What do you do when you have a two-hour original love story/Lake Superior ship disaster opera ready to try out?  It’s not like you can just bring together 20 actors plus a major chorus to learn a plethora of music?  Of course, I knew this fact going into this new process of trying to write an opera.  I knew chances would be slim to nil to try to assemble such a large group of musicians – even at only a workshop level.  But, you have to try, right?

So, I packed my bag and headed Duluth way last month to meet with some incredible faculty artists from the University of Minnesota – Duluth to just to test the waters of interest in the show, and perhaps brainstorm different possibilities.  I was amazed at the outcome.  These faculty members from both the Music and Theatre departments were wonderfully opened-armed and open-minded to the possibilities of trying to envision a premiere of The Lake Between Us up in Duluth.  The meetings were full of enthusiasm, creativity, professional curiosity, collaboration, and this inherent artistic drive to create something new.  These people were incredibly passionate and respectful to the developmental process that goes into creating new work.

I had always known that UMD was a great center for musical theatre development for students.  When I lived in Duluth, I watched many a production there, as well as even worked in the theatre’s technical workshop for a summer rep production, just to hone in on some technical skills.  I’ve always had a great respect for the work done there.  They approach musical theatre with a great sense of passion and professionalism.  I even directed one of my strongest musical theatre students at Casper College toward UMD for her final two years of study.  She ended up going there, getting her BFA, and then immediately went on to tour with a national Sesame Street company.

It’s always fun to collaborate, especially at the dreaming stage.  The possibilities are endless and the imagination is free-flowing.  We talked over the collaboration between music and theatre departments, financial supports, media marketing potential, collaborations with other local professional groups, venues, talent, and size.  I was loving this.  It’s always such an honor to have artistic folk take your work seriously and talk about it intelligently.  Suddenly, you begin to see ideas evolve into potential avenues for production.

At this point, nothing is firm at all.  Nothing may even happen.  But, you know, it’s so much fun just going through these developmental growth spurts with your work.  It’s a necessary part of the process, and frankly, one of the most fun.  Afterall, it’s always fun when the sky is the limit.