Ancram Opera House Offers Free Songwriting Workshop with Obie Award Winning Composer
Ancram Opera House Announces
DRIVE-IN: AMERICAN FUGUE
A Songwriting Workshop Led by
Obie Award Winning Composer/Performer
Heather Christian
The Ancram Opera House is hosting DRIVE IN: AMERICAN FUGUE, a free songwriting workshop for area residents led by Obie Award-winning composer/performer Heather Christian.
Taking place from April 2-6, selected participants will write songs collaboratively, under the direction of Christian and her team, exploring themes about life right here, right now in our region. Local musical traditions and participants’ musical interests will also inform the songs. Enrollment is limited to 12. To apply and for additional information, visit www.ancramoperahouse.org.
The following week, April 9-13, which is open to anyone and everyone with an interest, participants will learn the songs and perform them before a live audience at the Ancram Opera House as part of a community sing-along on April 13.
“This workshop and performance will inform a larger work that focuses on small American towns and the incredible people who live in them,” said Heather Christian.
“For AOH, the workshop reflects our intention to expand programming throughout the year and to connect leading contemporary performing artists with our local community,” said Jeffrey Mousseau, AOH co-director. “Given her love for small towns and the rural experience, Heather is the perfect artist to lead this workshop,”
Heather Christianis an Obie Award winning composer/theater maker/performer and a 2018 Sundance Time Warner Fellow. Composing/performing credits include Animal Wisdom Bushwick Starr, Mission Drift Nat’l Theater London, The World Is Round BAM, Annie Salem Ars Nova/Sundance Theater Lab, Of Mice and Men West Yorkshire Playhouse, and North, LaMama ETC. Film composition: Lemon, (2017 Sundance Film Festival and SXSW) Gregory Go Boom, (Sundance Grand Jury Prize), Adult Swim series The Shivering Truth. Christian has taught music composition at NYU and Princeton and has been named one of TimeOut New York’s “Downtown Innovators To Watch.”
The award-winning Ancram Opera House presents a mix of contemporary theatre, alternative cabaret, and community programs. AOH is located in a former grange hall converted into an intimate and flexible space that fosters an authentic connection between audiences and performers. AOH offers a unique opportunity to directly engage, up close, with visionary theatre artists at the top of their field who are rarely seen in the region.www.ancramoperahouse.org.
Photo Credit: Marie Baranova
