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This past winter, I had the pleasure of participating in the\u00a0Composer-Librettist Studio: a two-week laboratory\u00a0facilitated by\u00a0Nautilus Music-Theater. This program has been filling the halls of\u00a0playwright organization\u00a0New Dramatists<\/a>\u00a0with new musical theater and opera for 33 years. (My very first composition teacher, Kim D. Sherman, was a participant in the inaugural\u00a0Composer-Librettist Studio!)<\/p>\n On February 3, 2017, I\u00a0was\u00a0delighted to share the fruits of a\u00a0gratifying (and exhausting) couple of weeks spent immersed in working with playwrights, performers, and composers in this deep-dive, rapid-production, hackathon-style workshop\u00a0for music-theater collaborations. Collectively, we\u00a0generated 25 new works in two weeks, all of which were performed in one epic afternoon.<\/p>\n My five collaborative music-theater works for voices and piano told\u00a0the stories of a young woman captivated by a storm (Chase the Rain,\u00a0<\/em>written with Erin Courtney); an entomologist and a moth (Fly ’till the light’s gone,<\/em> written\u00a0with Sam Chanse); Edmund and The White Witch (Turkish Delight<\/em>, written\u00a0with Monet Hurst-Mendoza); two men ready to give up on online dating (Not Sure it’s in Me<\/em>, written\u00a0with Jennifer Haley); and a wanderer looking for home in the constellations (Fallen Star,\u00a0<\/em>written with Mashuq Mushtaq Deen).<\/p>\n These works\u00a0were developed and performed with\u00a0outstanding singer-actors Sean Cooper, Mallory Hawks, Joshua Hinck, Tim Jerome, and Lucia Rodrique, led by the brilliant and indefatigable team of facilitator-dramaturg Ben Krywosz, music director Roger Ames, and coordinator Dina Vovsi. My composer colleagues Ed Cionek, Emily Gardner Hall, Kailey Marshall, and Jonathan Russ were\u00a0also inspiring to learn from and share with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This past winter, I had the pleasure of participating in the\u00a0Composer-Librettist Studio: a two-week laboratory\u00a0facilitated by\u00a0Nautilus Music-Theater. This program has been filling the halls of\u00a0playwright organization\u00a0New Dramatists\u00a0with new musical theater and opera for 33 years. (My very first composition teacher, Kim D. Sherman, was a participant in the inaugural\u00a0Composer-Librettist Studio!) On February 3, 2017, I\u00a0was\u00a0delighted … <\/p>\n