Librettists Palomazo at 2026 Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval of New Latinx Musicals

[laughter] Mario, just say okay. >> All right. >> Hi, everyone. >> That's it. [applause] >> I hope you all enjoyed the performance of Eore City. I know I did. [cheering] That's right. That's right. And I know you uh heard from Anita and Dan, and you're hearing from the composers and lyricists, but I just want to give a shout out because he's in the room to Damasur Rodriguez, who is the director of Eore City and just a wonderful human being. So, please uh if you don't know him, you should get to know him. Um he's really lovely and has been a big contributor to the commons over the years. So, we're really grateful for him to be joining us here uh this week. And speaking of people who have been huge contributors to the Commons, we literally none of us would be in this room today if it wasn't for Karen Sakaras. She deserves all the flowers. And um I know she doesn't like it when I do this, but she she knows that I I wouldn't have this job if it wasn't for her. Like she she together brought people together as I said in our opening ceremonies back in 2012 and the Latinx theater commons was created. So we wouldn't be here without her and today she is leading a session with our libertist. Um, so we are going to be having a very informal palomo, right? Yes. Okay. I'm like, did I get the name right? Uh, an informal jam session talking about the writing of a musical. Um, and we are going to be talking with Anita, Georgina, Ma, Crystal, Rebecca, Jesse, Mario, and Daryl. Um, so I will pass it on to Karen. >> [applause] >> Hello everybody. This is so exciting. I'm so glad to be here and I'm so excited to be representing bookw writers, the most maligned and misunderstood uh part of the musical theater. And we're here to share with you our crazy minds and what it is that we do to contribute to this crazy art form called musical theater. Uh there are some of us here that are just bookw writers. There's some of us here the libertist. There are some of us here that are composers and all of that. We're going to go through and talk about that. But first, I just want I want everyone to demystify what we do. And so, what I first want to do is um go around and have everyone introduce themselves, tell us your play, and tell us your jumping off point. What was it about your play that you started first? What was it? What was the burning thing you wanted? and I call them plays, but your story that has music and everything else that you wanted to share with the world just really quick what it was so that we can start getting there. >> I wanted to hear from Eore City because we just saw that musical. But you know, and it was incredible. Okay, Karen's in charge. Um [laughter] well um my musical Bayano is about a 16th century warrior king that was um enslaved by the Spanish. He was captured by the Spanish for enslavement and then led a 20-year war against the Spanish in Panama and freed over a thousand Africans from slavery. And my jumping off point >> Why did you write this? >> Why did I write it? I wrote it because I wanted to stories of black liberation are really important to me. And at the time what I was seeing was some incredibly written some incredibly acted stories about black pain and black tragedy and black loss. And of course that is a part of black history. But I really wanted to um emphasize liberation and emphasize uprising and emphasize, you know, how we move forward, how we fight fight through, how we fight back, how we break through. And um I wanted to do it with style >> and with the drum with the tambour. And um that led me to um to to start researching researching and digging and digging. And so, uh, you know, as we we had this wonderful email exchange that you created and, um, in it or inspired from it, we're supposed to all kind of sort of speak and reveal a little bit of how our minds work. And so, you'll see that a lot of my responses today will be researchbased because I am a professor and I love grants. [laughter] [cheering] >> Yeah. Yes. So, you know, let's let's write some of these grants, get those research funds, go into the archives, go look at primary sources, go look at artifacts, go to the museums, talk to other scholars, talk to historians, and really understand the content that you are that you're meddling with. You know, I'm doing a lot of historical work. I'm also doing a lot of like ancestral work. consequently. And so I want to always come from a place of reverence. Even if my characters are acting out because they were human and they're irreverent, right? I'm coming from a place of reverence. So I want to make sure that I fully understand the worlds that I'm recreating and not to do so in any way that one of my ancestors could look at and be like, "Man, we really messed up with that one." >> Do you know what I mean? I don't want them to be disappointed