LAST WORDS
Try Me, Good King
Last words of the wives of Henry VIII
Composed by Libby Larsen
ByarrangementwithBoosey&Hawkes,Inc.,o/b/oOxfordUniversityPress
The Ghosts of Gatsby
Composed by Evan Mack
Libretto by Joshua McGuire
Opera Titles by Claire Fritz, Jenna Sims, and Elizabeth Rosenberg
Westminster Opera Theatre
Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, director
Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, Music Director & Conductor
Ross Beschler, Stage Director
Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, N.J.
Westminster College of the Arts gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Herbert B. Mayo Performance Endowment.
CONTENT WARNING
The following show contains physical & non-physical acts of domestic violence, use of alcohol substances, and instances of consensual sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised.
If any of these scenes elicit a negative emotional response, available resources include:
• the Counseling Center (609-896-5157; counseling@rider.edu)
• Public Safety (609-896-5029)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255)
• Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio (888-628-9454)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Options for Deaf and Hard of Hearing) – For TTY Users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 1-800-273-8255
• Crisis Text Line (Text HOME to 741741)
• National Grad Crisis Line (877-472-3457)
• National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233)
PLEASE NOTE
The unauthorized use of any recording device, either audio or video, and the taking of photographs, either with or without flash, is strictly prohibited. Out of courtesy to the performers and everyone in the audience, please refrain from using cell phones and electronic devices during the performance.
Composer’s Notes Try Me, Good King
Divorce, behead, die, divorce, behead, die. This grade school memory game is how I first came to know about the six wives of Henry the VIII, King of England from 1509 to 1547. Since then, I’ve been fascinated with the personal consequences of power that befell the Tudor family and the circle of political intrigue of both church and state which caused such a wrenching in the private lives of the seven people Henry and his six wives.
Try Me, Good King is a group of five songs drawn from the final letters and gallows speeches of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard. Henry’s sixth wife, Katherine Parr, outlived him and brought some domestic and spiritual peace into Henry’s immediate family. Although her written devotions are numerous, and her role in the
story of the six wives of Henry VIII is that of a peaceful catalyst. In these songs I chose to focus on the intimate crises of the heart that affected the first five of the six wives. In a sense, this group is a monodrama of anguish and power.
I’ve interwoven a lute song into each song, including John Dowland’s “In Darkness Let Me Dwell” (Katherine of Aragon and Katherine Howard), Dowland’s “If My Complaints” (Anne Boleyn), Praetorius’ “Lo, how a Rose E’er Blooming” (Jane Seymour), and Thomas Campion’s “I Care Not for these Ladies” (Anne of Cleves). These songs were composed during the reign of Elizabeth I, and while they are cast as some of the finest examples of the golden age, they also create a tapestry of unsung words which comment on the real situation of each doomed queen. Two other musical gestures unify the songs, firstly, the repeated note, which recalls the lute and creates psychological tension. The second device I created is abstract bell-tolling, which punctuates each song and releases the spiritual meaning of the words.
Libby LarsonDirector’s Note
The Ghosts of Gatsby
Why am I this way, and why am I that? Why do myself and I constantly spat? Which is the reasonable, logical me? Which is the one who must will it to be?
- Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz (1932)
Zelda Sayre was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1900, and died at the age of 48 in a fire at a mental hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. In between, she danced and painted quite seriously, wrote profusely, lived hard and loud, and married novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, still best known for The Great Gatsby (a title Zelda suggested).
As you can see in the above quote, Zelda was interested in the fractured self. Evidence suggests that Zelda had bipolar disorder, a chemical imbalance that can lead to manic depression and severe mood and personality fluctuations. However, in her lifetime, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized, and her treatments were practically medieval: she was regularly subjected to massive doses of sedatives, induced diabetic comas, and electroshock therapy. These were far worse for her than any “condition” she may have had, and left her confused, deranged, sometimes suicidal, and plagued by increasingly intense bouts of eczema.
Bipolar or not, it seems clear that Zelda also “suffered” from being a creative, dynamic woman in a world that didn’t have a place for her. Scott had a terrible time accepting her as a writer, and denied her creative autonomy by plagiarizing her diary entries for his own books. They argued bitterly over who had the rights to their shared life experiences - Scott felt her use of them in Save Me the Waltz diminished the value of his own semi-autobiographical Tender is the Night and insisted that, as the more successful man in a maledominated publishing industry, those experiences belonged to him by right. Zelda, trapped in mental institutions with doctors who very much agreed with Scott, was not in much of a position to argue.
