August 10th and 11th - So You Want to Write an Opera?

I'm looking forward to taking part in the Dramatist Guild's upcoming webinar!  Please join us if you're working in opera as a librettist or composer, or would like to!

August Craft Webinars: So You Want to Write an Opera

Librettist/Playwrights Roundtable on AUGUST 10 - Noon Pacific/3pm Eastern Time

Playwrights, librettists, and lyricists from both theatre and opera will discuss the differences in writing for each medium, and how to make the crossover, with personal anecdotes and examples drawn from their experience. This webinar is open to questions from the public.  Moderated by Deborah Brevoort.  Featuring:  Mark Campbell, E. M. Lewis, Sandra Seaton, and David Henry Hwang.

Composers Roundtable on AUGUST 11 - Noon Pacific/3pm Eastern Time

Composers experienced in both opera and theatre writing will discuss the pivotal role of the composer in originating and creating new operatic works for both the traditional operatic stage and new experimental venues, how opera composers find librettists and what they look for in an opera libretto, and what composers believe librettists to know, or learn, in order to serve the specialized needs of an operatic score.  Featuring: Kamala Sankaram and Stephen Schwartz.

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The conversations from the webinars will be published in The Dramatist Guild’s magazine, The Dramatist, in the November/December 2021 “Opera Issue”-- the first time the Guild has devoted a complete issue to this topic!

Click here to sign up for the webinars!  

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant! The Opera!

I've just returned from an amazing ten days in New York City, in which composer Evan Meier and I had an orchestral workshop of our opera Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant at American Lyric Theater. 

We've been working on this commission for several years now.  Writing a full-length opera is no small matter!  But this was a huge leap for us -- our first opportunity to share the piece now that Evan has completed the orchestration.  I LOVE his music!  And our conductor, Andrew Bisantz, brought the best out of our delightful cast of eight singers, and the orchestra.  

Evan and I are so grateful to everyone who has supported our creation of this new family-friendly piece, including Larry Edelson who runs ALT, and commissioned us to write it, our colleagues Theo Popov and Tony Asaro who are working on their own beautiful new opera alongside us, called The Halloween Tree, our mentors Cori Ellison, Paul Morevic, Mark Campbell, and Mark Adamo, maestro Andrew Bisantz, and our glorious singers and orchestra.  It takes a really large village to create a new opera, and we're so lucky to have the continuing support of all of these people as we move forward, doing a few final revisions of the piece now, and searching for an opera company that wants to put this piece on their main stage.  We can't wait to see it fully produced!

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant is an original story that Evan and I created, which mashes up the logical world of Sherlock Holmes with the magical world of Jack and the Beanstalk.  There are angry giants and magic harps and a whole lot of fun for kids and grown-ups alike.  

We even had an announcement of the InsightALT Festival in the New Yorker, which was exciting!  And a nice little feature on our opera written by Gabrielle Ferrari, in her Parterre opera blog, which you can read here. "Readers, it was simply charming— nicely performed and perfect for young audiences without talking down to them or to their older counterparts," she says in her article. She gives lots of love to our delightful singers, and then shares, "I won’t spoil the mystery (hint: Jack didn’t do it), but I will say I found this a captivating 90 minutes... The score is varied and interesting, the libretto funny and full of warmth. The opera quotes were a nice way both the introduce kids to the concept of leitmotiv and to appeal to an opera-nerd audience, with a mix of really famous tunes with some lesser known ones."

Would you like to hear what we've been up to?  Tell your local opera company to bring Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant to your community!

Songs from the Stage

On Friday, February 7th, join me and lyricist Holly Richards for Songs from the Stage!  Holly and I are both members of LineStorm Playwrights.  She writes musicals and I write opera!  So when the opportunity came for us to share some of our work in the Portland-wide Fertile Ground Festival, we decided to get together.  This will be a fun hour-long concert (give or take) with songs and numbers from several of our works.  Hope to see you there!

LineStorm Playwrights, in association with Chapel Theatre, present

Songs from the Stage

By E.M. Lewis & Holly Richards
Directed by Brian Shnipper

Featuring pianist Kira Whiting and singers Sienna Burnett, Quinlan Fitzgerald, Ben Tissell, Madeline Ross, William Goforth, and Erik Hundtoft.

Feb 7 @ noon
Chapel Theatre
4107 SE Harrison St, Milwaukie OR 97222

FREE!

From modern musical theatre to opera, join us for the musical works of E.M. Lewis and Holly Richards. Featuring songs from established works and works-in-progress, these two writers will share insights into their creative processes, as well as background on their inspirations.

This reading of Songs from the Stage is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council. ASL interpretation will be provided.

A Busy Fall!

Hey, friends!  Hope you'll check out some of my fall events.

THE GUN SHOW - directed by Melissa Hillman​, now playing at Impact Theatre​ in Berkeley, CA.  Tickets here: www.impacttheatre.com

HEADS - directed by Laura Savia​, now playing at the Beckett Theatre​ on 42nd Street in New York City.  (Use discount code "TRCREATIVE" for $15 tickets here:  https://www.telechargeoffers.com/Off-Broadway/Heads/Overview )

NOW COMES THE NIGHT - directed by Alex Levy​, opening this weekend at 1st Stage​ in Tysons, VA as part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival​.  Tickets here:  www.1ststagetysons.org

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE FALLEN GIANT - American Lyric Theater​ Living Libretto event featuring this new opera in progress that I'm working on with composer Evan Meier will be at the National Opera Center on September 28th in New York City.  http://altnyc.org/new-operas-for-new-audiences/sherlock-holmes-and-the-case-of-the-fallen-giant/

TRUE STORY - directed by Kevin Christopher Fox​, at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, coming up in October.

ASHLAND NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL - I'll be acting as host playwright for the sixth year in a row at my beloved ANPF in Ashland, Oregon in October.  http://www.ashlandnewplays.org

Go see a play!  (Or an opera!)

Thinking about Opera...

My teachers at the American Lyric Theater Composer Librettist Development Program -- Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell -- shared the quote that is featured in this article with our class.  In it, Paul Auster talks about how opera came to have meaning for him.  Wonderful to read, as I'm figuring out what opera means to me.

So far, my homework assignments have included writing recitative with composer Kamala Sankorum and writing an aria with composer Evan Meier.  Next up… writing a quartet with composer Elizabeth Lim!