in me. And um I want uh the future generations to also be proud of what I create. So I'm thinking about that a lot. >> One question quick. You went from you said you started as a play. >> Yes. >> And then so what inspired it to become a music? >> So the play always had music in it because the Panameanian Congo in Panama are around the world are known for their musical contributions, right? And that comes with a dance tradition that also has elements of West African masquerade in it. And so, um, I knew that if I was in any way representing the Panameanian Congo community on stage, I would have to do it through dance first of all, and that a lot of that dance would have to have music to support it. And so, the play was always a play with music consequently, and always had a lot of dance and masks and fabric because it is a masquerade. It's an Afro Panamanian masquerade. And so, uh, we had a a workshop production at National Black Theater. Um, and then, uh, the pandemic hit. So, 2020 happened and I just wanted to focus on like getting masks and like spraying the world with Lysol and like surviving. But I found that I would just be like washing dishes and I'll just be like, "Oh, that word simaron, it's so interesting. Simaron, Simaron, you better run run. Simaron, you better run. Simar. And I just would end up I'd be washing dishes and I just be which I hate to do by the way. Washing dishes is the worst. But it's a great space to think. And so my I would just I think I was open and when you are open to receive, you'll be blessed. Yeah. >> And so, uh, the songs just started coming and they kept coming for about 2 years. And I would make voice memos and I would sit at pianos and then I would talk to my friends who were pianists and I'd find people to build drum tracks for me and then I would um, it was the pandemic so everyone was recording everything in a closet if you remember that whole moment. Yeah. And so I would email around the demos to my friends who were singers and and you know musical theater performers and kind of like didn't they wanted to work right they wanted to practice their craft etc. And they started layering vocals and I started building these harmonies and building the songs from there. Uh but it was I really think it was something divine because you know I've I've always loved music and um I come from a very musical family. I have over 40 cousins and every single one of them plays an instrument. So, um, you know, and I have family in the music industry that like produced and our sound texts and all this kind of stuff. And so I really, um, but everything from that world for me has always been pop. It's always been like radio oriented, R&B, regaton. So like that's the world that my family who are in music operate in. And so I really wasn't planning on going in the musical theater direction, but I'm so glad that I did. >> Yes, [applause] that we're going back and forth. >> We're going back and forth. >> Hey, [clears throat] hello. Hello. Thank you all. Um what's the question? [laughter] >> Tell us about your play and your jumping off point and why it became a musical. So, this one is very specific because um my father growing up um he had a tall dresser and on top of his dresser was a picture and one day I picked it up and in the picture were um three men sitting in Whitaker chairs looking fabulous like with their legs crossed looking very important and two of them were white men and one was a black man and I said, "Dad, what's this picture? Why do you keep it on your dresser?" He said, "Oh, that's my pa." And so that he was so it started me to question why and who these people were. And then you know I PhD and all I did research. So um I I started to really question not only like black presence everywhere in Latin America but specifically in Tampa, Florida during this time period. So it led to a whole period of research and the piece was first a oneperson show. I decided to play. It's so funny because Louisa hasn't has only been recently in the piece a lot lately, but it started off with Louisa. I started off playing Louisa Capitia, telling the story about the Tabaceros and then um and then um I wrote the piece. I wrote the piece at Bellagio um after doing a bunch of research. >> That's amazing. That's amazing. >> That's fantastic. >> I know. Congratulations. >> Incredible. [applause] Mario, do you want to share your your piece and what would your jumping off point, please? >> Um, yeah. So, um, uh, Eliza and I's piece is Daydreamer. Um, and we, uh, we, uh, Eliza and I went to San Diego State together, also high school together. We've known each other forever. And, um, at San Diego State, every single year that we were there, we would write a fulllength musical in the fall and then stage it up in the spring. Um and then [laughter] and um the pandemic happened on our last one. Um cuz we graduate uh it was in 2020 and so the pandemic was happening. We didn't