Songwriting/Producing Team Stewart St John & Michael Plahuta Board ‘The Grieving Project’ Musical, Will Compose And Produce New Songs And Instrumentals For Disability-Themed Musical

Los Angeles, CA., August 19, 2023 – Songwriting and producing team Stewart St John & Michael Plahuta – the duo behind the Tara Tremendous musical developed with Marc Platt Productions — have joined Lisa Sniderman’s The Grieving Project, a “proof of concept” musical event produced in collaboration with Open Circle Theater, a disability-focused theater company in Washington D.C . The show will be directed by Suzanne Richard and make its debut in Baltimore, Maryland February 26th – March 11th, 2024.

St John & Plahuta are positioned as the main musical composers on the project, tasked with re-writing existing material and composing and producing entirely new songs based on seven of the original tracks chosen to be featured in the “proof of concept” live event.

The Grieving Project is a spoken word musical that explores mental health, transformation, identity, disability, grieving and thriving in fourteen stages and asks ‘how can we live fully and thrive if we don’t grieve?”. It integrates a unique concept: the four lead characters only speak during songs until each finds her/his voice and sings.

“When Lisa initially approached us about the project and shared that its genesis had come from her own personal struggle with disabilities, Michael and I recognized what an important story it was and wanted to be part of telling it musically,” said St John. “It’s one of those projects that really does make you look in the mirror and think about your life, who you are, and where you’re going.”

The duo will also compose, arrange and produce the demo tracks, hire and direct singers in recording sessions around the country, and prepare final instrumental tracks for use in the upcoming live performances. The final mastered song demos are also being repurposed as promotional material to get word out about the project.

“Even though the subject matter is very raw and real, we hope to inspire audiences through the emotional essence of the kinds of songs we’re known to write and produce,” said Plahuta. “We want to tell this story in an emotional but uplifting way, capturing the humor, sadness and joy of every day life for these four characters who are, essentially, all of us.”

ABOUT ST JOHN & PLAHUTA

Stewart St John and Michael Plahuta are the American/Australian composing and songwriting/producing team “St John & Plahuta”, composers for film, television, video games, musicals and podcasts. Most recently they’ve composed 14 pop songs for St John’s live-action musical feature film in development with Oscar®-nominated producer Marc Platt (Wicked, Legally Blonde) and his company Marc Platt Productions. They have several original musicals for stage, animation and live-action currently in development. Stewart and Michael are also two of the three co-founders of Wonkybot Entertainment, an award-winning production company and sound house creating original IP for kids and family.