The New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, presented in collaboration with Nautilus Music-Theater, is designed to provide an opportunity for five writers and five composers to work with professional performers, exploring the possibilities and basic elements of music-theater. The studio focuses on the process of collaboration through a series of brief exploratory assignments for the writers and composers. The exercises are then sight-read by the performers in brief working sessions. The participants rotate partners, and the process is repeated four more times. Within the two-week period, all composers work with all writers and all performers. Toward the end of the studio, an informal reading of all the compositions is held. The studio is co-directed by Ben Krywosz (Artistic Director of Nautilus Music-Theater) and music director Roger Ames. 

The collaborative atmosphere of the studio is relatively free from the performance pressures usually associated with the commercial musical theater or opera field. New Dramatists has sponsored the studio annually since 1984. Over the years, Krywosz has conducted other studios around the country in such cities as Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, and Miami. All the studios have nurtured collaborative teams that have gone on to develop and produce new work.

2019 Composer Librettist Studio Participants

Playwrights: 
Naveen Bahar Choudhury
Hammaad Chaudry
Barry Jay Kaplan
Mona Mansour
Andrea Stolowitz

Composers:
Trevor Bachman
Nils Olaf Dolven
Erato A. Kremmyda
Teresa Lotz
Luna Pearl Wool

Performers:
Paul An
Sevan K. Greene
Camille Harris
Tracy Michailidis
Tais Szilagi

Studio Coordinator: Emily Bubeck
Studio Assistant: Chloe Hayat

Photos by Taylor Edelle Stuart, Courtesy of New Dramatists