write anything except like one or two little songs. And as we were coming out like oh eventually this will be over and we want to make something that is like um fantastical and exciting. So we started writing Daydreamer. And I think it kind of came from um wanting to do a big fantasy story um where um kind of like a I'm trying to think of a The Last Airbender or even Avatar or even like Narnia where that's like its own fantasy world but it takes from European mythos. This is like a world that takes it's its own fantasy world but it takes from um Latin American mythos, Mesoamerican, Chico, um Gallo, things like that. Um and the kind of idea we came up with is um a young girl who learns to become strong and the sun getting stolen from the sky. So this is a play about the sun getting taken from the sky and then these two sisters setting out to get it back and the fantastical and mystical things that happened to them. >> So you as a writer, why did you start with two sisters? Um we started with two sisters because I um was working with uh local migrant populations and um there were many sisters in those things and I was like oh I want to write something about sisters and we wrote the first draft um the first full draft with these two sisters and then we cut the sister for 13 drafts and then we brought her back and I was like oh wait we figured out how to do it after a long time but it was more to have like um >> so for that >> um a journey that's not by it like um >> to kind of have the Um, we talk a lot about ancestry and what we passed down. Um, and at one point it was a young girl and her mom, young girl and the grandma, but we we settled on sisters because that was like something fun. Um, like a reverse Mexican Frozen kind of thing. Yeah, [laughter] >> that's awesome. Thank you, Georgina. >> Hello. Hi, everyone. Um, I I'm here representing little Dende with Robbie who's not here. [laughter] He's probably dancing. [laughter] So little, you know, it's it's from Rob's heart. I mean, of course, I came and joined it and uplifted it with my lived experience and whatever I could bring to it and and how it happened was that he he reached out to me and he said he had this this idea and he had the this these songs. You heard him. He just spills them out, but they some of them had some lyrics, some of them had hooks. The story was was loose. Um, and at the time I had just moved back to El Paso Teas to take care of my grandmother and August uh 3rd happened where 23 people died at the Walmart shooting. >> Um, and I just started questioning this story that he wanted to really paint and tell tell which is an immigrant story of of going north but from the point of view of a little bit of privilege in the sense that our lead girl actually has dual citizenship and what responsibility comes with that. But it starts cloaked as a fantasy musical. It's a dwende who wants to go with the fairies and it's like really cute and Disney until you find out that this is not a [ __ ] children's musical anymore um in the second act just like it is to cross the border. So I brought a lot of that sort of harsh reality of like what is painted to us of the dream of the north and so many of us that migrated here not because we uh wanted to um but because we had to in a in for a lack of a better word and um death of a of a mother being a big link to that and so that's what launches or has little dwende as at the heart of it and at the end of it I wanted to really and we're still exploring it we're still growing it it's a very baby draft. I know it sounds crazy, but it really is because we can only work on it when we can't be together and when people support us. And so, you know, it's kind of one of those baby drafts that we're still nursing and we're really interested to explore the elements of of justice and what is justice and what is, you know, radical justice and what that looks like. And in this particular play, uh, Adelita becomes a lawyer to advocate for the kids because right now in El Paso Teas, we need lawyers in the the rest of the world too, but especially at, you know, daily camp and the camp like we we need law. We need representation and and Latinos should be, you know, we I don't know. That's what I was trying to do at the end of it. are still working it out of like how do we inspire >> you know dual citizens to to take on the the responsibility >> dual responsibility >> the dual responsibility to to honor and to also nurture back to to our country as well to our mother country. So, um, and what yeah, like I said, what started out was was his music. I mean, he he was like, "Here's kind of this story of a little fairy and you know, I mean, I think most of you know me. I was like, I know like another story about immigration, you know." So, but I was like, "Okay, okay, let me listen. Let me listen. Let me listen. Let me listen." But then I heard his music and I was like, "No way. I am blown