About the Collective
From November through June, Guerilla Opera builds a space for a collective of artists developing texts for musical performances to convene virtually as a supportive Creative Community.
Meeting remotely via Zoom twice a month and for eight months, these intimate writing groups will explore developing a completed draft of a script intended to be performed with music.
Participants will grow and evolve their own unique approach to writing musical text, sign-up for reading slots for their work to be read by the group, and support group members by acting as readers for the work of others.
By the end of the program each participant will have a full reading of their completed text.
Dates
Monday Sessions: 7pm EDT
November 16, 30; December 7, 21; (Winter holidays observation); January 11,25; February 8, 22; March 8, 22; April 5, 19; May 3, 17; June 7, 21
Saturday Sessions: 2pm EDT
November 14, 28; December 5, 19; January 9, 23; February 6, 20; March 6, 20; April 3, 17; May 1, 15; (Memorial Day weekend observation); June 5, 19
Deadline to apply
Wednesday, September 30, 11:59PM EST
Sunday, October 25, 11:59PM EDT (extension)
Acceptance Notification
Week of November 2, 2020
Participant Fee
$65.00/mo. or $520.00 total
Guerilla Opera has select subsidies available to participants based on expressed need as funds are available, in an effort to make the program as inclusive as possible.
Why?
We want to amplify your unique perspective in our storytelling community. Our vision is to infuse the music industry with stories that confront antiquated traditions and examine our world through contemporary lenses.
Guerilla Opera is the premiere ensemble for new opera in the Boston area and one of the first in the country to exclusively commission new works. Our Writing Collective extracts the words from the music in order to isolate and explore this aspect of storytelling more fully.
Who is this program for?
Artist exchange is so important in the evolution of an art form! You don’t have to be an “opera librettist” to apply. All are welcome!
Although this class does look at text writing from the perspective of opera, all artists working on text for musical performances are encouraged to participate including: composers, librettists, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, stage directors, dramaturgs, vocalists, instrumentalists, designers, etc.
No previous writing experience required, though each participant is expected to propose a project they would like to develop over the course of eight months within their writing group (ages 18+).
We build a safe and vital space for creative ideas to be nurtured as part of a creative community. The Writing Collective allows for peer-learning, discussions, live readings, and valuable critical response and feedback where each participant will grow and evolve their own individual practice.
We especially encourage female-identifying artists, LGBTQ+ artists, and BIPOC artists to apply! Multi-lingual participants are also encouraged to apply, but sessions will be facilitated in English.
Program format
Guerilla Writing Collective artists will meet twice a month in video conferences through Zoom, and program materials will be shared using google docs and other online resource sharing programs.
Access to a computer, laptop or smartphone with a video camera, and a reliable internet connection, or smartphone are the technical requirements for the program.
Guerilla Writing Collective artists will be expected to complete writing, research, and other activities including watching videos, and reading and listening assignments between sessions so co-learning time can be used for discussions, sharing large selections of writing, and critical response processes.
Estimated Monthly time commitment
Co-Learning: 3 hours
Independent Study: 6 to 10 hours (depending on your own writing time-line)
Total: 6 to 10 hours monthly
What to expect:
Each participant will:
Develop an outline for a new short form or full length opera libretto
Explore character development work
Develop a complete draft of a new short form or full length opera libretto
Have temporary access to Guerilla Opera’s full video archive
Have one-on-ones with the course facilitator.
Have a live reading of your completed libretto by the end of the program
Have opportunities for networking
Additional discussion topics include:
Approaches to creating original libretti
Approaches to creating libretti from adapted literature
Approaches to creating libretti from auto-biography or historical events
Methods for critical response
Writing for the voice
Story telling aesthetics for the stage and multi-media approaches
The 2020-2021 Collective
The Facilitator
This class is facilitated by Lisa E. Harris, an interdisciplinary artist, performer and composer from Houston Texas, USA. Li is a trained classical voice/opera singer from Manhattan School of Music and is certified as a facilitator of DEEP LISTENING, the sonic philosophies of composer Pauline Oliveros, from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Li’s work focuses on the energetic relationships between body, land, spirit and place. She uses voice, theremin, movement, text and new media to explore healing in performance. Recognized by the Huffington Post as “One of Fourteen Artists that are Transforming Opera”, Lisa E. Harris is an American soprano and composer who often creates with media, performance, and installation, Li is a filmmaker, singer/songwriter, writer, educator, community organizer, environmental transformer and Mother Earth advocate as well. Harris clarifies her artistic voice through experimental film, improvisational performance and compositional practices, and further translates her music through the application of natural sciences, spirituality, popular song, melody, harmony, ritual and ceremony. Li recently premiered her live cinema trilogy Cry of the Third Eye: a new opera film in Three Acts, a decade long meditation on legacy, loss, and gentrification in Third Ward, an historically Black neighborhood in Houston, Texas. EarthSeed, her co-composition with composer Nicole M. Mitchell which celebrates the novels by science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler, was released June 2020 on FPE Records and is currently available worldwide. Li is a member of the esteemed faculty of Ensemble Evolution (International Contemporary Ensemble) and has taught and performed at the Banff Center for the Arts and the College for Performing Arts at the New School University. Li is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Houston, and the Houston High School for Performing and Visual Arts. She has also made special presentations on socially engaged art, technology and innovation at the Norwegian Academy of Music as well as ISATMA, the (International Symposium of Adaptive Technology and Musical Arts) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a previous MANCC Forward Dialogues Fellow at Florida State University and is currently a Monroe Research Fellow at Tulane University’s Center for the Gulf South. Li maintains a private practice at her own Studio Enertia, where she focuses on holistic embodiment, creative play methodology and Vocal Identity Theory®️. (www.lisaeharris.com)
Questions?
Please email any questions to programs@guerillaopera.org and someone will get back to you as soon as possible!