Dear friends,

It looks like I haven’t written for a couple of years! There’s a New Year’s Resolution—I will be better in 2020.

The fall of 2019 was full of happy collaborations—our production company Shot in the Dark premiered its second show ever—Drytown: A living room vaudeville.  Nathan and I were joined with our Lyric Theatre colleagues Michael Tilley and Sarah Wigley in making a show about making a show.  The hilarious Susan Werner wrote us some songs for it, memorably “Hey! You look tired”– a song about beloved guests who have overstayed their welcome.  We’ve used it at home a few times since, as needed.

Lyric Theatre @ Illinois continues to thrive and grow, with five new productions a year and a new fund: the Krannert Center/Lyric Theatre Student Excellence Fund. We will launch that on January 30th at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts with an encore performance of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World.

In December, I had the privilege of helping lead a workshop of Paola Prestini’s new opera Sensorium Ex, in collaboration with Brenda Shaughnessy and Beth Morrison Projects.  Tackling disability, motherhood, and artificial intelligence all at once, this piece challenges our emotional, social, and intellectual selves.  It’s wonderful to live in a community where we have such expertise spread out among us.

Off for a quick visit to New York to visit the Prototype Festival, where Nathan is performing in Ricky Ian Gordon’s setting of Ellen West.  And back to Illinois for rehearsals of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret and classes at the Krannert Center.

Happy New Year everyone! May it be a wonderful adventure.

Love,

Julie