In our opera, Zelda’s fractured selves are made literal, as the ghosts of her past and future visit her on the cusp of the break that would launch Scott to fame and fortune, and send Zelda to the madhouse. As a company, we have wrestled with what older Zelda hopes to achieve: to change the past, and convince her younger self to leave? To try to make sense of what love really is, and what we owe it? And to you, the audience - do you see yourself in Zelda? This piece confronts us with the choices we make in life, and asks how much control any of us have over our fates.
LAST WORDS
It has been a supreme honor to stage LAST WORDS, Professor Susan Ashbaker’s brilliant pairing of Libby Larsen’s Try Me, Good King with Evan Mack’s The Ghosts of Gatsby. I love what these pieces have to say to each other: both are about women trapped in impossible situations by love, marriage and power, and more specifically men in power. Each asks the question - how to survive? How can Zelda and the Queens insist on truth, when the past is being re-written to entrap them?
Dramaturgically, a source that has been essential to me in identifying the common ground between these two subjects has been Deborah Pike’s excellent book The Subversive Art of Zelda Fitzgerald. In it, she argues that the works of Zelda constitute a “minor literature,” subversive writing that succeeds by working within and against a dominant language. This lens helps me understand both pieces: as Zelda writes her jaggedly modernist novel in the negative space defined by Scott’s popular (and profitable) romantic lyricism, so do our Queens use letters, stump speeches, and even nursery rhymes to tilt and feint at the edicts that threaten them.
Ross BeschlerSynopsis
Try Me, Good King
Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII
Katherine of Aragon was banished, her 23-year marriage to Henry annulled, and she ultimately died in confinement from a cancerous tumor on her heart.
Anne Boleyn was accused of treason, and beheaded.
Jane Seymour gave Henry a son, and died of postnatal complications less than two weeks later.
Anne of Cleves never consummated her marriage to Henry, and after its annulment was allowed to retire to the country as “The King’s Beloved Sister.”
Katherine Howard was accused of adultery with Thomas Culpepper, and beheaded.
The
Ghosts of Gatsby
The Fitzgerald Songbook (Prologue)
This 1920’s-style songbook is a non-narrative telling of the lives of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, with texts based very loosely on their writings.
Soft Shoe: Scott, Zelda 1918, Zelda 1924, Zelda 1948, Ensemble
A Whistling Tune: John Doty
Waltz: Madison Winkler
Duet: John Doty, Lydia Diekmann
Drinking Song: Mya Bodnick, Ensemble
Music Hall Song: Scott, Ensemble
Blues: Zelda 1948
Soft Shoe (Reprise): Ensemble
Opera in One Act
In this opera, exploring the dysfunctional and passionate relationship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, we find them in their apartment on the French Riviera in 1924. Scott is on the cusp of finishing his novel, The Great Gatsby; Zelda feels stifled, used, and ignored. Tensions in their relationship reach a boiling point, and their disappointments and disillusionments with each other erupt into a terrible fight. Scott, troubled by alcoholism, and
disturbed by Zelda’s alleged extramarital affair, locks her in her room and passes out drunk at his desk.
Meanwhile, Zelda is visited by her past and future selves: Zelda from 1918, when she first met Scott, and Zelda from 1948. Are they visions? Visitations? Hallucinations? They each want something different from her. Which Zelda is the real Zelda?
Scott wakes up and tries to make up with Zelda. He can’t understand her, and out of frustration he strikes her. This triggers a breakdown in Zelda, and she lashes out against her other selves. Zelda 1948 makes a startling revelation that leaves her alone to make peace as best she can with her past, and how her life turned out.
