DAWN

A new musical play inspired by true events.

Book and Lyrics by Hayley Treider 

Music by Daniel Henri Emond and Hayley Treider

DAWN was a 2022 semifinalist of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference. It’s first draft was written by Hayley Treider during a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm during a fellowship with the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing Arts.

Set in 1978 and featuring an 8-person cast of actor-musicians, DAWN’s characters utilize original folk, roots, and gospel music.  

Synopsis: When 15-year old Dawn’s mother decides to move her family to a Texan evangelical community, Dawn is forced to confront her own faith, truth, and power amidst abuse at the hands of someone she most trusts in the church. In this musical play inspired by true events, we follow Dawn and her mother Sherrie as they each seek a deeper connection to themselves and to God, ultimately leading to a violent, public face off with the congregation’s leaders – who attempt a forceful exorcism of Dawn.

PLAYWRIGHT/CO-COMPOSER:     Hayley Treider is an emerging playwright and songwriter. She has trained and worked professionally in the theatre for over a decade and been surrounded by music her entire life. Hayley is an alum of University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a member of the Dramatist Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and AEA, and a volunteer of Artists Striving to End Poverty. 

NYC acting credits include plays at Classic Stage Company, the New Victory, HERE Arts Center, and Ars Nova’s ANT FEST. She has worked in new-play development with Rattlestick, The Public, Playwrights Realm, the Lark, NY Stage & Film, Civilians, the Vineyard, and MCC, and can be seen on film in Orange Is the New Black, Law & Order: SVU, and Person of Interest. Musical performances include A Night Benefiting Paul Newman’s Whole in the Wall Gang Camp at Avery Fisher Hall and Seth Rudetsky's Spotlight with Joel Gray & Veanne Cox. Regional acting credits include Westport Country Playhouse, Two River Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Bard Summer Festival. 

CO-COMPOSER: Daniel Henri Emond’s Moby-Dick rock opera Kill the Whale has seen development at Joe's Pub, Yaddo, Montclair State University Peak Performances, Polyphone Festival, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Corkscrew Festival, NYU, the Melville bi-Centennial Conference, and Nantucket Theatre Workshop, and has received funding through the American Theatre Wing, the Saw Recording Grants, and the NYFA. Other composing credits include the multi-lingual score to the International Production of Neil Bartlett’s The Plague at Hong Kong Arts Festival 2021, and DAWN, a new Folk Musical.

In 2022 Daniel workshopped a dream musical about Freud as an artist-in- Residence at Culture Lab at the Plaxall Gallery and at the Good Hart Residency in Michigan. Its music will be performed in concert at Adelphi University this Fall, on September 14th 2024.

He is a 2023 Jonathan Larson grant recipient, a 2023 Saw recording grant recipient, the recipient of a 2023 NYFA grant, and a 2023 CREATE finalist with the American Composer's Forum. Daniel sometimes tour as a banjoist, and writes down every dream he can remember. He’s worked or performed with Sam Bush, Ingrid Michaelson, Dave Malloy, Nathaniel Philbrick, Grace McLean, Larry Cordle, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and others.