2022/23 ShenCoLAB Projects

Now I’m Feeling Good

Project Leader: Emily Adams

This project incorporates the various works of Michael Bublé and similar performers into a story of love, betrayal and the journey after. It strives to debunk — or place “under construction” — the idea that only women can be the victim in a relationship, and attempts to continue shedding light on toxic masculinity. With a blend of pre-recorded and live music, singers and dancers collaborate to tell the story of their shared characters through classic jazz sounds and Fosse-inspired movements.

Shades of Blue

Project Co-leaders: Rainn Anding & Haidyn Bye

This project is a workshop of very magical musical about a fresh out of college graduate named Riley Wilson, who works as a hotel clerk at Cerulean Suites. Working alongside his college friend, Natalie, Riley likes to network with patrons to see what other occupations he can pursue. But one day, an old flame of Riley’s, Daniel “Danny” Owens is in town to play a gig with his successful band and checks into, you guessed it, Cerulean Suites. Riley tries his best to muster up the courage to get back in touch with Danny before he leaves on tour. All while hiding the fact he’s pursuing a relationship with a guest from Mr. Richards and sly assistant manager Parker, and keeping to himself the feeling that he didn’t achieve the same success as his former lover. This twisty-turny love story and love letter to cheesy musical theatre will have you laughing, tearing up, and wanting more. Just come and live in Shades of Blue!

Magic

Project Leader: Lisa Arnold

Magic is a short play that tells the story of two girls falling in love, written similar to the style of The Last Five Years, in that one character is moving forwards in time, and the other backwards, until they meet in the middle, featuring an ensemble that plays various characters as well as uses movement and dance to weave the story together. Using text and movement alike, this story shows two different sides to the sapphic experience, and is a story of pride, overcoming shame and acceptance.

Blake Barnickel’s Big Brass Band

Project Leader: Blake Barnickel

This project is essentially a startup for a brand new jazz band that I wish to put together. Inspired by horn bands such as Tower of Power, Ides of March, Chase, Chicago, etc., this project has the potential to involve many people of different majors in the conservatory for how many instruments it will require, given that I would need an entire horn section including saxophones, trumpets and trombones, an entire rhythm section, including bass guitar, drums, guitars, piano/keys, and a singer with possible background vocals. This band is intended to spread the genre of horn band music with a little bit of funk/rock fusion mixed in. I plan on doing a few charts, from Ole Børud, Airplay (1980) and a couple of others that are undecided. It is meant to be the full funk/brass/pop/rock experience, all in one package for people to enjoy and boogie to.

California Medley: An A Cappella Showcase

Project Leader: Nick Berent

This project will be a performance of a series of songs sung a cappella, following the guidelines of the ICCA competitions. The ICCAs are the competitions in which a cappella groups from colleges across the nation compete against each other. The performances are 10 minutes long, and consist of both singing and choreography. These performances usually have a central theme, and the theme I’ve decided to use is songs about California. The four songs that will be included are Hotel California, California Dreamin’, Californication and California Girls. The music will be entirely arranged by Berent. The ensemble will be comprised of soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass and vocal percussion.

NOISE

Project Leader: Kirsten Couly

In my late teens, I started my journey of realization with my mental health. For years I thought depression and anxiety were the reasons I struggled so much in life. But they were only symptoms of my unrealized ADHD. Neurodivergence is something incredibly under-researched within women, with most of our understanding of the disorder being based on research done on men. I would love the opportunity to create a piece that displays the day-to-day struggle of having ADHD (especially as a woman) and to deconstruct misconceptions surrounding the disorder. I want this to be a fully immersive experience, with sight and sound overlapping so much that audiences will feel overwhelmed; eventually I want them to understand that my brain is just as overwhelming. It’s very important to me that any neurotypical audience member can watch this piece and leave it with a newfound understanding of a disorder I struggle with every day.

Imperfectly Beautiful

Project Leader: Paige DeFrees

Imperfectly Beautiful highlights the idea of possibilities of the unknown. What does it feel like, as a performer, to discover the project outcome, at the same time as the audience? For this project, three groups of artists (dancers, voice, music), will be given a prompt. Each group will have the opportunity to explore this prompt and create something individually from the other groups. The idea is that there is no interaction between the groups during the week of ShenCoLAB. All three groups will come together, for the first time, on the festival day to perform their pieces live in front of an audience, all together. The goal is to create something that isn’t perfect, but rather raw and authentic, and to discover the magic of interdisciplinary work. I want the audience to appreciate the beauty of imperfection. In any performance, the audience always discovers the piece for the first time when viewing it, but through the project, we invite the performers into this feeling, for now, they won’t know what will happen either.