Ross Beschler
Cast
Saturday, April 1
Katherine of Aragon Abi Culkin
Anne Boleyn Lydia Diekmann
Jane Seymore Eleanor Rees
Anne of Cleves Ashley LiBrizzi
Katherine Howard Allison Christiansen
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Joseph Richwine
Zelda 1924 Sienna Grinwald-Alves
Zelda 1918 Claire Fritz
Zelda 1948 Elizabeth Rosenberg
Sunday, April 2
Katherine of Aragon Abi Culkin
Anne Boleyn Lydia Diekmann
Jane Seymore Eleanor Rees
Anne of Cleves Ashley LiBrizzi
Katherine Howard Allison Christiansen
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Joseph Richwine
Zelda 1924 Sienna Grinwald-Alves
Zelda 1918 Hannah Bonnette
Zelda 1948 Jenna Sims
Ensemble
Mya Bodnick
Hannah Bonnette
Maryrose Canevari
Allison Christiansen
Abi Culkin
Lydia Diekmann
John Doty
Claire Fritz
Ashley LiBrizzi
Grace McKenna
Eleanor Rees
Elizabeth Rosenberg
Jenna Sims
Madison Winkler
Covers
Katherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Grace McKenna
Allison Christiansen
Jane Seymore Lydia Diekmann
Anne of Cleves
Maryrose Canevari
Katherine Howard Eleanor Rees
Zelda 1924 Jenna Sims
Interns
F. Scott Fitzgerald John Doty
Artistic Staff
Set Designer/Dir. of Production Management Buck Linton
Costume/Make-up Designer Robin Shane
Lighting Designer Amanda Jensen
Props Manager Clare Hanrahan
Fight and Intimacy Director Sean McCarther
Rehearsal & Performance Pianist
Nikolay Verevkin
Sound Supervisor Craig Pincus
Student Staff and Crew
Rehearsal Pianist/Supertitle Operator Diego Bustamante
Assistant Director Bianca D’Anton
Assistant Director Kate Harbison
Production Stage Manager Sidney Martinez
Stage Manager Maddie Driver
Assistant Stage Manager Mai Caslowitz
Assistant Stage Manager Avery Hubert
Assistant Stage Manager Isabella Rosalie
Light Board Operator Dakota Patterson
Props Supervisor Emma Brennan
Makeup Designer for Queens Anna Segure
Assistant Costume Designer Javier Santos Benito
Wardrobe Supervisor Evie Izdepski
Wardrobe Runner Avery DelBuidice
Wardrobe Runner Shamiea Thompson
Orchestra Supervisor Madeline Shaw
Stagehand Steven Paterno
Orchestra
Clarinet Sam Boutris
String Bass Steve Groat
Drum Set Daniel Ware
Vibraphone Mika Godbole
Piano Nikolay Verevkin
SPECIAL THANKS
A special thank you to all the wonderful and supportive voice teachers that provide the base of learning for all we do. A special thanks also to our colleagues in the Music Theater and Dance department for the rich collaboration that benefits our students and productions. And deep thanks to Elizabeth Thompson for her continued support of Westminster Opera Theatre.
About the Cast
MYA BODNICK , ENSEMBLE, mezzo-soprano: sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Carolann Page). Hometown: Delray Beach, Florida. Past Engagements: Singer/Actor (Rebirth) at Rider University, Singer/Dancer (Into the Spotlight: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim) at Rider University. Awards: Classic Singer Semi-Finalist 2020, Palm Beach County Pathfinder Finalist in Music/Vocal 2020. Upcoming Engagements: Assistant Director (Kiss Me, Kate).
HANNAH BONNETTE , ZELDA 1918, soprano: sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Elizabeth Sutton). Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana. Past Engagements: Amalia Balash (She Loves Me) with Rummel Genesians; Eliza Doolittle (My Fair Lady) with Jefferson Performing Arts Society. Awards: Finalist, The Songbook Academy® 2021; Finalist, National World War II Museum Stage Door Idol 2018, 2019, 2022; National Performing Arts Festival Outstanding Performer; Young Performers of America Outstanding Performer.
ALLY CHRISTIANSEN , KATHERINE HOWARD/ANNE BOLEYN COVER, soprano: first-year, Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with Margaret Cusack). Hometown: Leamington, Utah. Past Engagements: Ida (Die Fledermaus) at Brigham Young University; Queen Cover (Die Zauberflöte) at Brigham Young University. Awards: 2nd place category winner, Cal-Western Regional NATS Audition 2022; Semifinalist BYU Young Artists in Voice Competition 2022.
ABIGAIL CULKIN , KATHERINE OF ARAGON/ENSEMBLE, soprano: sophomore, Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance (studies with Sally Wolf), minor in Arts and Entertainment Industries Management student. Hometown: Woodbine, Maryland. Past Engagements: Ensemble (Cendrillon) Upcoming Engagements include performances with Westminster Choir, Westminster Symphonic Choir, and the Westminster Community Choir. Awards: 2nd place Westminster Choir College Voice Award Competition.
