“The once-magnificent world is in a state of rage. War. Police violence. Terrorist threats. Demagogues. Thebes is now a ruin surrounded by refugee camps. And Antigone X could be any of us who dares to stand up to unjust laws and demand, instead, the higher power of tolerance and decency.…
Coming December 1 in Los Angeles, a performance of Act One of GOLDEN, a new musical about a strange confluence of cultures–the Polish musician and statesman Ignacy Paderewski and the diverse people of the Central Coast growing fields of California. Music by Nathan Wang, book and lyrics by me…
A stunning experience at Pittsburgh Festival Opera! The first scene of the opera, The Night Flight of Minerva’s Owl, music composed by Guang Yang and libretto by Paula Cizmar (me), was presented as part of their Music That Matters/Fight for the Right project, and it was so wonderful. Details and…
You know it’s really happening when you show up at the theatre and there it is: The announcement of your play taking up the entire box office door!
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One day, a very long time ago–maybe when I was taking piano lessons as a child?–I dreamed of writing for the musical stage. But it has taken a long time to transition from poetry to playwriting to being a librettist. Now I have two musical projects–GOLDEN with composer Nathan Wang,…
A long-haired musician touring the U.S. with his own private Pullman car and an entourage–and also a political activist? What is it about music that speaks to people, and what is it about musicians that calls the public to take action against injustice? That’s what’s explored in The Paderewski…
What a strange journey it has been to get The Hotel Play on its feet–and what a five-ring circus it feels like every time the play is performed. First, going back to the making of the play, just getting seven playwrights in the same room at the same time for…
The timelessness of the plays of the Ancient Greeks is well-documented, but it still never ceases to amaze me that a play written 2500 years ago can continue to have resonance today. Actually, some of the plays of Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, Aristophanes may have even more resonance in times of…
There’s so much that is thankless about being a playwright, so when two projects pop up on an electronic screen serving as a billboard, it creates a big moment of fun. Here they are–an ad for ANTIGONE X and an announcement about SEVEN, on the same screen at the same time at SDA.…
Something about the high desert haunts me–the low-lying scrub, the huge expanse of what looks like nothing but is actually teeming with life, and the mountains in the desert. And the story of Scheherazade from 1000 Nights has always haunted me too. Why should a young woman be under constant threat…