In the Spring of 2001, David Rodwin participated as a composer in Ben Krowosz's "Composer/Librettist Studio" hosted by New Dramatists in NY. Inspired by the studio David tried forming a new music theatre collective, but after 4 months of nothing but talk, the group dissolved.

Patrick Mellen who'd done the same Studio as a performer heard about the group and had access to a theatre space. He called David August 2001 andoffered Manhattan Theatre Source as a venue for the new company's first show. When he heard the company was stillborn, he suggested meeting anyway to come up with an idea. The meeting was scheduled for September 17, 2001

Then 9/11 hit.

A lot of artists, David and Pat included, were glued to CNN and it wasn't helping. No one felt like making art of any kind mattered. People were bunkered up weathering the storm. When they met, David and Pat decided to get people out of their apartments and doing things, coming together-now. Using the Composer/Librettist studio as an inspiration, they formulated a structure to get 10 writers and 10 composers to write 10 ten-minute musical with 10 performers in 10 days.

The format was hashed out in half an hour such that artists with day jobs could keep working.

It's still the basic structure we use today.

The name of the company was decided by the end of the meeting as well.