LYDIA DIEKMANN, ANNE BOLEYN/COVER JANE SEYMOUR/ENSEMBLE, soprano: sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Carolann Page). Hometown: Rochester, New York. Past Engagements: Featured Performer (Rebirth) and Singer (Into the Spotlight: A Tribute to Sondheim) at Rider University; Fraulein Kost/Kit Kat Girl (Cabaret) and Silly Girl/Belle u/s (Beauty and the Beast) with Woodstock Playhouse.
CLAIRE FRITZ , ZELDA 1918, soprano: junior, Bachelor of Music in Music Education student (studies with Margaret Cusack). Hometown: Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Past Engagements: La Fée (Cendrillon), Mag (Ballymore: Winners), and Dew Fairy (Hänsel und Gretel) with Westminster Opera Theatre. Awards: 4th place category winner Westminster Voice Awards 2021; 1st place category winner New Jersey NATS Festival of Singing 2022.
SIENNA GRINWALD- ALVES , ZELDA 1924, soprano: junior, Bachelor of Music Education student (studies with Christopher Arneson). Hometown: Barnegat, New Jersey. Past Engagements: Mag (Ballymore: Winners) and Sandmann (Hänsel und Gretel) with Westminster Opera Theatre, Cis (Albert Herring) with the Princeton Symphony. Awards: 1st place Westminster Voice Awards 2021-22; 1st place, The Turton Talent Show 2019.
ASHLEY LIBRIZZI , ANNE OF CLEVES, soprano: junior, Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music student (studies with Robin Massie). Hometown: Hillsborough, New Jersey.
GRACE MCKENNA , KATHERINE OF ARAGON COVER/ENSEMBLE, soprano: sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Carolann Page). Hometown: Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Past Engagements: Ensemble (Rebirth) and Ensemble (Into the Spotlight: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim) at Rider University.
E L EANOR REES , JANE SEYMOUR, soprano: junior, Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance student (studies with Faith Esham). Hometown: Huntington, New York. Past Engagements: Maguelonne (Cendrillon) and Chorus (Hänsel und Gretel) with Westminster Opera Theatre. Future Engagements: New York Choral Festival performance at Carnegie Hall with Westminster Choir.
JOSEPH RICHWINE , F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, baritone: senior, Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance student (studies with Carolann Page).
Hometown: Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. Past Engagements: Le Baron de Pictordu (Cendrillon), der Vater (Hänsel und Gretel), and Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) with Westminster Opera Theatre; Baritone Soloist (Dona Nobis Pacem) with Westminster Symphonic Choir; Participation in The CoOPERAtive Program 2022.
ELIZABETH ROSENBERG , ZELDA 1948/ENSEMBLE, mezzo-soprano: junior, Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance student (studies with Faith Esham).
Hometown: Rising Sun, Maryland. Past Engagements: Armelinde (Cendrillon)
Westminster Opera Theatre. Upcoming Engagements include performances with Westminster Symphonic Choir and Westminster Choir. Awards: 1st
place category winner, New Jersey NATS Festival of Singing 2022; 2nd place category winner, Westminster Voice Scholarship Awards 2022.
JENNA SIMS , ZELDA 1948, soprano: second-year, Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy student (studies with Christopher Arneson).
Hometown: Reno, Nevada. Past Engagements: Armelinde (Cendrillon) and Ballad Singer (Ballymore: Winners) with Westminster Opera Theatre; Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Third Spirit (Die Zauberflöte), Spiritualist (The Big Bonanza), Mrs. Nolan (The Medium), and Novice (Suor Angelica) with Nevada Chamber Opera, University of Nevada, Reno; participation in the 2022 CoOPERAtive program.
Upcoming Engagements include performances with Westminster Jubilee Singers (Section Leader). Awards: Westminster Graduate Convocation Scholarship Winner
MADISON WINKLER , ENSEMBLE, mezzo-soprano: sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Carolann Page).
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Past Engagements: Norma (Carrie); Assistant Choreographer (Urinetown); Singer/Dancer (Rebirth: Freshman Showcase); Singer (Into the Spotlight: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim) with Rider University.