Fiesta de baile

Project Leader: Vanessa Estaniel

Fiesta de baile is a dance party exploring Latin American ballroom musical styles and social dances. Join us on the dance floor as we learn cumbia, samba, bachata and salsa!

Why Me?/Who’s Influence?

Project Leader: Tyson Francis

Exploring the idea of finding oneself in a situation unexpected, Why Me?/Who’s Influence? dives into reality’s greatest highs and lows. In collaboration with a variety of performative and technical artists, this project is meant to take a look inward into what life is really like as an artist and how that affects an individual’s experience in their craft. With constant changes happening around us, influences presented in ways that are unique to the life of an artist are showcased by cross disciplinary interactions onstage.

The Once on This Island Concert

Project Leader: Chelsea Michael Goode

The Once on This Island Concert will consist of 3 to 4 songs from the hit Broadway musical, Once on This Island. It tells the story of an island divided by wealth and colorism, full of darker-skinned peasants and lighter-skinned grand hommes. With the help of the gods, a young, orphan peasant girl, who dreams of finding her purpose in life, falls in love with a grand homme. The story is full of love, laughter, grief and hope. The cast will be all people of color, but the creative team is for everyone, though preferably also people of color.

Conflict & Collaboration in The Age of Enlightenment

Project Leader: Noah Alden Hardaway

This project will present “Ah! quel trouble,” a trio from the opera L’amant antonyme (1780) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, alongside the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453 (1784). The performance will be presented without conductor, led by the concertmaster, conductor-pianist and the ensemble at large. This is in the tradition of conductorless groups like the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and in line with historical performance practice. The large forces involved sans conductor (twenty-piece chamber orchestra plus piano; vocal trio plus strings and continuo) compel a dynamic, collaborative rehearsal process, allowing collaborators to develop valuable professional skills. In addition, brief spoken introductions will draw on scholarly sources to contextualize the choice to juxtapose these two composers, with particular attention to the astonishing life of Saint-Georges.

Art Perception & Improv Jam

Project Leader: Lily Hemingway

How small of a change would have to be made in order to completely shift your perception of that thing? This project shows how you may perceive art differently depending on elements right in front of you. The piece is broken up into four sections, “Orange,” “Blue,” “Red” and “Purple.” You will hear the musicians play the exact same chord progression for all four sections, only changing certain dynamics of the progression for each color. The goal of this is to try to see just how much I can change your perception of the music that is being played while changing nothing truly fundamental at all. Dancers, projections and lighting are all going to aid visually with each color change. “Perception” artwork by Maggie Herber.

Medusa: A Retelling

Project Leader: Katherine Hicks

My project, when complete, will be a musical retelling of the classic myth of Medusa. However, instead of the monster we’ve become accustomed to, we see her a person, and we reevaluate what we define as a villain in our history. There are many versions of this myth that exist, but the most famous is the patriarchal version where Medusa slept with Poseidon in the temple of Athena and was cursed with a head of snakes and eyes that kill any man she sees. However, the version I’m choosing to follow takes a different narrative. Medusa is raped by Poseidon and Athena provides her with the ability to protect herself from the men that intend to hurt her. For centuries the symbol of Medusa was used to represent protection, the image of her was believed to ward off threats- particularly threats to women. My goal is to open people’s eyes to just how much the patriarchy has influenced our history, our storybooks, our movies and our lives. I want to show that women are not the villains in our history.

Demo 123

Project Co-leaders: Daniel-Jericho Johnson & Jose Rivas

Demo 123 is an amalgamation of ghostwriting, orchestrating, performance and recording. First started with a student’s own rock song arrangement, Demo 123 adds a full orchestration to said student’s song and gives opportunity to other songwriting students to have their own ideas presented in full orchestration. Knowing how important it is to have a production of a musician’s song to their career, we wish to provide a demo recording to all three artists involved and present the opportunity to perform their song live. While not guaranteeing completion of the artist’s demos, it will at least allow them the chance to have song ideas to present in their professional lives.