away. There's so much heart. He's brilliant. He's a genius." So, I was like, "Can I tap into that?" And when we wrote the song, all he had was the hook, right? He just knew that it was like, and I was like, "Okay, okay, okay." So then when I added the verses and the lyrics, the the the piece really just came together. And I think that's how Robbie and I work. He gives me the hook, which I'm terrible at because I'm a bookw writer. So when people go, "What's the hook?" And I'm like, "Oh, that's your job." Um, so he gives me the hooks and then I I tell the story that Lisa is there to have the payoff. Lovely. >> Awesome. Thank you, >> Jesse. Tell us about Suenos. >> Yeah. Um, Swenos, uh, thank you for coming last night. That was amazing. Um, uh, a musical about a kid who wants to go and and dream big and go to Giuliard because he thinks he could save his family. Um, if you didn't come last night, I won't tell you the rest. Sorry. I'm just kidding. Um but um I think the the starting off point for me um has was always um I just wanted to take uh my culture and and uh California story. I said this last night, but take a California West Coast like what does it look like to have a CHO musical? Um and I'm I'm huge into structure and just what is structure around a musical theater piece and what does that look like? Um, and then the the question of uh what does it look like if we just win for once? Um, and so that is that is where that's the question at the end like you know good musicals always ask a question and leave you with a thing um that we want to all experience together. Cabaret what would what would you do? Uh you know some other kinds of things. And so uh for me it was uh what what would it look like if we just won? And so Swanos, you know, goes on this journey and and it all looks different um for everybody. And so yeah, that was kind of my starting off point. And then, you know, obviously Kalo and like, you know, other things bringing in little seeds of, you know, culture that that is Chico, but also specifically Bay Area, specifically Central Coast and and Watson. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. >> Hi. Uh I'm Michael. the writer of Cafe Coche book music and lyrics for this although I also write as a bookw writer lyricist with a composer Philippoa love you dog. Um so I think for cafe when what really started for me is that I I had an extremely racist experience in undergrad to the point where um I did not want to do theater anymore >> and um I decided that I wanted to be a pop songwriter. So I'm from LA so that wasn't a difficult thing to do. I went to the pop writing songwriting school of LA and I was like I'm going to write I'm going to write pop hooks. I'm going to be you know study with the Mottown guys all that stuff. Oh see we're meant to write together. So um I would present at these open mics and um you know in front of these people and they'd be like you can write so fast but your chords are too much. There's too much density in your in your chord structure. Um and I was like and you should write musical theater. And I was like, "Never." Like, "I I'm never doing a musical again. I hate the theater. It's all [ __ ] white people who hate my guts." Um, and made my life a living hell. And then the pandemic happened and my dad got very ill in Chile. And um, for once in my life, I I had the right American paperwork. So, I'm I was undocumented previously, but I had the wrong Chilean paperwork. >> Oh. >> And so, uh, Chile at that time was extremely like you cannot fly into the country if you're not a citizen. And for the first time, I was a citizen of the wrong country. >> Um, and as I'm sitting there and I I'm at the consulate, I'm LA consulate. Shout out, favorite place. Um, I I'm back with my mom and I'm crying and I'm I'm asking her like, what's the point of living? Like, why am I even alive at this point if I can't do the dual citizen thing and I can't be the voice for my family there? So as I'm sitting there and I'm asking myself then a little voice was like musical theater [laughter] you should write a show and um so then when I started with Cafe Kiche I was like okay if I'm going to write a musical then I want to do it at my favorite place in the world which was Rita High School um where I got to play both Rosie and Adelaide like Rosie in in Byber Birdie and Adelaide and Guys and Dolls right so uh I had a the my Don Moore my high school teacher looked me in the eye and I was an immigrant kid, you know, I I came from Chile. I didn't even speak English when I got here. And he looked at me and he said, "You're an all-American girl and you can play every role you want." >> And then I met the rest of the world and it was not that. >> And so I said, "I want to write a musical for my theater troop in high school for these people who who are all different races. I went, you know, black and they're Persian and they're Asian and it's every race