SCRAPBOOK
This page is a running scrapbook of memories of my journey as an artist
- 2024 -
Staging Stories - An Opera Libretto Development Workshop
Cape Town Opera is currently hosting a libretto-writing program, with six carefully selected participants guided by acclaimed librettists Stephanie Fleischmann and Alan Olejniczak. The program will culminate in a workshop and final reading of the six new works at Staging Stories: Writing for Opera on 15 March 2025, as part of Cape Town Opera's Shorts
Cape Town Opera is currently hosting a libretto-writing program, with six carefully selected participants guided by acclaimed librettists Stephanie Fleischmann and Alan Olejniczak. The program will culminate in a workshop and final reading of the six new works at Staging Stories: Writing for Opera on 15 March 2025, as part of Cape Town Opera's Shorts
Top, from left to right: Elisabeth Manduell, Magdalene Minnaar, Alan Olejniczak
Centre, from left to right: Stephanie Fleischmann, Lebogang Mogashoa, Nontobeko Ngwenya
Bottom, from left to right: Sibuyiselo Dywili, Peggy Mongoato, Sanelisiwe Maliza
Not pictured: Scout Fynn
Centre, from left to right: Stephanie Fleischmann, Lebogang Mogashoa, Nontobeko Ngwenya
Bottom, from left to right: Sibuyiselo Dywili, Peggy Mongoato, Sanelisiwe Maliza
Not pictured: Scout Fynn
The Arctic Circle Alumni Expedition
From August 15th to the 29th, I was one of a hundred artists in residence onboard the MV Ortelius. We circumnavigated the archipelago of Svalbard and sailed north through pack ice to reach the 82nd parallel.
From August 15th to the 29th, I was one of a hundred artists in residence onboard the MV Ortelius. We circumnavigated the archipelago of Svalbard and sailed north through pack ice to reach the 82nd parallel.
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Opera on Tap Colorado
Presents the World Premiere of the One-Act Opera On Our Way Music by Nathan Wasner Libretto by Alan Olejniczak Saturday, July, 13th 2024 7:00pm Brewability, Englewood, CO |
Opera Workshop Performance
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Premiere of the Short Comic Opera
End of the Line Presented by New Opera West and The Opera Buffs Director: Michael Van Duzer MiMoDa Studio Los Angeles, CA April 27th and 28th |
Staged Workshop of the Musical
Babes in Arms: High School
with Lyric Theatre's Thelma Gaylord's Academy, Oklahoma City.
Ronn Burton Directing
March 23rd, 2024
-2023-
Promo Photoshoot for Concerto
at the Overholser Mansion in Oklahoma City
at the Overholser Mansion in Oklahoma City
Sitting in on a rehearsal for "The Emperor's Garden"
with the Marins Girls Chorus May 2023
with the Marins Girls Chorus May 2023
Staging rehearsals for the opera "Atlas of Remote Islands"
with Opera on Tap Colorado, April 2023
with Opera on Tap Colorado, April 2023
- 2022 -
Opera Parallèle's Holiday Party
December 2022
December 2022
The online workshop of the aria "Look Within" from the opera:
Hypatia A Full-Length Opera with Music by Afarin Monsouri and Libretto by Alan Olejniczak LISTEN HERE Performed by Stephanie Feigenbaum (voice) and Candace Chien (piano) |
UNBOUND with Tigerbear Productions
Palm Springs - October to November 2022
Palm Springs - October to November 2022
NOCEFRESCA
Milis, Sardinia - September 5th to Oct 3rd 2022
Milis, Sardinia - September 5th to Oct 3rd 2022
Opera Parallèle Celebration
A LIGHT REKINDLED
A Song Cycle by Amin Sarrafi Sung by countertenor Kyle Tingzon with Ginger Rose Bruckner on harp. Poetry by Sohrab Sepehri with text by Alan Olejniczak "Within darkness, the light of the simple beauties shine brighter. This project is a way for us to both address the philosophical and social issues that we face today, while drawing a parallel between Iranian and western idealism through contemporary Persian poetry." Amin Sarrafi LISTEN HERE |
- 2021 -
Workshop Reading of Concerto
Lyric Theater of Oklahoma
Tuesday, September 28, 2021 The Myriad Botanical Gardens Water Stage. Oklahoma City, OK Directed by Michael Baron with Alexander Mickelthewate |
Death of Ivan Ilych
Thompson Street Opera Company
Chicago, September 2021
PHOTOS BY CLAIRE DIVIZIO
Thompson Street Opera Company
Chicago, September 2021
PHOTOS BY CLAIRE DIVIZIO
UNBOUND
STUDIO FRICTION, DENVER, AUGUST 2021
PHOTO CREDIT AMANDA TIPTON/LIGHTING DESIGN WES HALLORAN
PHOTO CREDIT AMANDA TIPTON/LIGHTING DESIGN WES HALLORAN
Denver Opera Workshop
UNBOUND June 2021
UNBOUND June 2021
Man Up
Thu, Apr 15, 2021 (14:00) Sun, Apr 18, 2021 (15:00) World Premiere of ‘Man Up’ for solo double bassist at the Oh My Ears New Music Festival. Phoenix, AZ Will Yager, double bass Nathan Hall, composer Texts by Peggy Orenstein, Edited by Alan Olejniczak with Nathan Hall and Andy Lynes Note on the video below: video contains brief nudity and language not suitable for children. Viewer discretion advised.
