Guerilla Opera Announces Two New Libretto Writing Labs

Guerilla Opera will offer two courses to artists who are interested in exploring the art of writing through the lens of opera.

The first is the “Guerilla Lab: Libretto Writing”, a four-class summer course that serves as an introductory-level exploration into writing for opera. Writers who are new to opera or writing for opera will explore structures and techniques to begin generating ideas for stories as well as prompts to guide their writing practice. Following the 4-week course, students will have an outline for a full work, as well as 2 pieces of written text.

The “Guerilla Writing Collective” is a next-level course, a nine-month cohort that starts in the fall. The Collective is geared toward artists whose goal is to complete a draft of a new work. At the end of the nine-month program, each participant will have a full reading of their completed text.

In both courses, participants will develop and hone their own unique approaches to writing musical text, and have their pieces workshopped by the group through table-readings and other formats. This peer-learning model allows participants to support one another as a community by acting as readers for each other. It additionally serves as an accountability and support group by providing constructive feedback for the works as they develop.

Both courses are led by Kendra Preston Leonard, a writer, scholar, and musician with extensive experience writing opera libretti. Her warm and open approach to creative writing, love of teaching, and interest in highlighting traditionally marginalized voices in the opera world make her an ideal Guerilla collaborator:

"I'm excited to be working with Guerilla Opera in teaching and supporting writers in their creation of new libretti that explore and advocate for representation, equity, and equality. Guerilla Opera and I share a commitment to challenging the status quo in opera, addressing contemporary issues, and empowering marginalized performers and figures.”  - Kendra Preston Leonard

Although these courses do 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.

“These courses will be inclusive and encouraging environments for writers of all experience levels in which they can experiment, practice, and develop their skills in writing text that will be sung. I especially encourage women (cis and trans), nonbinary, LGBTQIA2S+, and BIPOC writers to apply." - Kendra Preston Leonard

Female-identifying, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC artists are encouraged to apply! Multi-lingual participants are also encouraged to apply, though sessions will be facilitated in English.

To learn more and apply to Guerilla Opera's “Guerilla Labs” and libretto writing courses, visit guerillaopera.org/guerilla-lab. Contact Maggi Chauby, Community & Education Manager at mchauby@guerillaopera.org with any questions or for more information.

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