under the sun." And we did Guys and Dolls together. and I'm gonna write a show for them because I didn't know musical theater was a thing you did on stage until I was 14 and in DC my first Broadway show until I got into grad school. How I learned musical theater was by doing it. And the only way that I think we can add to the cannon is by having these young people have access to that. >> Yeah. >> And so um I always say my goal with cafe is Broadway and everyone's like and uh and I say it's not that it's for the marketing of it. Yeah. Right. I'm My Don Moore went to New York every summer and watched the Bye-Bye Birdie revival and that's why we did Bye-Bye Birdie, right? He saw the shows that were on Broadway and decided, "Okay, I have the cast for that." >> So, that's why it matters who's on there. You know, that's real women have curves, right? Somebody is going to go from LA and go see that show and be like, "Ah, I have all those girls. We can do that show. I want mine to be that." And that's why I started writing Cafe. >> Awesome. kind of heavy, huh? For a comedy. >> Rebecca. >> Hello. >> Thank you. Um, I I work with three extraordinary uh collaborators, my co-book writer, Evan Hollands, and the composers, co-composers, Anna Gilbert and Gabby Moreno. [snorts] Um, yeah. Uh I was brought into the project the last um they needed help dramaturically and I spent so much time in the playwriting realm that um I had a lot of clients that uh somebody somebody recommended me um and I didn't know that I was going to be meeting some of my dearest friends forever. So, I um what got me, what grabbed me was that um the the relationship of these women and the way that they're able to work together um in such a generous, lighthearted, fun, honest way. There's no pre like pretention, there's no drama. It's just how do we do this and what could we do? And um it's the Miha is the musical that uh we wrote and uh you'll if you come to the slam tonight you'll hear a little bit but um one of the things that was really exciting about it is it's inspired by a true story. Um the uh young lady who was taking voice lessons from my coowwriter uh her mother got to know her and told her about when she was in Guatemala um and Guatemala. Yeah. >> Yes. She was in Guate, right? and she ended up um having an emergency C-section at like 20some weeks without anesthesia because she was having seizures. Okay. She gave birth to the smallest baby ever born in Guatemala. She wasn't a US-American citizen whose mother was Guatemalan. And um that baby lived and that baby is singing the songs tonight. >> [snorts] >> Oh, >> so it is a kind of miraculous rich like the gift of talent and the gift of strength and the gift of this woman making it through uh what had to have been the hardest thing I can ever imagine and then having to leave Guatemala and go back to the States because um the laws uh gave the father power to keep the baby. So, and he's a great he's a great character in the show and he's it's complicated, right? I I like the complicating uh honesty of real relationships um under patriarchy and how uh restrictive surprisingly restrictive and frightening they can be. Um and how it breaks families up instead of keeping families together. the expectations um under patriarchy and it it happens here too of course. So um so that was my connection was sort of being on the side of these women and um feeling so warmly welcomed and um and loving the music so much. >> Awesome. Christa, >> hello. I'm Christo Ortiz. Um I use all pronouns please and thank you. Um so I am the book writer of Fruition. Um, and I'll just say I'm a relatively new writer. Um, I am trained in performance. I'm an actor by trade. And the only reason I began writing uh with my first musical was because I heard about this history of these Cuban punks. And I'm CubanAmerican. And I just was like so takenback that I had never heard the story before and just felt called to immortalize this story and these people. And that's why I began writing. And it and I never set out to become a playwright. Um I actually was kind of like I'm a serious actor. Like musical theater is like from high school. Like I don't do that anymore. [laughter] Uh but the story uh is has very much to do with music. So it it it had to be a musical. Um, and it wasn't until about three years ago that I had the impulse of like, you know, I think I have something to say as well. Um, and so I started taking playwriting classes online and I had a teacher that gave really good advice that said just write about your obsessions. Write what you're obsessed about. like anything you just like can't get out of your head or like like if there's something that you feel like you're going crazy about and you're like why is no one else [ __ ] thinking about this thing that that's a place for you to be a leader and like follow that that obsession. Um and so Fruition is a uh very personal story. It's a