MUSIC BY SPENCER ROBELEN
LIBRETTO BY SETH CHRISTENFELD

[inspired by Hatshepsut]

HATSHEPSUT — Yoojin Kim
ISET — Kathryn Krasovec
THUTMOSE III — Jordan Rutter

Music Direction - Mila Henry
Stage Direction - India Marie Paul
Set Designer - Zoe Hurwitz
Lighting Designer - Michael Cunnningham

Hatshepsut nears death, having ruled Egypt as Pharaoh for the twenty years since the death of her husband Thutmose II. Her heir, Thutmose III, prepares to take the throne and continue her work. Thutmose’s mother Iset, Hatshepsut’s half-sister and a lesser wife of the previous Pharaoh, has different plans for Hatshepsut’s legacy.

ÁR N-ATHAIR

Music by Benedict Braxton-Smith
libretto by nick stephens

[inspired by Goodwife “Goody” Ann Glover]

THOMAS HAWKINS - Nathaniel Sullivan
MARY GLOVER - Kathryn Krasovec
COTTON MATHER - Jordan Rutter

Music Direction - Mila Henry
Stage Direction - India Marie Paul
Set Designer - Ethan Brown
Lighting Designer - Michael Cunnningham

A pirate and an accused witch become unexpected allies when they are both imprisoned by the powerful Cotton Mather.

PETRONILLA

Music by Kent Jeong-Eun Kim
Libretto by Zach Childers

[inspired by Petronilla de Meath]

PETRONILLA DE MEATH — Yoojin Lee
LADY ALICE KYTELER — Kathryn Krasovec
BISHOP RICHARD DE LEDREDE — Nathaniel Sullivan

Music Direction by Mila Henry
Stage Direction by Pauls Macs
Set Designer - Zoe Hurwitz
Lighting Designer - Bailey Rosa

For Petronilla, a typical day in the household of Lady Alice is usually calm... while her lady is away. However, when Alice returns from market one afternoon, she is quick to bring with her a bit of magic and a whirlwind of mayhem.

MASTER

Music by Jacinth Greywoode
Libretto by Deepali Gupta

[inspired by Emily Dickinson]

SUSAN — Yoojin Kim
EMILY — Kathryn Krasovec
MASTER — Jordan Rutter

Music Direction by Mila Henry
Stage Direction by Pauls Macs
Set Designer — Ethan Brown
Lighting Designer — Bailey Rosa

Susan sits by the ashes of a fire, mourning the loss of her husband Austin’s sister: Emily Dickinson. Before her death, Emily asked her own sister, Lavinia, to burn everything—her letters and poems—and while Lavinia has already burned the letters, Emily’s poems remain intact. Many questions are left unanswered about Emily’s life and work—including the identity of the mysterious Master who appears throughout her work—and Susan (and Emily herself) must contend with the meaning of Emily Dickinson’s legacy.

AVERY AND AINSLEY

Music by Jonathan Fadner
Libretto by Scott R. Ritter

[inspired by The Dinner Party]

AINSLEY — Yoojin Lee
AVERY — Nathaniel Sullivan

Music Direction by Mila Henry
Directed by Diane Machin
Set Designer - Zoe Hurwitz
Lighting Designer - Rachel Fae Szymanski

Avery and Ainsley comes from a complex matrix of inquiry regarding The Dinner Party. Consider: how do we respond when personality supersedes an ideal we admire in art; how much authority do we give institutions and curators when they ossify artwork under the banner of social goals; how do we deal with the psychology of human power differentials; what is the cause and nature of human-on-human abuse; how can women respond to social roles they feel forced to accept; when do we treat history as myth?

A DROP IN THE OCEAN

Music by Bryan Blaskie
Libretto by Christine Claudel FILIMONOVA

[inspired by Christine de Pizan]

CHRISTINE DE PIZAN — Yoojin Lee
POETRY — Jordan Rutter
THE DUKE OF BOURBON — Nathaniel Sullivan

Music Direction by Mila Henry
Directed by Diane Machin
Set Designer - Ethan Brown
Lighting Designer - Rachel Fae Szymanski

Christine de Pizan, a poet in the late 1300’s, has recently become a widow. Desperate to provide for her family, she answers a letter from her friend, the Duke of Bourbon, who offers to be her patron. He is in need of a biographer—and has always been a fan of Christine’s love poems.

WAITING FOR THE RAIN

Music by Kevin Cummines
Libretto by Clara Luthas

[inspired by Hildegard von Bingen]

HILDEGARD — Nicole Mitchell
GOD/PAPA/BISHOP — Keith Browning
GOD/YOUNG HILDEGARD/JUTTA — Amelia Watkins

Eighteen-year-old Hildegard von Bingen, a Medieval nun committed to the church as a child to live in solitude, had had another vision. But this one changes everything, for God has called her to speak out and challenge the Catholic Church. This sends Hildegard into a whirl-wind of confusion as her understanding of God, The Church, and where she stands in the fray, is shaken to her core.

THEODORA
Music by Minhui Lee
Libretto by Benji Goldsmith

[inspired by Theodora]

ALANNA — Alexa Jarvis
JUSTIN — Keith Browning
THEODORA — Amelia Watkins

Alanna is a young professional stuck in a dead-end job surrounded by male coworkers who refuse to listen to her. Still, it’s her birthday, and her roommate, Justin, won’t let her avoid a little celebration. Unexpectedly, his gift leads Alanna on a journey to 6th Century Constantinople, where she meets Theodora, a woman born into a life of poverty and abuse who fought past her low-class beginnings to become the empress of the Eastern Roman Empire.