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'Man Up' is a music theater work on masculinity and what that means to be a "man" today. Our solo double bassist has quite an undertaking: he speaks texts taken from Peggy Orenstein's book "Boys and Sex" and her article "Can Masculinity Be Redeemed?", while playing original music that amplifies these learned “masculine” behaviors and misconceptions. All the while, he must fully undress. We hope that this work is a small action that can show other ways of performing gender and how our ideas of masculinity can be indeed redeemed from violence and bigotry. Site and contents Copyright ©Nathan Hall 2021, all rights reserved.
Seattle Opera
Opera in the Making: Libretto-Writing This aria, Amir, I love you, was an assignment from an online class I took with Jessica Murphy Moo and the Seattle Opera. This aria from a sketch from White Nights by Dostoevsky, but reset in Teheran. Afarin Mansouri - Composer Alan Olejniczak - Librettist Cheryse McLeod Lewis- Mezzo Soprano Li-Tan Hsu - Piano |
Posted with permission of Seattle Opera
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Death of Ivan Ilych
A World Co-Premiere Opera Music by John Young and Libretto by Alan Olejniczak In Partnership with Orlando Opera and Thompson Street Opera Company. FRIDAY | February 19 at 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY | February 21 at 5 p.m. ORLANDO MUSEUM OF ART |
Photos by Opera Orlando & the photographer, Bearded Lens
- 2020 -
Phil Whelan, host of Morning Brew on RTHK Radio 3 interview with Nicholas Atkinson and myself about The Proscenium's production of Helt Texas
23/11/2020 (starting at 1:59:28)
LISTEN HERE
23/11/2020 (starting at 1:59:28)
LISTEN HERE
FINAL READ-THROUGH OF THE PROSCENIUM'S
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
NOVEMBER 2020
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
NOVEMBER 2020
Nick Atkinson, Alan Olejniczak, Carl Prekopp, Mina Anwar, Simon Paisley Day, Michael Therriault, Chris Nayak, Jonathan Broadbent,
David David Ricardo Pearce (and family), Nat Ramabulana, and Belinda Pinto
David David Ricardo Pearce (and family), Nat Ramabulana, and Belinda Pinto
Proscenium On Line Theatre
June 2020
- 2019 -
NES Writer in Residence
November 2019 - Skagaströnd, Iceland
November 2019 - Skagaströnd, Iceland
Richard Read, Jaq Grantford, Jack MacRae, Karen Jiang,
Alan Olejniczak, Donné Hallot, Kellie McKenna, Gabriella Concha, Sarah Thibault
Alan Olejniczak, Donné Hallot, Kellie McKenna, Gabriella Concha, Sarah Thibault
Artist in Residence for Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
September 2019
September 2019
Punch Presentations
September's recording session of Helt Texas in Hong Hong
MicroGalleries
Disrupting Climate Disruption: A Day of Creative Action
September 21st, 2019
Disrupting Climate Disruption: A Day of Creative Action
September 21st, 2019
Sea Level 2080 is a simple and powerful, open-source art project that I installed with musician Liam Fien on Punau'u Black Sands Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii. Sea Level 2080 is the brainchild of artist and sculptor Adam Kuby and installed by 26 other artists, activists, and students worldwide to coincide with the UN Climate Summit on September 21st and The Climate Reality Project: 24 Hours of Reality: Truth in Action.