motheraughter story. Um, and it talks about uh like the legacy of queerness and like um I just I it's very personal to my relationship with my mother and like I just was in this period of thinking about all of the queer ancestors that I must have had that didn't have the opportunity to live their life in the way that I get to and that I am choosing to. And um often times when I'm writing something uh the title comes to me first actually and that word won't leave me alone. And I just kept hearing the word fruition similar to what Daryl was saying. Um and I was just like fruition just kept coming up and I was like fruity. That's gay. Like [laughter] I was like there's something there. like I just I I can't stop thinking about it and like just all the the gay people that came before me in my bloodline that I I want to know more about and um and I also when I when this idea came to me I was like I think this one's a musical too actually [laughter] because like and actually when I asked Satia uh my composer and lyricist if she was interested in collaborating with me on this project. Um, her first question for me was, "Why do you think it's a musical?" Which excellent question. And I was like, "Yeah, you're the one." Um, uh, and my answer was, I think this is like a very painful story and dealing with a lot of trauma and like really heavy heavy stuff. And I value humor a lot and like the theatricality of humor is very very important to me. And I didn't want to write like a heavy bleeding heart play about this thing that I was obsessed with because that I my first thought was fruition. My second thought was that's gay. Like I it had to like I so I needed music to help carry that pain. Um and like synthesize that pain into healing. Um >> and yeah, that's my brain. >> That's part of the brain. So I um I was recently asked I was doing a project and I told somebody I was a bookw writer and they say, "Oh, that's great. Where can I buy it?" And um and I I I realized that there's a lot even people who go to the theater don't know what a book writer or libertist does. So do you guys want to do some popcorn about what it is that we do? >> Lots of thoughts on this. >> Oh, I I see [clears throat] I I see. Yeah. Go. Um, I think the basic architecture forming is the bookw writer's brain, but also like building the spine and that includes the song spine should be built with your bookw writer. Um, because moments that you need to musicalize are based in the drama and the dramatist in this case of a musicalist, the bookw writer. >> Those are my two. >> Anybody else? uh we're, you know, we're creating the the the characters arc and journey and questioning where we want them to end and tracking their journey and you know um structure like Jesse says is is is key for at least a part of it or always or you know to guide you through it and that structure means it is the the role of the playwright you know w i g ht doesn't ship right to keep something together to keep it afloat um not decorate it you know we're building the actual structure, not the decorations. >> Yeah. >> I kept telling people, I build a Christmas tree and the ornaments go on it. And people look at the ornaments and they're really, really, really important. But um but yeah, but it's like the characters, the plot, the order of things. And then of course, if a musical doesn't work, what do they say? >> The book is the book doesn't work because the book is really, really hard to do. So >> I can fix the book of chess. [laughter] That's my personal That's my personal goal. Hire me. [laughter] >> So for those of you who do both your book and your lyrics, how do you talk to your how do you talk to your composer when you are the um bookw writer as well? >> I'll go. I'll start. Um uh well okay. So when I start writing I I love outlines, right? I love outlines and kind of just thinking especially when you have like the um what what the through question is that you're going to start with. Um and then I I'm a composer first. I that's what I say. I I'm I've always been a composer. I've grown up in music since I was a kid. My was here last night with all of his siblings. They all played band in bands in LA. Uh you know, you go to the uh my family gatherings, there's like millions of us. They all play a guitar. We all have to sing. we all have to do something. Um, so I but I but it's storytelling, right? Music is still storytelling. So, uh, with with lyrics and book, I I always start with the outline and just kind of start thinking of the things and I get to a moment where I'm building and and the outlines and dramatic points and being like, okay, why do we need to break into song? Why? Like, why is this a musical? And it's because it's a heightened moment, right? That's for me. It's a heightened moment. And then I look at that moment and I'm like, okay, that's the thing. I'll come back to that. But I'll also think about this feels so natural. Like