To understand QUEEN OF THE TRIAL, you need to first understand the creator. Laurie is a legitimate entertainment-industry insider…. just ask anyone who knows her and her GM and producing resume of Broadway shows, David Copperfield, Blue Man Group, Donny & Marie, VeggieTales Live, and Tape Face in Las Vegas. When many women would keep their health and family concerns to themselves, Laurie decided to produce her own life into a musical…on stage in front of live audiences… a musical that had Broadway star Jenn Colella attached to the show three times, 100+ performances in eight markets (including regional theatre licenses and pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb industrials) with 100+ standing ovations, a cast album, merchandise, and written by Broadway playwright, Eric Coble.
Based on Laurie’s true story, Queen of the Trial : The Musical turns one woman’s clinical trial into a fantasy criminal trial to show that it’s about thriving, not just surviving.
This fast-paced 90-minute show chronicles the lead character, Tracy Boyd, as a fun, energetic, driven ‘get it done’ entertainment executive whose rollercoaster life with her colleagues, family and friends is interrupted with an unexpected medical diagnosis. With high stakes for herself and her support team, we root for Tracy as she navigates the unknown with humor, faith, and strength over the course of one transformative year.
The show is currently available for licensing for regional, community theatre, or college productions; contact Laurie at info@queenofthetrial.com for more information.
The Songs
The Creatives
Laurie Frey
Laurie Frey is the real-life Tracy Boyd in Queen of the Trial. She began her four-decade live entertainment career at Phoenix Little Theatre in 1982. She holds a bachelor's degree from Mansfield University (PA) and a master's degree in Theatre Directing from Texas State University (San Marcos). After working for Corning Summer Theatre, Forestburg Playhouse, and a career detour into conference coordinating at a Poconos resort, in 1988 Laurie shifted her focus to general management, presenting and producing by working on Broadway with Marvin Krause and Associates, Pace Theatrical (now Broadway Across America), and Magic Arts and Entertainment. Her credits include Executive Producing the Las Vegas residency of Tape Face (America’s Got Talent finalist) and the national tour of VeggieTales Live; and general managing David Copperfield worldwide; Donny and Marie in North America and the UK; the Blue Man Group Arena Tour worldwide; Bill Gaither Homecoming Tour and Walking with Dinosaurs Tour. As their general manager, Laurie recently brought partnerships with commercial producers to The Phoenix Theatre Company as they opened their new $40 million Dr. Stacie J. and Richard J Stephenson Theatre. Additional entrepreneurial experience includes overseeing a lakefront housing development and other land acquisitions, being a CEO of a start-up baby bottle company, co-managing a concert series at the Columbus Zoo, and operations manager for a farm in California. Laurie also volunteers as a board member for three faith-based organizations while mentoring young professionals in arts and entertainment. Laurie is a published author, speaker, and executive producer of the musical and podcast, Queen of the Trial.
Co-Creator/ Producer
Michael Barnard
Michael Barnard is The Phoenix Theatre Company’s Producing Artistic Director, as well as the head of their New Works Incubator. He recently directed Phoenix Theatre Company’s productions of Disney’s Frozen and Come From Away, and is proud to have opened ¡Americano! Off-Broadway in 2022 as both co-writer and director. Michael has also directed and choreographed numerous hits, including Camelot, West Side Story, Godspell, Chicago, and Newsies at The Phoenix Theatre Company. Formerly the Director of Theatre for the City of Phoenix and Associate Producer of Musical Theatre of Arizona, Michael has directed over 560 productions from New York to Los Angeles, working for prestigious companies including The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios Japan, Ashland Cabaret, Utah Shakespeare, Florida Stages, Santa Barbara CLO, Webster University, Forestburgh Playhouse NY, The Barrows Group NYC, St. Louis Playhouse, and PCPA. Nationally, he directed the Donny & Marie Christmas Show, the national tour of Veggie Tales Live, and the 100th Anniversary Calgary Stampede Arena Show. In addition to Queen of the Trial, Michael is co-author of Americano!, a story of a dreamer in Arizona, and Unstoppable Me, a children's musical based on the Wayne Dyer book. He is a recipient of the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Co-Creator/ Director
Eric Coble
Book WriterEric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. His scripts have been produced on Broadway (Tony- and Pulitzer-nominated “The Velocity of Autumn”), Off-Broadway (“Bright Ideas”, “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus”, “Side Effects May Include…”), in Disney Theme Parks (“Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple”), in all fifty states of the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Habima Theatre (Israel), Pentacion Productions (Spain), Teatr Polski (Poland), Orange Row (Mexico), and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (U.S.)
Awards include three AATE Distinguished Play Awards, an Emmy nomination, the Chorpenning Playwriting Award for Body of Work, the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, a TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, the Cleveland Arts Prize, two Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Fellowships, and four Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Grants.
