The previously announced Out of the Box Theatrics fall Off-Broadway revival of Floyd Collins, which was scheduled to be directed by Christina Sajous, has been canceled.
OOTB had been granted a license to produce the musical but were later informed that its authors, Tina Landau and Adam Guettel, are in the process of revising the show and do not wish for it to be produced in New York City at this time.
Out of the Box Founder and Artistic Director Liz Flemming said in a statement, “It is with great sadness that we must announce OOTB’s 2022 production of Floyd Collins has been canceled through no fault of our own. We are heartbroken that this production is unable to be fully realized by our brilliant director Christina Sajous and our incredible creative team, but we are also supportive and understanding of creators Tina Landau and Adam Guettel, who have been revising Floyd Collins for decades. As the authors explained to us, they are now holding off on the granting of rights for a Floyd Collins production in New York City due to rewrites that they have been working on for a New York revival. However, through a series of communication errors, OOTB was granted the rights without the authors’ full knowledge. Although we are unable to produce Floyd Collins this fall, we will continue to be great admirers of this beautiful show and we appreciate the authors’ transparency and collaboration. We will continue looking forward to the future with our mission leading the way as we plan our 2023 season and develop new work we have been planning to nurture this fall through a series of readings.”
Based on a real-life incident, Floyd Collins tells the story of an early 20th century amateur cave explorer who finds himself stuck in a Kentucky cave and the resulting media frenzy surrounding the efforts to rescue him. Sajous' production was scheduled to focus on the media frenzy, which is often thought of as America's first true media circus.
The musical had its world premiere in 1994 at American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia before running Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1996.