Snapshots

Project Leader: Matt Kontur & Gianna Branca

Snapshots is a collaborative piece in progress that provides a peek into the lives of different, everyday people going through different things through the use of original songs written by students Gianna Branca and Matt Kontur. The goal is a series of vignettes, little scenes into songs that capture the exact feeling and circumstance represented in the song. Though a songwriter is usually inspired by their own life, this project shows the way in which music is the soundtrack for all people, all moments. We get to see pieces of a breakup, a young person discovering their wants in life, conversations with strangers, decisions of empowerment — messy, unfinished, unfiltered human moments. And hopefully, the audience will feel seen through these “snapshots” of stranger’s lives. The project will be a true collaboration of actors, singers, musicians, arrangers, sound mixers, lighting designers, and so many others to reflect the passions and minds of our students.

Part-Time Lover, Full-Time Wonder: Looking Back at the Career of Stevie Wonder

Project Leader: Joshua Lewis

This project will be a collage of sorts to honor a living legend in Stevie Wonder and what he has meant to and done for music. His versatility and abundance of appeal to any audience is uncanny, and many elements in his music are innovative, if not revolutionary. This project will highlight these sentiments in myriad fashions, in a wide range of lenses.

The Heritage from the East

Project Leader: Qiuyu Li

This project is an extraordinary musical journey that masterfully interweaves a selection of timeless Chinese music pieces, including renowned works like “Butterfly Lovers,” “Farewell, “Daughter’s Love,” “Fisherman’s Song at Dusk,” and “Horse Racing,” among others. Through a harmonious fusion of diverse instruments, such as the clarinet, violin, piano and soul-stirring vocals, the music pieces are linked in a cohesive and seamless manner, creating an utterly unique and captivating performance. Each melody vividly tells its own story, stirring up a plethora of emotions, from heart-wrenching melancholy to joyous celebration, transporting the audience to a bygone era of China.

Beyond being a musical showcase, this project is also an authentic cultural exchange, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the rich heritage and breathtaking beauty of China’s traditional music. It serves as a celebration of Chinese culture and a testament to the enduring power of music to connect people, transcending the boundaries of time and space.

Colamus Humanitatem

Project Leader: Emily Mullen

Colamus Humanitatem translates to “caring for humanity;” something that we often forget during times of war. This project explores the forgotten humanity of loved ones and everyday people who felt the first-hand impacts during the Civil War. Audiences will be transported into the past through readings and performances of poetry and music from the time period. The audience will be involved by sitting on stage with the exhibit with the pieces of poetry and music being performed live in-front of them. After the performances, guests will have the opportunity to explore the actual articles (or scans) of the poetry and musical scores.

Rainforest Soundscape

Project Leader: Emma Shockey

For this project, the purpose is to show people who believe they are not musical that they indeed are musical. By using a variety of percussion and auxiliary instruments, audience members will be invited to come up and play instruments together to create a rain forest soundscape.

Scenes from a Grocery Store Line

Project Leader: Emilie Ticer

An exploration through different art forms of Ticer’s personal singer-song writer music, collaborators will create through mediums of digital manipulation, dance, theatrical singing and instrumental additions.

Band in a Week

Project Co-leaders: Nicholas Vaughan & Maxwell Castellano

Band in a Week, as the name implies, is a group of conservatory students making a band from the ground up. Every individual in the “band” will have an equal part in writing and performing the music with their preferred instruments. By the end of the week, we will have a performance ready set, a name for our band, and a full venue to perform in.

Through the Movement of Music: A Silent Play

Project Leader: Maggie Waite

Through the Movement of Music: A Silent Play is a communication piece similar in style to a ballet. Featuring an original student composition inspired by Debussy’s La fille aux cheveux de lin, this project will portray the story within the music through acting and dance, with no dialogue.

An Intimate Mass

Project Leader: Alyson Zieg

An Intimate Mass is a staged missa brevis setting for mezzo-soprano voice, string quartet and electric guitar that I am composing. It includes the standard number of movements for a missa brevis while telling the story of a marginalized person challenging their community’s complacence with abuse. The text is a mix of the Catholic liturgy and original libretto written by myself. It will include a number of extended techniques required by all musicians as well as special staging and lighting to bring a theatrical element to the audience.