RED HEN PRESS HOSTS

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THE LAUNCH OF THE GENRE-BENDING WEB SERIES BASED ON TRUE EVENTS

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THE WEB OPERA

Composed by Michael Roth

Libretto by Kate Gale

Directed by Kate Jopson

 

The free launch event January 27th from 1-4 pm will screen episodes 1-3 of the five-part series. 

 

Privacy is fragile

 

The first three episodes of THE WEB OPERA, a fully musical through-sung web series composed by new-music and theatre veteran 

Michael Roth with libretto by Red Hen Press Managing Editor Kate Gale and directed by Kate Jopson (Artistic Director, Circle X

Theatre Co.) will launch Sunday, January 27th at 1pm at Red Hen Press 1540 Lincoln Ave, Pasadena CA 91103. Eduardo Vega from

Humannovations, a social impact organization, will host an interactive panel on cyberbullying, cyber abuse and suicide prevention

following the screening.  

 

The first three episodes are available online now at TheWebOpera.com. 

 

The Web Opera is presented online to encourage all who view it, via the website, to support organizations working against cyber abuse. In addition, donations from the launch will go towards completing episodes four and five.  Michael Roth will be John Schneider's guest and will be playing excerpts from THE WEB OPERA on Global Village, streaming nationally at KPFK.org on Thursday January 24 at 11AM PST.  interview is posted here - https://www.thewebopera.com/reviews

 

THE WEB OPERA is a unique experiment in music and film based on true events. A college freshman installs a webcam and starts a

chain of events that will forever impact the lives of those around him.  Composer Randy Newman calls THE WEB OPERA “a great 21st century opera. It’s full of fine things and is remarkably accessible. It is also an important story told very very well.” 

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THE CREATIVE TEAM

 

MICHAEL ROTH (Composer) is a composer and sound artist whose work has been called "music one could imagine Ives composing

had he encountered rock-and-roll and beat poetry." He has composed chamber music, film scores, dance music, opera and music/theatre, and especially music and sound design for theatre, having created scores for over 250 productions at major theatres throughout North America. Recent projects include: HENRY IV with Tom Hanks as Falstaff, directed by Daniel Sullivan; THE TEMPEST with Christopher Plummer (both on stage and film), and Plummer's solo show A WORD OR TWO, both directed by Des McAnuff; IMAGINATION DEAD IMAGINE, his music theatre treatment of Samuel Beckett's text, authorized by Beckett, for string quartet, voices and laptop - recently premiered in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Prague; three piano sonatas - FATS NOVEMBER, TUESDAY FOR TOY PIANO and SHEETCAKE; collaborating with Stacy Keach on PAMPLONA, his solo show as Hemingway directed by Robert Falls; JEWS & BASEBALL (PBS) narrated by Dustin Hoffman; and his chamber opera THEIR THOUGHT & BACK AGAIN, available via iTunes and Amazon. Michael is also known for his many collaborations with Randy Newman, including musical direction/arrangements for Disney's PRINCESS & THE FROG, orchestrations for Randy's FAUST, recently revised for Encores! in New York, and editing five definitive songbooks. His work encompasses Broadway, off-Broadway, Canada's Stratford Festival, as a resident artist at both South Coast Repertory (57 productions) and La Jolla Playhouse (35 productions), and collaborations with, among many others, Anne Bogart, Culture Clash, Peter Sellars, Tom Stoppard (two American premieres), Mac Wellman, MacArthur Fellows Sarah Ruhl and Samuel Hunter, and, as a pianist, singers from Alice Ripley to Madonna, Marni Nixon, and Alicia Keyes.

 

KATE GALE (Librettist) Dr. Kate Gale is Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Red Hen Press, Editor of the Los Angeles Review. She

teaches in the Low Residency MFA program at the University of Nebraska in Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction. She serves on the board of the Poetry Society of America. She is author of seven books of poetry (her most recent, The Goldilocks Zone), a novel Lake of Fire, and six librettos including Rio de Sangre, a libretto for an opera with composer Don Davis which had its world premiere October 2010 at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee. Her current projects include operas with Michael Roth, Joseph Turrin, Armando Bayola, Daniel Felsenfeld, and art songs with Mark Abel. 

 

KATE JOPSON (Director) is the Artistic Director of Circle X Theatre in Los Angeles. Recently, she directed the short film PROTECT &

SAVE (official selection Alexander Valley Film Festival, Dam Short Film Festival) and developed documentaries with the Academy-Award winning company Stick Figure Productions. As a theatre director, she specializes in experienced-based productions in locations as varied as a Frank Lloyd Wright house, a horse ranch, a beach, and a flower-filled basement. Recent theatre credits: HOLE IN THE SKY (Circle X Theatre); CANDIDE (Santa Cruz Shakespeare); FEFU AND HER FRIENDS (Circle X Theatre/JUST Toys Productions, LA); 1984 (Greenway Court Theatre, LA); AN ACCIDENT (Griot Theatre, LA), TWELFTH NIGHT (Courage Theatre Co. LA); SECOND SKIN (The West/The Flagship Ensemble); A WILLOW GROWS ASLANT (La Jolla Playhouse —Without Walls Fest.) B.A UC Berkeley; M.F.A in Directing from UC San Diego. 

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EDUARDO VEGA (Mental Health Advisor) is CEO of Humannovations, a social impact consultancy focused on social justice and

mental health, suicide prevention, culture and the arts. An internationally recognized thought leader, his work as a change agent and

innovator continues to drive the forefront of change for mental health and community empowerment worldwide. Vega serves on the

Steering Committee of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Global Anti-Stigma Alliance, and the Executive Committee of the US National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Vega is a published poet, author, playwright, and director whose work has been seen across the US and Europe. He holds an M.A. in Psychology from New School for Social Research.

 

THE CAST AND PRODUCTION

 

CAST

Reuben Uy, Adam Von Almen, Stephanie Cecile Yavelow with Molly Connor, Loren Battley and Joyce Lai.

 

PRODUCTION

Cinematography by Dana Fytelson; Motion Graphics by Lisa Glenn Armstrong, Yiyi Shao, and Chris Gaal/Crazybridge Studios; Sound

Mixing by Steven Cahill; and additional musicians including Peter Sprague, Yvette Holzwarth, Batya MacAdam-Somer, Stephen Erdody, Missy Lukin, Duncan Moore and vocalists Emily Kosloski, Jacqueline Lopez, Laura Vall and Amy White.

 

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