Next Year in Connecticut!

Book & Lyrics by Sarah Rossman
Music by Sequoia Sellinger

The Stablemans are not like other families. No, but really. Life is a game of mental illness musical chairs, no one has boundaries, and the status quo is anything but static. Next Year in Connecticut! follows the Stableman family over the course of one dysfunctional, hilarious family dinner (in this case, a Passover seder).

Seated at the table are Mom, Dad, their three daughters (Sonya, Olive, and Clem), Olive’s German boyfriend (Gunther), & Mom’s father and his husband (Zayde and Poppy). As the family powers through the steps of seder, Olive represses an eating disorder, Sonya challenges her OCD by participating at the communal table, and Clem grieves for her therapy dog, Lionel (who was run over by a family member that morning). Normal levels of Stableman dysfunction devolve into full-blown chaos when Mom’s suicidal psychotherapy patient, Billy, shows up at the front door. Ultimately, it is Billy, a lonely outsider, who helps everyone appreciate that being part of a collective craziness is better than being crazy alone.

Next Year in Connecticut! is about figuring out who the heck you are in an enmeshed ecosystem of dysfunction. Welcome to seder with the Stablemans where laughter and disaster go hand in hand and everyone has a seat at the table regardless of race, gender, or HIPAA.

Development History:

2026:

  • Lucille Lortel Theatre 121 Project (2026)

2025:

  • Catwalk Art Institute Residency (September 2025)

  • Festival Staged Production at sheNYC Arts Festival at Classic Stage Company (July 2025)

  • 29 Hour Reading at Michiko Studios (April 2025)

  • Prospect Musical Theatre Lab at Symphony Space (February 2025)

  • Featured in Harvard-Yale Cantata at 54 Below (September 2025)

2024:

  • Featured in Harvard-Yale Cantata at 54 Below (September 2024)

  • Sold out Concert Reading at Green Room 42 (June 2024)

  • Featured in a new works showcase at Joe’s Pub (May 2024)

  • 29 hour reading at NYU Tisch’s Black Box Theatre (May 2024)

  • Goodspeed Musicals One Week Writing Residency (Feb 2024)

2023:

  • Workshopped with acting students at NYU Tisch’s The New Studio on Broadway (dir. Kent Gash, MD J. Oconer Navarro) (Fall 2023)

  • Concieved and developed at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program under the mentorship of
    Donna DiNovelli, Mindi Dickstein, and Fred Carl.

‍ Awards/Achievements:

2026:

  • Pipeline Arts Foundation Award ($20,000)

  • Lucille Lortel 121 Project Selection

  • NAMT Finalist (pending)

2025:

  • SheNYC Festival Selection (Winner of Best Book/Choreography and Actor)

  • Catwalk Art Institue Residency

  • NAMT Finalist

  • Syracuse New Works New Voices Finalist

  • Semi-Finalist for Pipeline Foundation Grant

2024:

  • Syracuse New Works New Voices Finalist

  • Newport NewWorks Musical Theater Festival Finalist

  • Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant Recipient

  • Northwestern University American Music Theatre Project Semi-Finalist

  • Accepted to Spark Festival