School Notes: David Geffen School of Drama
January/February 2010

Yale Institute For Music Theatre announces 2010 workshops

The Yale Institute For Music Theatre will again select three original music theater works to receive two-week workshops in New Haven in June. Established jointly by the Yale School of Drama and the Yale School of Music, the Yale Institute For Music Theatre seeks to identify distinctive and original music theater works by emerging composers and writers, and match them with collaborators, such as directors, music directors, and actors/singers, who can help them further develop their work. By limiting production resources and values, the workshop will keep the focus on the creative process of the artistic team. Under the leadership of artistic director Mark Brokaw ’86MFA and producer Beth Morrison ’05MFA, the selections for the inaugural Yale Institute For Music Theatre in June 2009 were the book musicals sam i was, with book, music, and lyrics by Sam Wessels; and POP! with book and lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman and music by Anna K. Jacobs—as well as the opera Invisible Cities, with score and libretto by Christopher Cerrone. POP! received its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre last fall, directed by Mark Brokaw.

Actor Mandy Patinkin comes to Rep stage

Tony and Emmy Award winner Mandy Patinkin makes his Yale Rep debut this month, alongside Hannah Cabell and Rich Topol, in the world premiere of Compulsion by Rinne Groff ’90, directed by Oskar Eustis. Inspired by the story of Meyer Levin, the novelist obsessed with adapting Anne Frank’s diary into a play, Compulsion is a co-production with New York City’s Public Theater (where Eustis is artistic director) and Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. The production features sets by Eugene Lee ’86MFA, costumes by Lisa Loen ’10MFA, lighting by Marie Yokoyama ’10MFA, sound by Darron West, and puppet design by Matt Acheson.