THE DOCTOR’S WIFE

Last weekend we had our first informal table reading of THE DOCTOR’S WIFE, my new musical written in collaboration with the talented bookwriter Kate Stayman-London. The show depicts a day in the life of Rachel Rosenberg, a Jewish housewife living in a gated community in the suburbs of LA, and the women she encounters in her world. Thanks to Kerri-Anne Lavin, Leslie Stevens, Lowe Taylor, Savannah Southern-Smith and Fran DeLeon for bringing these characters to life for the very first time! We look forward to producing a full staged reading in Los Angeles in the spring.

New Publication

I’ve just published a book review of  Wendy S. Hesford’s ”Spectacular Rhetorics: Human Rights Visions, Recognitions, Feminisms” in the International Journal of Communication. Click below to read:

http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1429/663

Composer-Librettist Studio at New Dramatists, New York

Just back from New York, where I had the time of my life composing 5 new pieces with 5 new collaborators for 5 brilliant singer-actors as part of the 2011 Composer-Librettist Studio at New Dramatists. The studio began with several days of collaborative and team-building exercises, followed by work on music-theater principals. Then, we were off to the races– composers and librettists were paired up, a new team every 2 days, with material being turned around every 48 hours, culminating in a final presentation on Feb 28th. Thanks to all the brilliant and talented artists for making this a truly amazing experience!

2011 Composer-Librettist Studio Participants

Human Trafficking in Thailand and Cambodia: talk at BINA LA

I had a blast speaking about human trafficking in Thailand and Cambodia at BINA LA this past Wednesday. BINA is a network of Israeli and American Jewish professionals ages 25-45 in Los Angeles who seek to create meaningful connections with Israel and each other through cutting edge programming revolving around educational, cultural and social events tied to Israel. A great group of  people dedicated to making a difference in the world. Looking forward to the next event!

View the VIDEO here: http://www.binala.org/content/human-trafficking-thailand-and-cambodia

 

Till Death Do Us Part– New Investors for Chicago Production!

Emmy Award-Winner Scott Liggett joins the Investment Team! Click below to read more:

Till Death Do Us Part- Producers Plan Chicago Production

2010 LA Weekly Awards

Congratulations to Rick Sparks and David O for receiving the 2010 LA Weekly Awards for Best Director/ Best Musical Director for “Divorce! The Musical!”

LA Drama Critics Circle Nomination

I am grateful to have just received a nomination for Best Original Score from the  LA Drama Critics Circle!

Click below to read about the Award:

http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/Laurie_Metcalf_Kirk_Douglas_et_al_Honored_with_LA_Drama_Critics_Circle_Nominations_20100125 

Ovation Award

On Monday night, January 11th the LA Stage Alliance hosted the 2010 LA Ovation Awards at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts center. Divorce! The Musical was nominated in five categories. While my competition against against Dolly Pardon (“9 to 5″), Frank Zappa, and Charles Strause (“Minsky’s”) was fierce, a miracle occurred and I won the award for best book, music and lyrics of an original musical. Thank you LA Theater community and Ovation voters!

We trust that this award, which certainly belongs to the entire creative team, will help secure investment for our upcoming Chicago and New York productions.

“Divorce! The Musical” Receives 5 Ovation Award Nominations

The LA Stage Alliance has just announced their nominations for the 2009 Ovation Awards. “Divorce! The Musical” has received nominations for five awards, in the categories of Best Director, Best Musical Director, Best Ensemble, Best Original Music and Lyrics and Best Production.

Read what the Los Angeles Times has to say about the Ovations: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/10/ovation-nominees-announced.html

Congrats to the entire cast, crew and creative team for a job well done!

International Conference on Shan Studies, Bangkok, 2009

Last week I attended the first International Conference on Shan Studies hosted by Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University in cooperation with the EU’s Euro-Burma Office. For the first time, scholars, researchers, NGO’s and members of the Shan communities in Thailand and Burma came together to discuss the culture, politics and history of one of mainland Southeast Asia’s largest ethnic minority groups. Understudied academically, but possessing a large presence throughout the region of Northern Thailand and Northeastern Burma, the Shan, or “Tai” people inhabit what is presently known as Shan State. Lacking political autonomy in a nation riddled with ethnic warfare, the Shan have populated this large area of Burma since the 12th century, and have migrated into the mountainous regions of northern Thailand, Yunnan China and Laos. While their presence in each of these nations is strong, the Shan are nevertheless known as a “People without country,” for their status as citizens remains unrecognized by many Southeast Asian governments, including Thailand’s.

I spoke about my research this past summer in Northern Thailand where I met many ethnic Shan women and children and tried to make sense of their experience in the face of what I call Thailand’s “National Identity Project.” While working at DEPDC, a school in Mae Sai (a small city bordering Burma), I attempted to understand why so many Shan community members turn to child trafficking as a viable means of economic survival, and how this activity is related to Thai nationalism. After presenting my paper to an audience of Thai, Burmese, Shan and western academics and others, I was thrilled to find that the discourse was coherent and struck a chord with many members of the audience. I asked the questions, “Why are ethnic Shan not given refugee status in Thailand?” “What is at the heart of Thailand’s National Identity Project?” and perhaps most importantly, “How can we better understand the experiences of ethnic minority women and children living in northern Thailand?”

The other members of my panel were also compelled by these questions. Ursula Cats, an anthropology student from the Netherlands’ Vrije University and Busarin Lertchavalitsakul from Chiang Mai University presented papers on the illegal status of young Shan refugee women in northern Thailand and food within ethnic Shan communities, respectively. Together with the audience, we managed to open up a dialogue around the lives and experiences of Shan women living in Thailand—lives at once precarious and fragile yet deeply rooted in tradition and ethnic identity. For me, sitting on the panel with these two amazing women was an extremely empowering and enlightening experience that I won’t soon forget!

Being a student of Public Diplomacy, my blog about the conference wouldn’t be complete without a brief mention of politics: the Euro-Burma Office, in their efforts to maintain diplomacy were fairly strict about the panelists refraining from discussing Burmese politics during the conference. After our panel discussion, one man stood up: a lawyer and refugee from Burma, asking us passionately why we hadn’t been more strident in criticizing the Burmese government in our presentations. While I briefly addressed the man’s question, explaining that the focus of my studies was on the Shan in Thailand, not Burma, the conversation left several of us with questions as to how far politics can and should be explored in this type of conference. While the goal of the conference was indeed to celebrate Shan culture and identity, the conversation would not be complete without also understanding the root cause of the Shan’s migration into Thailand: namely, their oppression by Burma’s military junta. The debate about how much to say, and how to say it lingers in my mind. I can only hope that by opening up a space for studying Shan culture, academics, governments and publics alike will begin to take notice of the complex political web in Burma that, I believe, must be addressed by the world community in a more pro-active way.