A Beat in June
A musical in development by Mischa Ipp & Daniel Rufolo
Two stories intertwine as a teenage cave-woman and her grandmother fight over teaching men the new emotion they’ve invented (love) and a master author confronts why she is hallucinating.
A Beat in June is a cross between The Wife, Big Little Lies and Ug, The Caveman Musical. The musical begins with a 16-year-old cave woman, Su. Su is part of the first tribe to have invented the concept of love. Su’s grandmother - a spunky-cave-woman-lesbian named Rise, believes love is exclusive to women but Su disagrees. She wants to teach men how to love. As Rise forbids it the world suddenly transforms and we find ourselves at a cocktail party in 2019. Our master author, June, has just watched the characters from her novel, Su and Rise, singing and dancing around her and she is concerned that she is going insane.
June’s hallucinations show up just as she is offered the greatest writing opportunity of her life. Unfortunately this ‘great’ opportunity comes with a catch: after 40 rejections, in a fit of frustration, June’s agent submits the novel under her husband’s name and it is only then that it is picked up. While Su fights with her grandmother, and June and her husband confront the challenging situation they are in, the two storylines intertwine and slowly, secrets reveal themselves and questions are answered.
Partly inspired by How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Demos
In Fresh Blood the characters from a book sing about the invention of 'love' and summon their author.
In This Is Who I Want, Su is committed to teaching men the new emotion 'love' and decides Ruff is the man for her… until she realizes he’s not.
In Brak Is A Sensitive Caveman, Su meets Brak and decides he’s definitely the man! This video is a proof of concept virtual reality music video. For full viewing details read description in video.
In I Have A Plan, Su has been kidnapped and Brak bribes the caveman that guards her so he can see her. They are falling in love.
In Not Alone, 8 year old Sama processes abuse that she’s seen.
In June’s Voice, June finds her voice.
Piano and Music by Daniel Rufolo
Lyrics and Edit by Mischa Ipp
Virtual Reality cinematography by Dani Tenenbaum. For full credits visit video.
Performances by Alita Moses, Janelle Robinson, Tamar Greene, Monica Cialona, Janelle Tedesco, Mischa Ipp, Matthew Berzon, Julian Blake Gordon, and Bishanyia Vincent.
Sample Design Renderings
Below the demos you will find some sample design renderings. More upon request.
