American Center for New Works Development @ Seagle Festival
Seagle Festival’s Board of Directors has adopted a Strategic Plan that will expand its mission of cultivating new artists and art, and provide composers and librettists from around the United States with exactly the facilities and services they need to develop new works. A distinguished council of composers, librettists, and opera industry professionals are consulting with Seagle Festival to ensure the program provides exceptional value to the artists who create new pieces.
Seagle Festival, which has already successfully workshopped twelve new opera and musical theater pieces, held a successful world premiere and a piano-vocal premiere, will now offer its fall season (mid-August through November) to advance development of new works.
When fully implemented, Seagle Festival will be able to successfully execute 4 fully-staged workshop productions, 4 piano/vocal workshops and 2-3 libretto readings, all for extremely competitive costs. When fully implemented, Seagle Festival will employ up to 24 singers, 3 pianists, a stage director, a conductor and technical theater crew to conduct the necessary work. Companies and creators will be able to see their work fully on its feet or listen to it in a complete or incomplete state. Seagle Festival officially initiated the newly-branded American Center for New Works Development (ACNWD) program in the fall of 2017.
In addition to facilitating premieres commissioned by other companies, Seagle Festival will become a force in seeking funding to enable composers without a commission to workshop their creations. Seagle Festival will actively seek a diverse range of composers to give a broader voice to the operatic canon.
The long-term vision for the ACNWD program also includes mentoring programs for composers, librettists and dramaturgs as well as writers’ retreats patterned after programs like Yaddo, but with a focus solely on staged musical works.
NEW WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT
SHARON’S GRAVE – an opera by Richard Wargo
COMPLETED WORKSHOPS & PREMIERES
2000 – WONDERLAND – by Justin Fischer – (children’s opera) WORLD PREMIERE
2005 – FRAU MARGOT – by Thomas Pasatieri – workshop
2006 – MORNING STAR – by Ricky Ian Gordon – workshop performance
2007 – SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON – by Stephen Schwartz – workshop performance (partial)
2007 – LYSISTRATA – by Mark Adamo – non-professional premiere
2008 – THE HEIR APPARENT – by Thomas Pasatieri – workshop
2008 – BEFORE NIGHT FALLS – by Jorge Martin – workshop
2013 – A WRINKLE IN TIME – by Libby Larsen – workshop
2014 – VOIR DIRE – by Matthew Peterson & Jason Zencka – workshop
2015 – SHARON’S GRAVE – by Richard Wargo – workshop (partial)
2015 – ROSCOE – by Evan Mack & Joshua McGuire – workshop
2016 – ROSCOE – by Evan Mack & Joshua McGuire – WORLD PREMIERE
2017 – ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD – by Herschel Garfein – piano-vocal premiere
2017 – THE FALLING & THE RISING – by Zach Redler & Jerre Dye – workshop
2018 – THE GHOSTS OF GATSBY – by Evan Mack & Joshua McGuire – workshop
2018 – POOCH – by Scott Eyerly – workshop
2019 – PATRA – an opera by Sharon and David Ohrenstein – workshop
2019 – HARMONY – an opera by Robert Carl & Russell Banks – workshop
2019 – YELTSIN IN TEXAS – an opera by Evan Mack & Joshua McGuire – workshop
2021 – HARMONY – an opera by Robert Carl & Russell Banks – WORLD PREMIERE
2021 – HOUSE OF LEGENDARY – by Joseph Rubinstein & Jason Kim (in association with The American Opera Project) – workshop
2021 – TRUMAN & NANCY – by William Zeffiro – workshop
2021 – SANTA’S TALE – by Anthony Plog & Ronald Kidd – workshop
2022 – TOUCH – by Carla Lucero & Marianna Mott Newirth – workshop (In partnership with Opera Birmingham)
