in the process, discovering who they truly are, and how to live richly with that truth. 

Ricky is a deeply closeted math teacher who loves the theater yet chose math partially as a way to find something definitive and demonstrable to counteract his internal chaos and turmoil. Dee is the school secretary, a devout Christian who befriends and defends Ricky up to a point, though she must ultimately confront her ingrained belief systems. Michael is a bookstore owner, trying to live out loud in the small town, yet refusing to go somewhere that might be “easier.” Sam is a student at the school where Ricky teaches, feeling outcast and lost but hoping to get a theater scho