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Recoding the Demo of Scene Six from Death of Ivan Ilych
With John Young, Alex Boyd, Hanna Brammer, and George Hemcher
Sarasota, Florida, July 2018
With John Young, Alex Boyd, Hanna Brammer, and George Hemcher
Sarasota, Florida, July 2018
The 38th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival Val-Kill A PlayLab Reading, Friday May 24th at 3:30pm Independence First United Methodist Church 200 S Penn Avenue Independence, Kansas |
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Developmental Reading with the
Google Sustainability Team
Google Headquarters, Mountain View CA
April 2019
Google Sustainability Team
Google Headquarters, Mountain View CA
April 2019
The Developmental Reading, directed by Cole Ferraiuolo, dramaturgy by Austin Owen,
with Eliza Bovin, Andrew Chung, Adam Niemann, Ashely Gennarelli, and Gabriel Montoya
with Eliza Bovin, Andrew Chung, Adam Niemann, Ashely Gennarelli, and Gabriel Montoya
Faultline Theater's Reading of HELT TEXAS
Directed by Cole Ferraiuolo, Dramaturgy by Austin Owen,
with Eliza Bovin, Kevin Glass, Phillip Wong, Ashely Gennarelli, and Gabriel Montoya
Directed by Cole Ferraiuolo, Dramaturgy by Austin Owen,
with Eliza Bovin, Kevin Glass, Phillip Wong, Ashely Gennarelli, and Gabriel Montoya
Micro-Galleries Collective
Artist Residency: November 2018, Katmandu, Patan, Nepal In partnership with Kaalo 101, Blue Diamond Society, and UNESCO. Micro Galleries International Arts Collective is a global arts initiative that uses art as a vehicle to create positive change, through creative interventions in public spaces, workshops, art tours, symposiums, think tanks, and residencies. |
The Road Theatre Company
SUMMER PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL 9 August 5th 2018 Transgress Directed by Laura Stribling with Lucia Towers, Kathy Bell Denton, Chet Grissom, and Eddie Kehler |

The Arctic Circle
SUMMER SOLSTICE EXPEDITION
The International Territory of Svalbard
June 10th to 27th, 2018
Playwrighting Residency
The mission of The Arctic Circle Residency is to foster communication and collaboration between artists, scientists, educators and activists. The Arctic Circle is a biannual expeditionary residency program, which sails the high arctic, bringing together international artists of all disciplines.
READ THE TRAVELOGUE OF THIS ADVENTURE
SUMMER SOLSTICE EXPEDITION
The International Territory of Svalbard
June 10th to 27th, 2018
Playwrighting Residency
The mission of The Arctic Circle Residency is to foster communication and collaboration between artists, scientists, educators and activists. The Arctic Circle is a biannual expeditionary residency program, which sails the high arctic, bringing together international artists of all disciplines.
READ THE TRAVELOGUE OF THIS ADVENTURE
FaultLine Theater Conference in The Sea Ranch, California
February 3rd to the 4th
February 3rd to the 4th
- 2017 -
ArtSpan:Open Studios
November 10th -12th
November 10th -12th
Rehearsing and recoding a sample of GALOIS
O+ Festival in Kingston, NY
October 7th, 2017
October 7th, 2017
The Bechdel Group and The Drama League
New York City, September 25th, 2017
New York City, September 25th, 2017
UNFORGIVEN
Theatre Bay Area Celebration
Z Space, June 2017
Z Space, June 2017
Photoshoot for PROGRESS
Salton Sea, California May, 2017
Salton Sea, California May, 2017
The 36th Annual William Inge Festival
Independence Kansas
Independence Kansas
- 2016 -
Bicycling to Afghanistan
by Karl Schnecke with At Last Theatre
November, 2016
by Karl Schnecke with At Last Theatre
November, 2016
Lethe with the San Francisco Olympians Festival
October 2016
October 2016
A surprise belated birthday and retirement gift from Jeff and Mike.
A beautifully restored 1939 New Remington DeLuxe Model 5.
A beautifully restored 1939 New Remington DeLuxe Model 5.
DOMINION
with At Last Theatre
April, 2016
with At Last Theatre
April, 2016
Costume Renderings by Arthur Oliver
Production and Rehearsal Photos
if then(-else)
with Dover Little Theatre
with Dover Little Theatre
Unhappy Birthday with Theatre Pub
January, 2016
January, 2016
- 2015 -
Hylas with San Francisco Olympian's Festival VI
November, 2015
November, 2015
Original graphics by Cody Rishell
www.codyrishell.com
www.codyrishell.com
Workshop Reading of Dominion
at The Foundry in Berkeley, October 2015
at The Foundry in Berkeley, October 2015
Present Tense
with At Last Theatre
Pictures taken by Jim Norrena
Production and Rehearsal Photos for Present Tense
- 2014 -
A Staged Reading of Bloodline
Playwright Center of San Francisco
Directed by Laylah Muran de Asserto and produced by Laylah Muran de Asserto
June 16, 2014
Playwright Center of San Francisco
Directed by Laylah Muran de Asserto and produced by Laylah Muran de Asserto
June 16, 2014