About the Artistic Staff
SUSAN SHIPLETT ASHBAKER , MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR, Associate Professor/Director of Westminster Opera Theatre for Westminster Choir College at Rider University and Director for the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster brings over 40 years of experience in the performing arts. Ms. Ashbaker is active in the opera/vocal world as an independent artistic advisor/consultant, master class presenter, lecturer, and opera/vocal coach. Her experience on both sides of the opera industry gives her a rare and comprehensive approach to key elements of career advancement for singers as well as a unique vantage point in the administration of opera companies, arts organizations, and institutions of higher learning. She is in demand as a master class presenter, having taught recently at Boston Conservatory, University of Miami, Binghamton University, and Ithaca College, among others.
Ms. Ashbaker was affiliated with Tri-Cities Opera for 5 years; 4 as General and Artistic Director, and 1 as Artistic Director, and “transformed the company in every way imaginable,” according to the former Board Chair. Additionally, Ms. Ashbaker served Opera Company of Philadelphia (OCP) for 16 years, the last 11 as director of artistic and music administration. She led casting practices
and reestablished the Company as a pioneer in offering advancements to young singers before they achieved national or international recognition; gave unique opportunities to well-established artists; and supervised all activities of the artistic and music departments. Under her direction, OCP established an intern program with the Curtis Institute of Music.
Ms. Ashbaker has worked as assistant conductor/vocal coach with New York City Opera, European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts, Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, International Vocal Arts Institute in Montreal, Theater am Goetheplatz (Bremen, Germany) and Academy of Vocal Arts, and she was on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music for nearly 20 years.
A frequent judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and former participant on the MET Quiz Show, Ms. Ashbaker has also participated as panelist with Opera America, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, judge for the Jensen Foundation, Marian Anderson Emerging Artist Competition and the Richard Tucker Foundation Auditions, among others. Ms. Ashbaker recently published a book The Vocal Coach
Approach: When Practice Makes Perfect (a guide to help singers of all levels learn to practice - and love it!) available from Inside View Press: www.voxped.com
ROSS BESCHLER , STAGE DIRECTOR, is a founding member and lead artist of the Wilma Hothouse Acting Company, in residence at the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia since 2015. Ross has performed in 17 main-stage Wilma productions, most recently Dmitry Krymov’s innovative reimagining of The Cherry Orchard. Ross has served as assistant director and teaching assistant to Wilma Artistic Director emeritus Blanka Zizka, and has taught the company’s acting methodology in workshops locally and abroad, most recently at Theatre Archa in Prague. Ross is also an associate member of the experimental theatre collective Die-Cast, which won the juried grand prize at Miami’s No Vacancy competition in 2020 with the immersive multi-media performance piece Temporary Occupancy. Ross is currently Acting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Rider University, where he teaches acting, voice, movement, and ensemble creation to the BFA cohort. He has also taught movement and acting at Rowan University and the University of the Arts. He holds an MFA in acting from Temple University and a BA in theater with a concentration in playwriting from Columbia University. www.rossbeschler.com
CLARE HANRAHAN (PROPS MANAGER) is always happy and excited to come back and work for her alma mater. She recently also worked as the Props Designer for Rider University’s production of The Children's Hour. She resides in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and actively participates in the New York City
metro area theater scene. She would always like to thank Louise Grafton for being her inspiration and for warning her of the dangers of a hot glue gun.
AMANDA JENSEN (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a Philadelphia based lighting designer. She is delighted to be designing for the Westminster Opera Theatre. Amanda has also designed for The Arden (No Child, So Far, Treasure Island, Snow White), 1812 Productions (This Is The Week That Is), Inis Nua (A Holy Show, A Hundred Words for Snow, The Monster in the Hall, Love Lies and Taxidermy, The Swallowing Dark, Radiant Vermin, Spine), Almanac Dance Circus Theatre (The Edge, Communitas Five Years Later, Jeanne/Jean/John/Jawn, XOXO Moongirl), Theatre Exile (D-pad, Really), Missing Bolts Theatre Co.(Rail), The Lantern (The Lifespan of a Fact, The Heir Apparent), Delaware Shakespeare Co. (The Tempest, Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Gunnar Montana Productions (Kink Haus, Wroughtland). Her work for the 2017 production of Kink Haus was exhibited at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial as part of the USITT/USA exhibition of professional designers. Amanda is also a founding member and resident designer for Paper Doll Ensemble, a Philadelphia based devising company.
