Storm Thomas

This is a graduate studio focused on interrogating the link between music and storytelling traditions in and beyond the musical theater industry. Special attention will be paid to how these forms intersect with wider social structures such as labor and economy, and identity and oppression. Black and queer musical theater with be essential to our research and inquiry. In-class lectures will range, for example, from hands-on experimentation with instruments and music-making technologies to an in-depth analysis of current trends within the industry. Our approach will blend theory, practice, and theater history. This course is suited for students who are interested in sound as essential to their work or are drawing connections between their sound-based theater practice through broader academic disciplines such as theater studies or musicology. Students will develop and share a portfolio of work that is unique to their own interests and skills based on assignments. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduate students who have taken Songwriting For A New Musical Theater. 3 hr class with additional weekly time for office hours.

This course suggests a unique approach to musical theatre making, forged during the making of the Tony/Obie award-winning musical, Passing Strange. The method treats song, not story, as the seed out of which a show grows. Students are taught to conjure stories out of their songs rather than tacking songs onto a preexisting narrative. The urgency of personal biography as the source material for theatrical myth making (vs. invented fictions) is also emphasized, along with the incorporation of solo performance and the use of video. Emphasis on in-the-moment creating via a demystification of the songwriting process seeks to keep students inspired and motivated, with more time spent creating than listening to a lecture. Students are regularly given songwriting prompts and invited to take time away from class to compose. Students will work toward building, by semester’s end, a final show drawn from the songs that they’ve written. Students will learn techniques that transform the “magic” of songwriting into a reflexive act of communication available to anyone, with or without songwriting experience. The fundamentals of songwriting are taught, along with an introduction to various music software apps.

This is a graduate studio focused on interrogating the link between music and storytelling traditions in and beyond the musical theater industry. Special attention will be paid to how these forms intersect with wider social structures such as labor and economy, and identity and oppression. Black and queer musical theater with be essential to our research and inquiry. In-class lectures will range, for example, from hands-on experimentation with instruments and music-making technologies to an in-depth analysis of current trends within the industry. Our approach will blend theory, practice, and theater history. This course is suited for students who are interested in sound as essential to their work or are drawing connections between their sound-based theater practice through broader academic disciplines such as theater studies or musicology. Students will develop and share a portfolio of work that is unique to their own interests and skills based on assignments. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduate students who have taken Songwriting For A New Musical Theater. 3 hr class with additional weekly time for office hours.

This course suggests a unique approach to musical theatre making, forged during the making of the Tony/Obie award-winning musical, Passing Strange. The method treats song, not story, as the seed out of which a show grows. Students are taught to conjure stories out of their songs rather than tacking songs onto a preexisting narrative. The urgency of personal biography as the source material for theatrical mythmaking (vs. invented fictions) is also emphasized, along with the incorporation of solo performance and the use of video. Emphasis on in-the-moment creating via a demystification of the songwriting process seeks to keep students inspired and motivated, with more time spent creating than listening to a lecture. Students are regularly given songwriting prompts and invited to take time away from class to compose. Students will work toward building, by semester’s end, a final show drawn from the songs that they’ve written. Students will learn techniques that transform the “magic” of songwriting into a reflexive act of communication available to anyone, with or without songwriting experience. The fundamentals of songwriting are taught, along with an introduction to various music software apps.

This course suggests a unique approach to musical theatre making, forged during the making of the Tony/Obie award-winning musical, Passing Strange. The method treats song, not story, as the seed out of which a show grows. Students are taught to conjure stories out of their songs rather than tacking songs onto a preexisting narrative. The urgency of personal biography as the source material for theatrical mythmaking (vs. invented fictions) is also emphasized, along with the incorporation of solo performance and the use of video. Emphasis on in-the-moment creating, via a demystification of the songwriting process, seeks to keep students inspired and motivated, with more time spent creating than listening to a lecture. Students are regularly given songwriting prompts and invited to take time away from class to compose. Students will work toward building, by semester’s end, a final show drawn from the songs that they’ve written. Students will learn techniques that transform the “magic” of songwriting into a reflexive act of communication available to anyone, with or without songwriting experience. The fundamentals of songwriting are taught, along with an introduction to various music software apps.