The latest musical from up and coming librettist and composer Jaime Jarrett, Normativity, blends modern pop rock style music with introspective social commentary.
Conceived in late 2013, Normativity aims to explore our pre-conceived ideas about sexuality, the world we live in, the people we're surrounded by, and the way these three factors influence the lives of LGBTQ+ teens. In April 2014, the piece premiered as Don't Bury Your Gays, a one act, five song workshop at The University of the Arts. In Fall 2014, director Matt Rosansky joined the team. Together Jaime and Matt developed the piece into a full length musical which premiered to a sold out audience, laying the ground work for the piece today.
Normativity tells the story of Emily, the optimistic lesbian protagonist of a Young Adult novel written by an author on the verge of fame. Unhappy with the unfair story she is given, Emily comes to life to change her story, to get her happy ending. Along the way Emily and an ambitious high school teen named Taylor, discover what it means to feel and why this story is so important to everyone involved. The question becomes can these two young girls get their happy endings? Or is the happy ending even what they really want?