PRESIDENT JOAN (OR THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF SANDWICHES)

Music by Bo Ram Han
Libretto by Cal Silberstein

[inspired by Pope Joan]

JOAN POPE — Nicole Mitchell
CHRISTINE MEYER — Alexa Jarvis
MEREDITH LE PAIN — Amelia Watkins

In the not too distant future (we hope), the American political landscape has taken a hard left turn, and mustachioed liberal John Pope has ascended to the Oval Office with the aid of his team (led by Chief of Staff, Christine Meyer) and a platform of socially conscious policies. Now nine months into the presidency, Pope prepares for the next step in an auspicious term, but a particular complicating factor may preclude the continuation of this political progress.

WOMEN’S WORK

Music by Benji Goldsmith
Libretto by Seth Christenfeld

[inspired by the work]

JAMIE — Keith Browning
LIZ — Alexa Jarvis
THE BUST OF SOJOURNER TRUTH — Nicole Mitchell

Liz, who is white, is an artist, working on a long-term series of sculptures themed around great women of history; Jamie, who is black, isn’t her boyfriend. His desire to preview the newest addition to Liz’s project results in a confrontation when what he sees isn’t what he expects. Liz isn’t planning to get into an argument about white privilege with her art at 3:30 in the morning, but hey, here we are.

JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES

MUSIC BY MEHMET SALIH YILDIRIM
LIBRETTO BY LILY DWOSKIN

[inspired by Judith]

JUDITH - Alexa Jarvis
HOLOFERNES - Keith Browning

Judith prepares herself to slay the notorious General Holofernes. Known for his brutality to both soldiers and civilians of the nations he has conquered, Judith knows killing him will end the war. But this knowledge doesn’t make the task easier. Judith must make herself irresistible to Holofernes without becoming a spoil of war, in order to save her people and herself. 

Randall Eng (currently on sabbatical) founded and leads the NYU/Tisch Opera Lab with Sam Helfrich. Under their guidance, students from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program have created more than 30 short operas. As a composer, Randall's music lies at the intersection of opera, music-theatre, and jazz. His operas Florida, Before the Night Sky, and Henry's Wife have been performed at UrbanArias, Lyric Opera Cleveland, New York City Opera's VOX Festival, American Opera Projects, Town Hall, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Center for Contemporary Opera, and Manhattan School of Music. His choral work Remain (a setting of an immigration rights pamphlet) premiered in 2018 by the MasterVoices Chorus. Other dramatic works include The Dangers of Electric Lighting (Luna Stage), Usher, Falling (Opera Vindaloo Festival), and the video opera The Woman in the Green Coat (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); non-theatrical works include commissions for Albany Symphony Orchestra's Dogs of Desire, Mirror Visions Ensemble, and Composer's Voice. Randall is a graduate of Harvard University, Cambridge University, and NYU/Tisch's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, where he is now an Associate Arts Professor.

Sam Helfrich BA (Russian Literature), M.F.A. (Theatre Arts) Columbia University. Sam Helfrich is an opera and theater director based in New York. He has directed opera productions at New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Spoleto Festival/USA, Virginia Opera, Opera Boston, Pittsburgh Opera, and Wolf Trap, among others. Recent opera highlights include the west coast premiere of Elizabeth Cree, by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell, at West Edge Opera, the world premiere of Permadeath, a CGI- based opera about video gaming with White Snake Productions in Boston, the world premiere of Jeffrey Smith's Why is Eartha Kitt Trying to Kill Me at Urban Arias in Washington DC, Mozart’s The Magic Flute with the Indianapolis Symphony, a staging of Haydn’s Creation with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York premiere of Angels in America at New York City Opera, the world premiere of Dan Sonenberg's The Summer King at Pittsburgh Opera (and, recently, at Michigan Opera Theater),  Bach's St. John Passion with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mark Anthony Turnage's Greek at Boston Lyric Opera, Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld at Virginia Opera, the world premiere of Enemies: A Love Story, by Ben Moore, at Palm Beach Opera, Embedded, by composer Patrick Soluri, at Fargo-Moorhead Opera and Ft. Worth Opera, Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at Virginia Opera, Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at Eugene Opera, Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Virginia Opera, the American premiere of Philip Glass' Kepler at Spoleto Festival/USA, Adams' Nixon in China at Eugene Opera, a fully staged Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the world premiere of Michael Dellaira's The Secret Agent at Center for Contemporary Opera in New York, the Armel Opera Festival in Hungary, and Opera Avignon, The Turn of the Screw at Boston Lyric Opera, Philip Glass' Orphée at Pittsburgh Opera, Virginia Opera, Portland Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera, and Anthony Davis’ Amistad at Spoleto Festival/USA. Recent theater credits include Neil LaBute’s In a Dark Dark House with Knife Edge Productions, off-Broadway productions of Owned, a world premier play by Julian Sheppard, and Tape, by Stephen Belber, a double bill of plays by Shaw and De Musset at the Franklin Stage Company, and Arthur Miller’s After The Fall at NYU/Tisch Grad Acting.