Preston Max Allen
“To be able to develop a new musical even for a moment is a gift, and the team we’ve put together alongside the opportunity to spend some time before production really diving in and exploring is truly the dream,” says Allen, who wrote the show’s book, music, and lyrics. “After putting this piece away in 2019, I’m so lucky to have been given the chance to reinvigorate it with an updated perspective on today’s world as well as the growth I’ve experienced as a writer and person. I really never thought I’d get that chance and out of it has come a musical I’m immensely proud of with collaborators I’m honored to create with.”
Preston Max Allen
As previously reported in this blog, Allen‘s earlier musical We Are the Tigers, which enjoyed a 2019 Off-Broadway run at Theatre 80 St. Marks in New York City’s East Village, has been added to the catalogue of Broadway Licensing Global, which licenses rights to more than 8,000 plays and musicals for professional and non-professional productions around the world. As previously reported in this blog, Allen was honored in June by Windy City Times‘ “30 Under 30” Awards for Pride Month 2024.
Matthew Chase
Rose Johnson
Columbia College alum Matthew Chase ’20, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s Theatre Technology program, is the developmental production’s production director and sound designer. And Columbia College alum Rose Johnson ’21, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s BA Program in Theatre Design and Technology, is the production’s scenic charge.
Never Better focuses on Davy, a jaded college sophomore struggling to keep up with her work and social life as she faces an illness she’s written off as a cold. As her symptoms escalate, Davy’s friends encourage her to get help. Unable to face a potentially devastating diagnosis, Davy ignores her doctor’s recommendations and soon starts spiraling in this intimate folk-punk musical about the value of survival in a world weighed down by grief, loneliness, and fears of an uncertain future.