Thirty-five of Mr. Coble’s scripts have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Krause and others.
For more information visit www.ericcoble.com
Todd Schroeder
Lyricist/ ComposerTodd Schroeder is an award-winning Music Director, Composer, Producer, Arranger and Pianist, whose artistry has graced some of the world’s most iconic stages. Todd has collaborated with luminaries including Jason Alexander, Engelbert Humperdinck, Liza Minnelli, Leslie Odom Jr., Sam Harris, and the legendary Angela Lansbury. And Todd served as Music Director, Pianist and Vocal Arranger with the YouTube sensation, Postmodern Jukebox.
His music direction has shaped acclaimed productions such as Wicked (Universal Studios Japan), Disney’s Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular, and The Untrainable Dragon, a live stage adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon at Universal EPIC Universe. Todd’s work has been recognized with multiple honors: including the LA Theatre Alliance Ovation Award for “Best Musical Direction” (HAM: A Musical Memoir), an international THEA Award for Vocal Direction, and BroadwayWorld.com’s “Music Director of the Year.”
As a composer and lyricist, Todd’s music has been featured in film, television, radio, and on stages worldwide. He has topped the Contemporary Jazz charts with the song New Hope, co-written with Dave Koz and the album, Just Us, recorded by Koz and jazz legend Bob James, was nominated for a Grammy.
Learn more at ToddSchroederMusic.com and follow him on social media @thetoddschroeder.
Kevin Fisher
Kevin Fisher is a singer/songwriter, as well as an accomplished composer, whose music has been on Gold and Platinum selling records. He is a self-contained multi-instrumentalist whose music has reached film scores, television, and the top 40 single charts. Kevin penned the Billboard Top 100 hit Long Slow Beautiful Dance featured on Rascal Flatts multi-platinum debut album, the Top 40 Hit Crazy Life recorded by Tim Rushlow and To Be Happy recorded by country music star Sara Evans, to name a few. His band, Naked To The World, has released five CDs and was voted Best Acoustic Band by the National Academy of Songwriters.
Website: kevinfisher.me
Lyricist / Composer
Collette Castleford
Collette Castleford is a web designer, graphic designer, and a wizard in all things digital. She is the Digital Media Associate for The Phoenix Theatre Company. Collette’s career can be summed up in one word: Storyteller. With experience in technical theater, animation, visual arts, and communications, she is excited to support the team of “Queen of the Trial”, whether it’s through a webpage design, a graphic design project, or a helping hand in all things multimedia.
Multimedia SpecialistThe History
An Unbeatable Story
2006 -2008
Queen of the Trial began as “Unbeatable”. The show started at The Phoenix Theatre New Works Festival (August, 2006), followed by Cleveland’s Playhouse Square's Launch series for an artist residency (June, 2007). At New York's Barrow Group Theater (August, 2007), the Unbeatable showcase starred Broadway's Jenn Colella. After seeing the NYC showcase, Bristol Myers Squibb brought a one-act version of the show to Los Angeles (Nov, 2007) and Philadelphia (May, 2008) for an audience of 1,000+ medical professionals from all over the country.
2008 -2013
Unbeatable played in Phoenix, AZ and Houston, TX to standing ovations for all 45 performances (August - October, 2008). As the Hurricane of 2008 delayed performances in Houston after opening, The Pink Ribbons Project utilized this time with our cast, spearheaded by Broadway’s Kristy Cates, to record fifteen songs for a cast album. Regional productions were then produced at The Playhouse at Westport Plaza in St. Louis, MO (Sept-Nov, 2010), the Deane Center in Wellsboro, PA (Sept-Oct 2012) and at the Tower Theatre in Roseville, CA (June, 2013).
2018
On August 13, 2018, a benefit concert reading was done at The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature in New York City – we supported The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, a program of The Actors Fund, because it was founded to help women in entertainment navigate the steps that follow a life-changing diagnosis. Jenn Colella (Tony-nominated, Come From Away) led a cast of twelve from nine previous casts to a sold-out standing ovation crowd.
2019 -Now
Just as the show was gaining traction again, the global pandemic sent the entertainment industry into a tailspin. Then Laurie was diagnosed with another cancer and chose a double mastectomy; one of her best friends and her mom passed away; she sold her house and renovated a 9000 square foot warehouse, moved four times, and then transitioned to a new job in a different state, followed by an out of the blue heart attack in 2024. And the new show name, Queen of the Trial, was born! Remember… It’s about thriving, not just surviving! The musical now has new breath with updated arrangements from Todd Schroeder and Kevin Fisher, plus Eric Coble has scripted the show into a 90-minute one-act, and Laurie has assembled a team to explore a hybrid entertainment film with some of the show performed live while the flashbacks are filmed in studio and on location.
If you are interested in getting involved with the filmed portions of “Queen of the Trial”, please reach out to Laurie at info@queenofthetrial.com.