Rogue Machine Announces Upcoming World Premiere of Come Get Maggie

Rogue Machine Theatre presents Come Get Maggie, an intergalactic, joyously quirky new musical that pays homage to all those with the courage to live life as their true selves. This world premiere production, written by Diane Frolov and Susan Justin, is being directed by Michael Pressman at the Matrix theatre, opening February 11, 2023.

Maggie, a brilliant young woman stuck in 1950's suburbia, is out of sync with her times. She wonders if her real home might be somewhere else. When an alien answers her call to the stars for help, she begins an intergalactic romance that will change her, the world she lives in, and the whole universe.

Diane Frolov (Book/Lyrics) is a Los Angeles writer who created the first version of Come Get Maggie while attending UCLA for her MFA in playwriting. She continued writing and developing plays as a member of Theatre West. Frolov wrote for NBC's science fiction mini-series "V" and was a writer/producer on Fox's "AlienNation." She became an executive producer/showrunner on CBS' "Northern Exposure" and while on the show won two Emmy's, a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. Diane received an Emmy and a Writers Guild Award for her work on HBO's "The Sopranos." Frolov co-created and produced Showtime's The Chris Isaak Show and WB's Easy Money. She served as co-executive producer on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and was a consulting producer on Amazon's Bosch. Presently, Frolov is in her eighth season as an executive producer and showrunner of NBC's Chicago Med.

"What I most admire in Maggie, and people like her, is the desire to ask herself the big questions: Who am I? Where do I belong? Why am I here? Her curiosity, openness to new things and her acceptance of differences shows that she's also capable of self-examination, and has the ability to change, says writer Diane Frolov."

Susan Justin (Composer/Lyrics) studied music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen and earned a BA in music at UCLA. While working at Santa Monica College as Staff Pianist, Vocal Coach and Musical Director for many musicals, she fronted her own band as singer songwriter and played the LA Club Circuit for ten years. Her film composing career began with working for Roger Corman. She blended New Wave and Sci-Fi in one of the first fully electronic film scores. Her work continued with such directors and producers as Roger Corman and Joe Roth and her most recent work in documentaries has been heard on TBS, TNT, Lifetime, Showtime, and PBS. Justin is also a choral music educator for Santa Monica-Malibu USD. Her remarkable music program is nationally acclaimed.

Michael Pressman (Director) returns to Rogue Machine where he last directed the Los Angeles Premiere of Joe Gilford's Finks, a play about the struggle of artists during McCarthy era in the 1950's (Top Ten - Stage Raw). Selected theater credits include the acclaimed revival of Come Back Little Sheba at the Kirk Douglas Theater for which he won the NAACP Award for Directing (the production moved to Broadway for a successful run where S. Epatha Merkerson was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Lola), and the West Coast premiere of To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday in which he also directed the film version starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Peter Gallagher, and Kathy Baker.

Michael is a two-time Emmy Winner as producer/director for the TV series Picket Fences, which was the beginning of a long working relationship with David E. Kelley. He has directed numerous TV series, among them Law and Order SVU, Chicago Med, Weeds, In Treatment, and The Guardian. Among his film credits are "Boulevard Nights," (recently named to the Library of Congress), "Some Kind of Hero," starring Richard Pryor, and "Those Lips, Those Eyes," which was his love letter to the theater and the life of the actor starring Frank Langella.

Pressman was inspired by this project, saying "it's a story about pursuing your dreams and having the courage to be your true self in the world. After the last two years of incredible adversity and isolation, I wanted to work on a joyful piece of musical theater that would share optimism and humor with all ages."