The Transit Operas - Program B

Six short operas inspired by and dedicated to the New York Transit Museum will be presented at New York University.

American Opera Projects and The NYU Tisch School Of The Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program & Department Of Design For Stage & Film present:

The Transit Operas - Program B

These operas will be performed at the African Grove Theatre on Sunday, May 17, 3 PM.

Written by current students and alums from NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Designed by students and directed by directing fellows from NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Department of Design for Stage & Film.

Full program info available here.

Miss Subway

MUSIC by Sean Stone
LIBRETTO by Allie Lewis

Brenda Grant (a nanny and woman of color in her 20s), Carrie French (a secretary in her 30s), and Rosalind Warner (a maid in her 50s) commute to their jobs together every day. In 1939, when Miss America winner receives a $2000 hat deal, Brenda imagines what her version of a subway-based beauty pageant could be, and encourages her friends to share in the dream. This piece is inspired by and dedicated to three leading ladies who were the first Black women to win their respective beauty contests:
Thelma Porter (Miss Subways, 1948)
Audrey Smaltz (Miss Transit Queen, 1954)
Vanessa Williams (Miss New York and Miss America, 1983)

Anabasis

MUSIC by Dawson Atkin
LIBRETTO by Mel Hornyak

Anabasis is a 15-minute opera for three voices dramatizing the emotions - of terror, of elation, and of entry into the unrelenting machinery of ever-accelerating capitalist expansion - concurrent with the first time a subway ran under the East River through the Joralemon Street Tunnel in 1908, connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn. It is not intended to be strictly narrative. In 1908, the ride was exactly 15 minutes long.

Sick Passenger

MUSIC by Austin Nuckols
LIBRETTO by Tia DeShazor

It's 1979, and Latrice is having her first contraction on the A train. When her boss enters the subway car with her replacement, she must convince him to let her keep her job before it's too late.

The Wayward Subway

MUSIC by Tess Edwards
LIBRETTO by Alexander Ronneburg

Two young New Yorkers get trapped in a subway car, where they navigate less-than-helpful MTA employees, horrible exes, soup, and rats. NYC, am I right?

Waste

MUSIC by Commodore Primous
LIBRETTO by Danielle Keiko Eyer

Waste takes place on an MTA train car in the near future. A man waits impatiently on a stalled, delayed train. A 5-year-old girl wanders around the otherwise empty train car, unaccompanied. Somewhere, an ancient, ageless, godlike being (AKA Carol of the MTA) watches closely. As the years inexplicably pass, and as the world aboveground burns to ashes, can the last two humans left on Earth keep each other safe?

Sincerely

MUSIC by KrisK
LIBRETTO by Jacob Cordas

The Future Miss Subways must decide between the proposals of The Minotaur and The Siren.

ADDITIONAL CREDITS

Music Director / Pianist: Chérie Roe

Performers: MaKayla McDonald (Soprano), Ilene Pabon (Mezzo-Soprano), Robert Mack (Tenor) and Lyle Smith Mitchell (Baritone)

Stage Directors: Miguel Bregante, Martavius Parrish

Stage Manager: Chris Moeggenberg

Composers: Sean Stone, Dawson Atkin, Austin Nuckols, Tess Edwards, Commodore Primous, KrisK

Librettists: Allie Lewis, Mel Hornyak, Tia DeShazor, Alexander Ronnenberg, Danielle Keiko Eyer, Jacob Cordas

Costume Designers: Lionella Darling, Oriana Lineweaver, Christine DiJoseph, Alex Driessen

Set Designers: Mara Zinky, Woori Kim

Lighting Designers: M Berry, Sooji Kim

Production Manager: TJ Rubin

Production Stage Manager: W. Wilson Jones

AOP Staff: Charles Jarden (Interim General Director); Joel Kalow (General Manager)

AOP-NYU/Tisch Opera Lab led by

Sam Helfrich, Arts Professor in NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Department of Design for Stage & Film

Randall Eng, Associate Arts Professor of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program

AOP Staff: Charles Jarden (Interim General Director); Joel Kalow (General Manager)

ITP Art Installations led by

Kari Love, Adjunct Professor of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ ITP department

Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Assistant Arts Professor of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ ITP department

Interactive art installations created by students, residents and faculty from NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ ITP department.

A collaborative project of NYU Tisch School of the Arts' Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Department of Design for Stage and Film, ITP and American Opera Projects.

For more than a decade, the program has supported over 130 emerging composers and librettists and more than 70 theater design students in telling stories from across New York City.

The NYU/Tisch Opera Lab is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.