More than any other form of writing, musical theater has collaboration at its heart.  In this 4-session intensive, librettists, composers, and lyricists will come together to explore the principles behind successful collaboration. How do you create and develop ideas as a team?  How do you communicate with artists of a different discipline?  How will your collaborative process shape your ultimate product?  Each week for the first three sessions, students will form new writing teams, consisting of a librettist, a composer, and a lyricist, to tackle assignments that pose these questions. Writers will be encouraged to focus on the process, embracing the challenge of three unique voices creating a unified piece of theater.  You and your team will be expected to work on your projects outside of class time, particularly during the extended break between the third and fourth class sessions. Students will leave this class with three short musical theater pieces, an in-depth understanding of musical writing, and a strong community of potential collaborators.

The class is open to librettists, composers, and lyricists. Students should register under one (and only one) of these disciplines. This class will consist of three weekly sessions, culminating in a final class presentation and review of all the created works on May 8.