this is an I want song right here because this is in structure and that kind of thing. And but I don't know what the want truly is yet. And then you do the thing. Oh, now this is a a duet with them and do the thing and then keep going. And then I come back to it and then I start thinking about okay, what how do I this is the first pass. How do I do that kind of thing? And then when I talk to myself as composer, [laughter] I I start thinking, okay, so if I'm going to do that, I'm not going to write the lyrics just yet because I I didn't talk about my process today when we were at the composers. Um, but then I kind of go to the piano and I start thinking about the feelings, right? And it's all about feelings, kind of like Robbie and starting to think about like what is this moment and what am I trying to tell uh through that character cuz lyrics, I could write lyrics all day, but I want to know what the emotional pulse is of the music. Um, and then of course thinking structure. Go back to structure. >> Yeah. I don't know if that answers but yeah. >> Yeah. I would add um that if you are someone who's interested in doing both but you've never really done both me both the songs and the book before that you might consider um working in another form that you're comfortable with and circling back to musical theater. And what I mean by that is um I became obsessed with ballet a few years ago. I this is a very New York story. I was at like a David Rabin club on in the West Village and he texted me and he was like it's Missy Copeland's birthday. So I went there was Misty. [laughter] Anyway, she ended up giving me tickets to ABT. >> Um and at the time I lived on the Upper East Side. So, I'd walk across the park to Lincoln Center and I had like never been there and had never been to ABT. Um, and I saw >> Can you say what ABT is? >> Oh, yeah. American Ballet Theater at Lincoln Center. And Misty Copelan is uh she she recently retired, but she was the prima ballerina of, you know, the most visible uh ballet company in the country and one of the very few uh African-American ballerinas as well. And so, um, you know, she's all about access. If you know me, I'm all about access, too. So, I appreciated the access that she gave me to ballet, and I fell in love. And I just I saw every show at ABT that season, and I started going to dance constantly all over New York. And um this is this is helpful to answer your question because um sometimes when I'm writing a new book for a musical, I just write the movement. And I think when is it that uh the movement speeds up? How is it that the characters start dancing together? Right? Um when is it a solo piece? When is it an ensemble piece? And that really helps me visualize the musical um better and it also helps me locate the songs, >> right? Because I just see how the movement happens. And so I I recommend this because frankly I thought musical theater was intimidating. >> Yeah. And for whatever reason I was like I could write a ballet. I don't know why I thought that. Right. But I I think it's I think I was just like no one is writing ballets. I'm going to do this because like I think it's interesting. And then it made me more comfortable and more confident, right, to then feel as if I could figure a way through. And so I'm all about interdisciplinarity and I'm like if you have another form that maybe you feel more comfort confident or comfortable or that you know more you're just more kind of like obsessed with use that as a way to create structure right for whatever story it is that you're imagining. And then once you have that structure, you'll feel more comfortable and confident then being like, "Okay, now I'm going to write a scene and now I'm going to write a song, etc." Because I've already planned it out through this like unusual, very unique, only you could have done it this way kind of way. >> Anybody else? Mario. >> Oh, you first. Um I think uh so his mic is like bent sound like [clears throat] um when I write plays I never outline because I think of characters first and then story. Um but for musicals because I have a collaborator Eliza Vadar and they can't read my mind but they get close. I I outline everything. So I outline what the story is going to look like and I put in parentheses in the major beats this name of a song. So if it's like somebody goes to the coffee shop, the first song is I'm going to the coffee shop and that's what we have in like the kind of thing. Um and then um on Daydreamer we we both do lyrics and so I'll come in with like a chunk and then we'll go to the piano and then we'll suffer and struggle for hours. >> And then we'll have something I listen to it in my car and like oh we have the melody now and then we can kind of freshen and tighten um the lyrics. Um, but I think it is if you have a collaborator, it is like they cannot read your mind. You have to be like, "Here's what here's the blueprint." You