THE STORY OF A STORY (THE UNTOLD STORY) is the story of a writer and artist who become trapped in a world inhabited entirely by cliches.  They must prevent the cliches from invading the Earth-- while avoiding becoming cliches themselves!

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On their journey to defeat the Evil Overlord and his assistants Drug Lord With a Speedboat, Generic Arab Terrorist, and Henchman Who Lets Vital Information Slip, our heroes find allies in rebel cliches like Manic Pixie Dream Girl and Cop Three Days From Retirement, who hope to one day become three-dimensional characters.  Can they complete their quest that has an over-reliance on similarities to The Wizard of Oz before the Evil Overlord destroys Original Art once and for all?

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The show is created by Peter Gwinn (The Colbert Report) and Jody Shelton (50 Shades! The Musical). As members of the world-famous musical improv group Baby Wants Candy, Peter and Jody have improvised over 500 musicals together.  They have collaborated with Eliza Skinner on the short musicals The New York Cycle: Times Square and The New York Cycle: MOMA.  THE STORY OF A STORY (THE UNTOLD STORY) is their first full-length musical together.

PETER GWINN (Book & Lyrics)

Peter Gwinn won two Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards as one of the original writers for The Colbert Report. He also wrote for the Amazon original series Alpha House created by Garry Trudeau.  His play Twist Your Dickens (co-written with Bobby Mort) has been produced in six cities.  This is his third scripted musical, following Moulin Scrooge! (iO Theater, Chicago; WreckingBall Theater Lab, Denver) and Listen, Kid! (UCB Theater, NYC; iO Theater, Chicago). 
Peter is also an actor, improviser, and stand-up comedian.  He is a founding member of Baby Wants Candy, a comedy troupe that creates fully improvised hour-long musicals, which was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and sold out multiple runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  He can also be seen in the Netflix series Easy.

JODY SHELTON (Music & Lyrics)

Jody Shelton began his career as musical director for the Second City National Touring Company, and performed with renowned musical improv ensemble Baby Wants Candy for fifteen years. Beginning in 2004, Jody released three critically acclaimed albums as a solo artist, and two more with his band, Daughter & Son. In 2012, he co-wrote the parody 50 Shades! The Musical, which had extended runs at the Elektra Theatre in New York and Bally’s in Las Vegas, and has since been performed in twelve countries around the world. Jody’s next musical, co-written with Emmy and Peabody winner Peter Gwinn (The Colbert Report) was The Story of a Story (The Untold Story), which ran at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago in 2015, and received a Jeff Award nomination for Best New Work. Jody’s most recent show as composer, writer and director is the musical parody Star Wars: The Farce Awakens, which had its New York premiere in February 2017. In the fall of that year, Jody contributed orchestrations, arrangements and musical direction to the new musical The Village of Vale at Lincoln Center.  In November, Jody wrote the song “We Need Each Other” for The President Show Christmas Special on Comedy Central, performed by Anthony Atamanuik and Emmy and Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth..