Operas
Minutes to Midnight: A Nuclear Opera (chamber opera)
Libretto by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by John Sturt
November 8, 2016. Deep in the bowels of a bunker in North Dakota, 20-some-year-olds Lieutenants Martinez and Walker have one job: follow protocol. If the phone rings, answer it, verify code, initiate launch. No room for error. No room for thought. Just wait for the call. A call that in fifty years of missileer history has never come. To pass time they play cards, have spitting contests, and try – try – not to think. Above ground, a new president is about to be elected into office. An opera about political power, social responsibility and global consequence.
The Bone Keepers (chamber opera)
Libretto by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Casey O’Neil
One body amounts to 206 bones. 10,000 bodies amount to 2.06 million (give or take a bone or two). The odds of finding the matching set of just one single soldier out of the remains of 10,000 men are… not good. And yet, Abigail and Winifred, the two otherworldly Fort Greene Park Crypt Bone Keepers, have an eternity in which to do just that. On the verge of completing a human puzzle, all they need is one… last… bone.
Read an excerpt. Listen to an excerpt. Watch excerpts.
A Bridge Between (chamber opera) *
Libretto by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Casey O’Neil
In 1930 the George Washington Bridge is being erected in New York City. In 1997 the 400-year-old Mostar Bridge in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina is being destroyed. A Bridge Between is a chamber opera that connects two continents, two bridges, two idealists... and Luciano Pavarotti, too.
* This project was inspired by the endeavors of Kathryn Wasserman Davis (International House luminary and former resident) who financed scholarships for students from Muslim countries and also funded Projects for Peace, an initiative to encourage motivated youth to “create and test their own ideas for building peace”.
Aloha Flight 243 (one-act opera)
Libretto by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Allison Leyton-Brown
On April 28th, 1988, Aloha Flight 243 was en route from Hilo to Honolulu, when the roof of the plane blew off and a flight attendant was sucked into the sky. Everyone else aboard the flight survived the accident. The flight attendant was never seen or heard from again. Based on a true story.
Read an excerpt in English or in Spanish. Listen to the complete one-act opera.
Musicals
Desire Management Incorporated
Book and lyrics by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Allison Leyton-Brown
In the near-future when a person’s desire is out of alignment, they have one of two choices: suffer the irreversible consequences of In-Law Central re-alignment or seek to manage their desire for themselves (with, of course, the help of Desire Management Incorporated’s virtual therapy techniques, simulated manifestations, and at-home workbook). For DMI proprietress, Corinthium Laigh’tOn and her personal HuBot, Status Quo, the business of controlling desire is a lucrative enterprise. For former space stewardess, Anaglypta Veritas, desire may not be such a bad thing…
Last Days in Vegas
Words by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Allison Leyton-Brown
How long is a piece of string? How long is the length of a life? Who decides when life ends and what if today were your last? Would you be a different person? Last Days in Vegas is a sung-through musical about seven inextricably linked strangers in a Vegas hotel on what may or may not be their last day of life.
An Orchestra Imagined: in Four Invisible Movements
Words by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Julianne Wick-Davis
Imagine that music was something you could hold in your hand. Like a baby. Or a love letter. How much would it weigh? If you licked it like a tootsie pop, how long would it last? An Orchestra Imagined: In Four Invisible Movements (for Eight Instrument-less Instrumentalists) takes a look at the rituals, the nightmares and the music within the musician.
Pilgrimage to the Mouth
Book and lyrics by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Allison Leyton-Brown
Dia collects mouths. No, not literally. But when the Perfect Mouth whispers to her online, she feels an urge to follow her instinct and find that mouth. Luckily, her new friends, Becks and Holly, are ready with passport in hand for just such a pilgrimage.
On Teeth and Longing
Book and lyrics by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Allison Leyton-Brown
A man with a rotting tooth. A woman unwilling to smile. Two kindred dental patients, both born with gums and lives filled with potential, take matters – and teeth – into their own hands. The musical.
Theory of Kiss
Book and lyrics by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Allison Leyton-Brown
Level-headed Scientist Claire and like-minded Scientist Ray have spent their entire lives dissecting, examining and quantifying the results. But what happens when they are tasked with researching the latest scientific theory on kissing? And could it have an adverse effect on their relationship outside the scientific workplace?
Tobias Bentley’s World Cello Tour (of the Lesser Known Nether-Regions)
Book and lyrics by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Nick Barstow
Tobias Bentley is a curmudgeon of great renown. He is also extremely talented. As he embarks on a world cello tour, his long-suffering assistant, Ms. Hendricks, helps him navigate his journey from the confines of her cubicle in Derbyshire. She wants adventure. He wants to not have to perform for unappreciative goat herders, but he’d settle for a working loo. Would that she could see the things he gets to see and would that he could appreciate the talent and life he has been given.
Countdown to Nevermore
Book and lyrics by Sophia Chapadjiev
Music by Mat Eisenstein
Nathan and Kate may never have met – and probably never will – but New Year’s Eve 2005 has inextricably linked their lives forever. Who will be the first to stop living in the past?
Plays
In This House
When is a house a home? And when is a child an adult? 32-year-old Lydia grapples with these questions as both she and her marriage struggle to survive after the death of her mother. A fractured kaleidoscope of scenes from a life, In This House takes us on a time shifting journey from childhood to marriage, from past to present, and from house to home.
Merry American
Will America ever know how much we love her? Plucky and hard-working Smail Petrokov doesn’t want to be rich or famous. All he wants is a chance. An opportunity. But the American Dream ain’t what it used to be for incoming immigrants – especially Muslim ones. And yet still, Smail dreams of a country that is not his by birth, but one he loves with all his heart nonetheless.
Over the Moon
A tragic and poignant story about the accidental death of a young boy, Rufus, seen through the memories of his older sister, Jacqueline. A poetic play about childhood, love and loss and all that haunts us.
Dear Miss So and So
Miss Deadly Hearts, the Obituary Columnist, seeks the advice of Miss Lonely Hearts, the Advice Columnist, on what to do with a heart that won't break. A Dramedy of Cruelty.
Tidal Current (in-progress)
Emily Ann and the Big World (a radio play for young listeners)
Emily Ann ain’t sure where she’s headed, but she sure as hell ain’t staying another minute in this everybody-in-each-other’s-business town. Ralph can suck it and her parents can too. Emily’s meant for bigger things and she’s out to prove that she ain’t nobody’s little lady anymore.