A NEW MUSICAL

ALEX HIGGIN-HOUSER

BOOK & LYRICS

DAN GIBSON

MUSIC

Discovery tells the story of the NASA astronaut corps after the Challenger tragedy of 1986 and the lead-up to the 1988 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery

Following Dr. Sally Ride on her journey from iconic astronaut’s astronaut to queer outsider speaking truth to power, along with the astronaut corps’ rocky journey back to space, Discovery dives deep into how catastrophe and grief can catalyze self-discovery, reinvention, and healing.

11 Actors / 2 Acts / 2:30 Run time

THE ASTRONAUT CORPS

SALLY RIDE A cool-headed physicist and master compartmentalizer with the heart of a daredevil. Married to Steve. The first American woman in space.

STEVE HAWLEY A midwestern astronomer with his heart on his sleeve. Married to Sally. Member of the astronaut band. Nicknamed "Attack Astronomer"

GUION “GUY” BLUFORD An air force colonel and aerospace engineer, always the first to volunteer for difficult duty. The first African American in space.

ROBERT “HOOT” GIBSON A Navy pilot ace and aeronautical engineer with a prankster's soul. Married to Rhea.

CHARLES BOLDEN A navy test pilot and future head of NASA. A born leader, Charles often sees the astronaut corps as a flock to tend.

RHEA SEDDON A surgeon and pilot ready for medical emergencies but unprepared for grief. Married to Hoot. 

MARY CLEAVE An ecologist and environmental engineer with no filters. She was nicknamed "Sanitary Mary" because she designed the shuttle toilets.

BREWSTER SHAW An air force pilot and engineer, Brewster is a bold man of few words. A member of the astronaut band. 

GEORGE “PINKY” NELSON An astronomer and teacher who is kindness personified. Member of the astronaut band. 

DAVID WALKER A navy test pilot and a lost soul. 

JOHN YOUNG A navy test pilot, engineer, and veteran astronaut. A fierce manager, and a fiercer advocate for his fellow astronauts.

SALLY RIDE

Aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983 as the first American women in space.

ALEX HIGGIN-HOUSER

BOOK & LYRICS

Alex (he/him) is a dramatist and educator.

  • Haymarket - Winner of 2018’s Jeff for Best New Musical with David Kornfeld

  • Beast Mode Champion: The Pro-Wrestling Rock Musical with Dan Gibson 

  • Shadow on the Wall with Zonia Tsang 

  • Adventurers with Lucy O’Brien

Founding Artistic Director, Underscore Theatre

Former Producer, Chicago Musical Theatre Festival 

Teacher, New Studio on Broadway, Elon, University of Chicago, Whitman, and Oberlin College

MFA NYU; Graduate Musical Theater Writing

BA Carleton College; Biology

DAN GIBSON

MUSIC

Dan (he/him) is a composer, music director, and educator. 

  • ID with Ebb Award-winner Christopher Staskel

  • Beast Mode Champion: The Pro-Wrestling Rock Musical with Alex Higgin-Houser 

MFA NYU; Graduate Musical Theatre Writing 

BFA Elon; Music Theatre

BMI Musical Theatre Workshop

AEA, The Dramatists Guild, Catwalk Art Institute Residency, and Drama Club Camp


DanGibsonMusic.com

DRAMA CLUB

PRODUCER

Drama Club creates brave musicals with LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and emerging artists.

Recent credits include:

DRAG: The Musical (Off-Broadway)
GLAAD Media Award; Lucille Lortel Nominee

A Strange Loop (Broadway & London)
Tony Best Musical & Pulitzer

drama.club

SHANNON MORRISON

PRODUCER

Shannon (he/him) is a brave creator and a sought-after collaborator for Fortune 50 executives and professional creatives alike. Passionate about generating empathy, he uses sass, wordplay, and wit to create captivating theater as an award-winning writer and musical theater Doula. 

He leads Drama Club as Artistic Director and has worked on Broadway incarnations of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Movin’ Out, Legally Blonde, the Pulitzer and Tony-Award winning musical A Strange Loop, and the off-Broadway hit DRAG: The Musical.  Shannon is writing a new musical titled The Ascendants (with Stephen M. Barnett) and leads creative project development at Drama Club, including curating Drama Club Camp.  Writing: Little Big Top (NYU Tisch); The Leading Man (Yale); Silence (Yale; John Golden Prize) Johnny Appleseed; The Aylee Inn; Ding-Dong!.

Alongside his husband and collaborator Scott Ihrig, he is also co-owner of IMC – a global top-10 experience production studio.  As IMC’s Chief Creative Officer, he crafts bold, innovative brand experiences for Meta, Procter & Gamble, UPS, Novartis, and more.  He is a graduate of Yale and NYU, and serves as a Trustee for Kents Hill School in Readfield, Maine.

SCOTT IHRIG

PRODUCER

Scott Ihrig is a passionate liberal queer entrepreneur and the CEO of IMC, an experience studio he owns with his husband, Shannon Morrison. At IMC, he leads a team of event professionals that change people through unforgettable experiences.

Together, they also lead Drama Club Productions, where they create first-class, thought-provoking stories with particular attention to LGBTQ voices, BIPOC creators, and emerging artists. Current and recent theatrical projects include Pulitzer & Tony Award-winning A Strange Loop (Broadway & London), DRAG: The Musical (Off-Broadway), and musicals in development include The Ghost and Mrs. Muir , Craft Show, The Night We Called It A Day, and Toby Tyler.

Scott’s other theatrical credits include producing The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes, founding board member of a non-profit theater in the Midwest, and the only non-singing role in his high school’s production of Fiddler.

A life-long activist, Scott works to expand human and civil rights, develop opportunities for the disadvantaged, and assist those in need.

In what seems like a previous life, Scott was an associate at the Minneapolis law firm Gray Plant Mooty. At age 12, he started and ran his first company, Kaleidoscope Candies, in his parents’ kitchen. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, he earned a BA in political science from Grinnell College and graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Though based on true events that took place between the launch of the Challenger in 1986 and the return-to-flight launch of Discovery in 1988, Discovery is ultimately a work of fiction. Thanks to NASA astronauts Mary Cleave, Pinky Nelson, Brewster Shaw, and Steve Hawley for entrusting us with your stories, and to the NASA oral history project for a number of other firsthand accounts. Any heroism belongs to those who performed it, and any errors are ours.

DEVELOPMENT

Discovery is under development with Drama Club Productions and was developed in part at the Catwalk Arts Residency in Catskill, NY.

FALL 2025 Drama Club Camp Writer’s Residency

MARCH 2025 Drama Club Reading Workshop

JANUARY 2025 Catwalk Artists Residency

DISCOVERY IS SEEKING

Front money investors
Development partners
Theatres for initial production

THIS IS IN NO WAY A SOLICITATION OR AN OFFER TO INVEST. INVESTORS MUST RECEIVE FULL OFFERING DOCUMENTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.

Dedicated to Dr. Mary Cleave


(1947–2023)

Our first interlocutor, without whom this show would not be possible.