BUCK LINTON , SCENIC DESIGNER/TECHNICAL DIRECTOR/DIR. OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT. Between earning his MFA in Scenography and Technical Design (Virginia Tech) and joining Rider as its Technical Director in 2012, he professionally produced nearly 200 productions with such venues as The Kennedy Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and McCarter Theatre. Selected works include Travesties, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, Take Flight, Herringbone, Looking Glass Alice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Falstaff, Die Zauberflöte, Pelléas et Mélisande, Dialogues des Carmélites, La Clemenza di Tito, Oreste, Sunjata Kamalenya, The Odyssey Experience, Die Fledermaus, Rigoletto, Turandot, Chicago, EDDA (Ping Chong & Sequentia Ensemble, international tour). Since then, he has produced over 100 productions for Rider University’s College of the Arts and Sciences in theater, dance, and opera.
EVAN MACK (COMPOSER) Believing that opera should be theater grounded in climatic expression that delivers larger-than-life stories and music that harnesses the full athletic thrill of singing, Evan Mack has devoted much of his compositional life to opera and song. His first major operatic composition, Angel of the Amazon, premiered in 2011 by Encompass New Opera Theatre at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City. Two years later, Fresno State Opera Theater premiered The Secret of Luca. This was the first of several collaborations with librettist Joshua McGuire. In August 2016, their American
grand opera Roscoe premiered at Seagle Music Colony and received its orchestral world premiere with the Albany Symphony starring Metropolitan Opera star Deborah Voigt.
Their multicultural Christmas opera for children, Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena, is quickly becoming a holiday standard. Their one-act opera, The Ghosts of Gatsby, premiered by Samford Opera in Birmingham, AL in 2019 and won the National Opera Association’s Argento Chamber Opera Competition. Mack & McGuire’s have two works in the pipeline, a musical comedy, Yeltsin in Texas!, and a children’s opera, Dragon’s Breath
Evan was named “2018 Professional of the Year” by Musical America and is a Senior Teaching Professor at Skidmore College. He lives in Ticonderoga, NY with his wife, Kristin and two sons, Carter and Henry.
SEAN MC CARTHER , FIGHT AND INTIMACY DIRECTOR, is an Associate Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College, where he teaches applied voice to classical, musical theater, and music production majors, undergraduate voice science, and movement for the performer. He is an advanced actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and the Academy of Fight Directors Canada and has trained with both Intimacy Directors and Coordinators and Theatrical Intimacy Education.
Dr. McCarther’s research interests span the fields of psychology, motor learning, voice pedagogy, and theatre. He focuses on topics such as the intersection of choral and vocal pedagogy, peak performance, the acquisition of expertise, theatrical emotion, and consent-based rehearsal processes. His research appears in several peer-reviewed publications, and he is a frequent lecturer and workshop presenter nationally and internationally.
Previous Rider violence/intimacy choreography credits include The Children’s Hour, The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong, Cabaret, Polaroid Stories, These Seven Sicknesses, Oklahoma, Heathers, She Kills Monsters, and Spring Awakening.
JOSHUA M C GUIRE , LIBRETTIST, has written librettos for The Secret of Luca, (based on the novel by Ignazio Silone) and Roscoe (based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy) with music by Evan Mack, as well as Lucinda y Las Flores de la Nochebuena, a children's opera which has been seen by over 25,000 children. Mack & McGuire’s one-act opera The Ghosts of Gatsby, based on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, was featured in Opera America’s 2019 New Works Industry Showcase and won the National Opera Association’s Dominick Argento Prize in the same year. Their comic opera Yeltsin in Texas!, about the fall of the U.S.S.R., is currently in development as an off-Broadway
musical. McGuire also has a multimedia opera on Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha forthcoming with composer Murray Hidary.
In 2015, McGuire was commissioned to write a libretto for Washington National Opera's American Opera Initiative, and the resulting one-act opera, Alexandra, with music by David Clay Mettens, was premiered at the Kennedy Center. He is also the author of The Secret of Music: a look at the listening life, a book of nonfiction essays on music and mindfulness (Shanti Arts Press, 2019). McGuire’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals, including Levee Magazine and The Manhattan Review. He is the recipient of fellowships from the American Center for New Works Development and Yaddo.
He currently teaches at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where he directs programs in Aural Skills as well as Music Entrepreneurship & Wellness.
