Frances Pollock, composition , November 21, 2024

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José García-León, Dean

doctor of musical arts degree recital

Frances Pollock, composition

Thursday, November 21, 2024 | 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

Frances Pollock

b. 1989 Oysters World premiere

Frances Pollock, vocalist

Alexis Lamb, percussion

The Bridge: A Minimum Viable Product

Prologue...................................................................Emily, Harry, Maryann,Washington

So Near and Yet So Far........................................................Harry, Washington, Ensemble

Worth the Wait........................................................................................................Emily

I Will Be the First.................................................................................................Maryann

Strong As Steel...............................................................................................Washington

Up, Up, Up............................................................................Harry, Mrs. Doyle, Ensemble

Those Women.........................................................................................Emily, Maryann, Down in the Caisson/The Apple Song...............................................................Ensemble intermission

The Woman Behind............................Bridget, Claire, Emily, Maryann, Pegeen, Ensemble

We Cut................................................................Brittania, Clementine, Emily, Prudence

Holding the Reins...................................................................................................Emily

A Little Liquid Truth................................................................Emily, Maryann, Ensemble

The Bends.....................................................................................Washington, Ensemble

Building The Bridge: A New Path To Cultural Production.....................MOC Innovations

Onward..................................................................................................Emily, Ensemble

In Between................................................................................................Emily, Maryann

The River Runs On....................................................................................Cornelia, Emily

This performance is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.

Artist Profile

Frances Pollock, composition

Frances Pollock is a composer by trade and the founding partner of MOC Innovations—a venture studio that incubates, accelerates, and invests in art and entertainment. She writes primarily for the stage and currently has operas and musical theater performed all over the country. Recently her work could be seen at San Francisco Symphony, Opera Grand Rapids, Greenville Light Opera, Kaufman Center, Chicago Lyric, Seattle Opera, Chautauqua, Opera Omaha, Aspen Music Festival, PROTOTYPE, and others.

She is currently completing her doctorate at the Yale School of Music. At Yale, Frances is also the founder and lead for the Arts Track at the Yale Innovation Summit as well as a Venture Advisor at Tsai CITY. When she is not writing theater, she is directing and producing it. Frances is a proud investor in early stage work and is always enthusiastic about finding ways to bring art and entertainment closer to the innovation space.

Kathleen Wrinn, book/lyrics

Kathleen Wrinn is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theater at Syracuse University. She earned her MFA at NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and has written Book and Lyrics for multiple full-length musicals, as well as performed on stages throughout the country. In addition to her writing and performance, Kathleen’s advocacy work elevates the voices of underrepresented writers and composers to diversify the

stories told in the musical theater canon. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Syracuse University’s New Works/New Voices initiative and currently serves in leadership roles with Maestra Music, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance.

Program Notes

by the composer

Oysters

I began writing “Oysters” in 2017, during my first semester at Yale, as I wrestled with the established expectations of how a composer is supposed to bring work into the world. I felt pressured to fit into narrow boxes, to create music crafted not for audiences but for review committees, and to streamline my identity into a simplified narrative in exchange for dwindling funding.

I tried to follow these rules. I took commissions through the summer of 2021, hoping the system might be less extractive than it appeared. Yet the deeper I engaged, the more I found the opposite to be true.

This demand to commoditize my journey and my identity stood in direct opposition to why I became an artist. I wanted to write music and tell stories that could unite us through their specificity, not reduce complex, rich experiences to a single monolith. I could no longer align myself

with producing identity-based music solely to meet the mandates of donorfunded organizations, especially when these mandates simplified identity into binaries of black and white, good and evil.

While composing Oysters, I confronted a choice: do I insist that my work reflect my convictions, both aesthetically and ethically, and strive for a world where artists control their creations and the stories they want to tell, or do I keep bending my vision to fit the mold of what a “composer” is supposed to be within this system?

The Bridge: A Minimum Viable Product

The Bridge is a musical inspired by the extraordinary true story of Emily Roebling, the woman who took the reins to complete the engineering marvel that is the Brooklyn Bridge.

In the startup world, a minimum viable product (MVP) is an early-stage product designed to engage initial users and validate a concept. It serves as a launching pad, gathering feedback for iterative development. Kathleen and I adopted this term intentionally as it mirrors the agile, production-focused approach we are using to bring The Bridge to the commercial stage.

Historically, large-scale intellectual property like musicals can languish for years due to limited support. The Bridge, in partnership with MOC Innovations, aims to upend that narrative. With an innovation-driven enterprise model, we

are accelerating development and reach, setting a new standard in cultural production. Our ambition extends beyond this single production, commercial run or even full franchise: we envision using The Bridge to test a better, more sustainable future for artists by applying the same innovation tools, frameworks and investment (or funding) models that drive success in STEM. By empowering creators to take control of their vision, we hope to inspire them to shape a world that reflects their aspirations - driving markets, addressing challenges, and building bridges to issues that often remain in the shadows.

Synopsis

When her husband, the Chief Engineer, is suddenly struck by illness, Emily steps into the role to lead one of the most audacious projects of the 19th centuryyears before women would even gain the right to vote. Set in the turbulent aftermath of the Civil War, The Bridge explores the unyielding forces that pull us together and push us apart—gender, race, nationality, and class. Centered on Emily’s story and expanding to include the overlooked lives of countless workers who helped realize this iconic structure, The Bridge casts light on those whose contributions were historically left in the shadows, asking: What does progress really look like? And who truly drives it?

The Bridge, LLC, is a proud Connecticut business.

cast

Emily Warren Roebling

Maryann McMahon

Washington Roebling

Harry Doyle

Prudence/Pegeen

Brittania/Bridget

Clementine/Claire

Mrs. Doyle

michelle mcqueen

em cram

ellie mountcastle

junia croasmun

frances pollock

kathleen wrinn

katie emerson

edwin joseph

albert lee

julie mountcastle

kendra young

mattie jo cowsert

jasmine barnes

ensemble

sully hart

lu de jesus

matt croasmun

omar sandakly

samuel hunter

creative team

Frances Pollock, music

Kathleen Wrinn, book/lyrics

Samuel Hunter, engraving

Jacob Stebly, music direction

William Roller, projections

Emily Roller, production manager

band

Jacob Stebly, piano

Calida Jones, violin

Erik Franklin, clarinet

yale school of music box office

Joshua Rhodes, double bass

Alexis Lamb, percussion

Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street, New Haven, CT 06511 203 432–4158 | music-tickets.yale.edu

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If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors.

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