Written & Adapted Works
Since 2015, I have created a variety of written and adapted works, including the titles listed below. Although I have not yet written any material set to original music, I have sculpted or abridged multiple operas for outreach audiences and others for general audiences.
All of the operatic titles (The Tails of Cats and Mice, The Three Sillies, Beatrice & Benedict, and Der Schauspieldirektor) are available for reproduction. If you would like to submit a production request, please visit the Licensing Request Form page. To the best of my knowledge, The Tails of Cats and Mice and The Three Sillies are the only works for which a production could be rented, which belongs to the Indianapolis Opera. Since I directed all of the operatic titles, I am available to help remount any production as the stage director.
For Elementary Audiences
The Tails of Cats and Mice
Janese Pentico as the Country Mouse (left); Felipe Prado as the City Mouse (center); Alexander Henderson as the Lion (right)
Photo Credit: Roger David Manning
Premiered by Indianapolis Opera, January 2020
Story can pivot based on the selections made by the audience, with one major choice in each of the first two scenes which results in a third scene entirely determined by the choices made earlier
Scored for four singers (lyric/soubrette soprano, lyric/dramatic mezzo-soprano, lyric tenor, comic/lyric baritone/bass-baritone)
Features vocal music by Mozart, Beethoven, Sullivan, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Bizet, Verdi, and Donizetti, and excerpted underscore from Rossini, Massenet, and Offenbach.
Based on a variety of fables by Aesop
One act, 40-minute running time regardless of choices selected
Katherine Fili as the Pond Woman (left); Sebastian Armendariz as the Young Man (right)
Photo Credit: Roger David Manning
Premiered by Indianapolis Opera, September 2019
Scored for four singers (lyric/soubrette soprano, lyric mezzo soprano, lyric tenor, comic bass-baritone)
Features music by Purcell, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Offenbach, among other composers
Based on the English folktale by the same name
One act, 42-minute running time
For Middle School Audiences
Beatrice & Benedict (adapted from the opera by Berlioz)
Photo Credit: Scott Webb via Unsplash
Premiered by Florida State University Opera Outreach, February 2017
Scored for six singers (lyric soprano, lyric mezzo soprano, lyric contralto, lyric tenor, lyric baritone, lyric bass-baritone)
Features nine musical excerpts from the opera offset by dialogue between numbers
Based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, set in a high school scenario
One act, 42-minute running time
For General Audiences
Der Schauspieldirektor (adapted/translated from the opera by Mozart)
Photo Credit: Kyle Head via Unsplash
Premiered by the Florida State University Student Opera Society, September 2017
Scored for four singers (two coloratura sopranos, lyric tenor, comic bass-baritone)
A relatively faithful translation of musical numbers, and simplified scenario that removes all of the roles for spoken actors
50-minute running time
From left to right: Grant Preisser (director); Jessica Bloch (Flora); Matt Cooksey (Bill/writer/arranger); Alexandra Blackwell (Despina); Titus Muzi (Don); Justin Moniz (Andy); Nadia Marshall (Dora); Lori Milbier (pianist/musical director)
Premiered by the Florida State University Student Opera Society, September 2015
Scored for six singers (two lyric sopranos, Broadway mezzo soprano, lyric tenor, two lyric bass-baritones)
Plot inspired by Mozart’s Così fan tutte
Music from variety of Golden-Era Broadway musicals, including pieces by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, Bernstein, and others
One act, 50-minute running time
Performed for educational audience only; no proceeds collected for this performance. Not available for reproduction.
Unelectable
Written for Florida State University Student Opera Society; never performed
Scored for six singers (two lyric sopranos, Broadway mezzo soprano, lyric tenor, two lyric baritones)
Plot inspired by variety of political figures, set in the earlier 20th-century
Music from variety of Tin Pan Alley composers and musicals, including Gershwin, Berlin, Arlen, and others
Two acts, One hour, 20-minute running time
Not available for reproduction.