ROBIN I. SHANE (COSTUME AND MAKE-UP DESIGN) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Rider University. Favorite designs at Rider include Hänsel und Gretel, Cabaret, Polaroid Stories, Pippin, and many Rider Dance concerts. Recent professional credits include The Pillowman and In The Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, PA and OK Trenton at the Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ. Robin has designed costumes regionally and nationally at such varied theaters as The New Victory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, The Yale Rep, The Hedgerow, Theatre Exile, Philadelphia Artists Collective, EgoPo, Passage Theater, Shakespeare Theater of NJ, The National Constitution Center, The Revision Theater, the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater, Soho Rep, Chicago Opera Theatre and The Harrisburg Opera. Robin holds an MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and a BA in Theater and Psychology from Wesleyan University.
NIKOLAY VEREVKIN , REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE PIANIST, is a pianist and chamber musician. In 2021, he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music as an instructor, vocal coach and staff pianist. He maintains a long-standing position as a coach and recital pianist with the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute Program for Singers. Previously, Dr. Verevkin has been on the faculty at The Juilliard School in the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Vocal Department of Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and as faculty coach at SongFest’s Summer Art Song Institute in Los Angeles. In the Fall of 2021, Nikolay Verevkin debuted on the stage of Carnegie Hall alongside baritone Michael Chioldi. Dr.Verevkin has accompanied and presented numerous recitals and concerts including with Carnegie Hall’s New York
Citywide program, New York Festival of Song, InSeries of Washington D.C., Beth Morrison Projects/Saratoga Opera, The Bohemians, Music Academy of the West, and Toronto Summer Music Festival.
About the Student Staff & Crew
DIEGO BUSTAMANTE , REHEARSAL PIANIST, first year, Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance student (studies with James Goldsworthy).
Hometown: Chico, California. Past Engagements: Rehearsal Pianist (The Threepenny Opera) at University of the Pacific Opera Theatre; Rehearsal Pianist (Cendrillon) with Westminster Opera Theatre; participation in the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College in 2022.
MAI CASLOWITZ (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER): sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Elizabeth Sutton).
Hometown: Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Past Engagements: Anna (Spring Awakening) with Milton Theater; Performer (Rebirth) & Performer (Into the Spotlight: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim) with Rider University; Freida (Carrie: The Musical) with Rider Student Theatre Company. Upcoming Engagements: Scarecrow/Others (The Wizard of Oz), Erato (Xanadu), and Greta Olsson Understudy (Murder on the Orient Express) with Cortland Repertory Theater's Performing Intern Company.
AVERY HUBERT (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER): sophomore, Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Theatre Practice, and Tech and Design student (studies with Robin Shane). Hometown: Sykesville, Maryland. Past Engagements: Light Board Operator (Clean Slate) with Rider University.
SIDNEY MARTINEZ (PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER): senior, Bachelor of Arts in Technical Theater with a double minor in Sociology and Gender & Sexuality Studies student. Hometown: Englewood, New Jersey. Past Engagements: Scenic Designer (Love and Information), Production Stage Manager (The One Act Play That Goes Wrong), Scenic Designer (Polaroid Stories), Production Stage Manager (Hänsel und Gretel), Production Stage Manager (Rider Dances: Negotiating Balance), Stage Manager (Rider New Works ‘20), Assistant Stage Manager (Girls Like That), and Assistant Stage Manager (Bright Star) with Rider University. Awards: The Kennedy Center’s Certificate of Merit: Excellence as a Stage Management Team in 2019.
ISAB ELLA ROSALIE , ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER, sophomore, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre student (studies with Carolann Page).
Hometown: Kingston, New York. Past Engagements: Performer (Rebirth) and
Performer (Into the Spotlight: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim) with Rider University.
MADELINE SHAW (ORCHESTRA SUPERVISOR): junior, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting for Film, Television, and Theatre student. Hometown: Glenville, New York. Past Engagements: Soloist "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" (ISM), Stella (Rider New Works 2021), and Rosalie (The Children's Hour) with Rider University.
About Rider University & Westminster Choir College
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private coeducational, student-centered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and real-world learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work.
The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and indepth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Culturally vibrant and historically rich, Westminster Choir College has a legacy of preparing students for thriving careers as well-rounded performers and musical leaders on concert stages, in schools, universities, and churches, and in professional and community organizations worldwide. Renowned for its tradition of choral excellence, the college is home to internationally recognized ensembles, including the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors of our time. In addition to its choral legacy, Westminster is known as a center for excellence in musical pedagogy and performance.
