Shep The Musical *an old fashioned love story about dogs and their people!

*"Shep the Wonder Dog gets stage time in a new work"

*Friday, November 15, 2002 Sarasota Herald Tribune
By Suzanne Marschner

In June of 1996, while accompanying his
mother to check out pieces of slate that
a family was selling in Madeira, Calif.,
Joe Ozier heard a dog barking in the back of the house.
That dog was Shep.

Because he had growled at the family's baby,
Shep was left tied by a rope to a dog house in the dirt field.
His coat was long and ragged and he had
clearly not been bathed in a long time.
Ozier took one look and wanted
to give the dog a new home.
"He reminded me of a dog I used to have when
I was a kid,"said Ozier.
Now the experiences Ozier has had with Shep
during the past six years are the focus of a
new musical.

"Since the moment I got him, I started
writing these poems and songs. They would
come to me about different situations I
would see him in,"said Ozier. "I realized
they were part of a bigger picture, a
musical all based on actual events.

"Area audiences may recognize Shep from his
scene stealing antics on area stages in
Sarasota and Venice.
He got his showbiz start in 1999 at the
Players Theatre. Ozier was in the chorus
of "Carnival," a musical based on the
film "Lili" and the director was looking for
more acts for the production.
"I started my training when Scott Keys asked
the cast "Does anyone have a dog that can be
trained?" I trained him to jump through the
hoops. From that point on, Shep and I
began," said Ozier. "I would get
asked, "What can Shep do?" I would
say "What do you want him to do?"

Shep has since appeared at the Players and
Venice Little Theatre in "George
M" , "Kismet" and Sugar Babies."
While Shep, also known as Shep The Wonder
Dog, was making his mark on community
theater stages, Ozier kept writing away on
the music.
Last Spring he gathered a cast together to
present the music he had written so far. A
early concert version of "Shep the Musical"
was performed at The Players Theatre and
Venice Little Theatre.
Since then, Ozier has added four new songs
and two new characters. "

* 'Shep' tells the tale of a dog's life

*Excerpt from an article in the Bradenton Herald
by Donna Hartman (Sunday, May 19, 2002)

"Hey dog lovers. Here's the ticket.
Joe Ozier of Sarasota has created, "Shep The Musical,"
an old-fashioned love story about dogs and their people.
It's a fictionalized account of Ozier's real-life
rescue of a mixed-breecd canine now known as Shep,
The Wonder Dog.

"It's very much a work in progress, " Ozier said.
"It's a heartwarming story about the rescue of
a lonely dog, a young man's search for love and
a young woman conquering her fears to love again.
"Its a story of hope," he said.
The story culminates in the dog finding
happiness and the young man and young woman
finding each other. The tale takes on a
magical tone with the intervention
of an angel aptly named, Angel.
Sounds hokey? Maybe. But, dog lovers are
gonna love it, Ozier said."

"Real life events inspired Ozier, 45, to write
the musical. When living in California in 1996,
he had gone to a country home to purchase some
stepping stones for landscaping.
Ozier noticed a sad-looking dog chained up outside.
The dog was thin, his coat was unkept and his
fenced-in quarters didn't smell very nice, either.
"I loved that dog's face," Ozier said. "I asked
the guy, 'Would you consider giving me the dog?"
At first the dog owner hesitated, but his wife
came outside and ordered her husband to hand over
the dog to Ozier. The owners admitted they didn't
have much need for the animal.
Ozier didn't like the dog's name, Lego, given
to the beast by its original owner's child. A
girlfriend suggested Shep and Ozier didn't really
like that name either. But, it stuck.
Today, Shep has beefed up from his previous 43-pound
frame to a muscular 60 pounds. He's also a regular
in productions at theaters in Sarasota and Venice,
having played the role of a dog in "Carnival,"
"George M.," "Sugar Babies" and "Kismet."
Ozier, a videographer by profession, is a regular
actor at area theaters, too.
Since he acquired Shep, songs about the dog's
life started popping into Ozier's head. He decided
to try his hand at writing a musical and he's
written the music and lyrics to 11 songs.
Ozier admits he needs a playwright to polish to
the actual script and an arranger to
incorporate the music into the story.
"This is the concert version of the musical with
narration, he said.

Is there a future for "Shep, the Musical?"
Ozier would like to develop this rough version
into a full-length play and introduce it to
local theaters in the 2004 season, if there are any takers.
"It's a love story and it's Disneyesque," he said.
"Ive got ideas for a CD-ROM or a cartoon show
or a Lassie-type show.
"Now that Shep is free, he has adventures
that could be the subject of a series," Said Ozier.
"He goes camping, swimming and kayaking. He loves
the ocean."

Ozier's looking for investors to get his musical
off the ground.

"I'm a dreamer," he said. "I like to think beyond."