need a blueprint if you're going to work with someone else. If you're building Legos by yourself, you need a blueprint. But if you're doing it with someone else, you need something, you know? >> Yeah. >> Um, so I think in collaboration, there needs to be a game plan. >> I think if it's something >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I I want to piggyback off of that because I um write is my solo show. So when you own everything, right, you can I don't have to ask permission. I wake up one day, I'm like, I'm cutting that song. But I have another musical that I'm writing with uh a Chilean composer, Philip Segoa, and uh I write play first. So we talk about the beats because I think when you work with a composer who um can potentially write a book or write lyrics, they feel like they are without an arm. They feel like they don't have a say in the lyric or in the book. And that can be really frustrating for a collaborator. Um but in but when we work together I'm like well I'm also cutting off my music arm. So see now I have the left and you have the right and we have to kind of come together. Um so what we do is I we talk about every beat together. I write the play. We mine the play for lyric. Um and then I will write a lyric and I will be sneaky and I will write a lyric in what I think the the time signature of the key of the song should be. So, um, because lyric is actually rhythm. It's repetition. It's, um, you know what I mean? Repetition legitimizes all that stuff. And so, I will be like, I think this song is supposed to be in 68. And I'll write a 68 lyric. And then I'll be like, have fun. And then he'll write it, ignore me, and be like, here's a melody. I need five more lines. And actually, I think there's like six lines dialogue here. And I wrote this underscore. But then you see you're playing tennis because I think that that's what um it's supposed to be hard and challenging. But I think when you have a collaborator, you go into it knowing that you are making something together that's stronger than you would if you were a part. And I think with the other show I'm writing, it's a classical score and like I'm come from the pop tradition. So why would I be writing that music, right? I'm working with someone who who can do that. And that's I think the price of collaboration that makes it so great when it works. So, well, you know, >> can I can I quickly add one thing? >> Just I just also want to say I love the the find your thing uh like you know the the entry point uh something that's really great and I know this because I also write operas. I have a world premiere going coming up at the end of the year at Portland Opera. Um the the that's a great entryway, right? Operas and that's because you know you don't have to think about especially lyrics, right? You don't have to rhyme everything. you don't have to think about AABA in a way like you have to with something like this, right? And so it's actually a re I really love working with opera libertists who come to me and then they're like I want to write this musical. It's like yeah, you know form like in a certain way and you know storytelling and so that's just something else I wanted to that just thought of that's amazing. Amazing. Yeah. >> Yeah. I um write opera too. >> Yes, >> a lot of them. And um I was thinking about how actually in terms of structure it depends >> and I always work with a collaborator. I actually started off as a dancer with urban bushw women and for me those were musicals. >> I just wanted them to have more story, right? Um so I think that the labretist is writing the story and the structure depends upon the piece and who you're working with. So in dance if you're doing a story in dance people tend to start with like 10 minutes and then build on right and actually like Eore City John um Dan and I started with a song basically a couple of songs and then we'd add in and then we knew the story. I agree that it's very much about structure and I think that um in the opera writing we get to say libertist and opera writing get to say what the structure and the story is. We just write it right. you write the whole thing through and then somebody musicalizes it. Whereas in musical theater, it's a constant back and forth where you're questioning all the time what the structure is and where the highlight will be and what the rhythm and the pacing is. And that has to be done in collaboration with the composer or lyricist. And so I think that they're very different forms. It's like no one general way. But I think that what's beautiful because now when I look back I think I must have worked with like 10 or 12 different composers, right? And each of them has the the hardest part is to figure out how you're going to work, right? Like I'm working with one now. I was like, "Oh my god, he doesn't even want to talk about it." I'm like, "What do [laughter] I do with that?" >> So, I'll just write it and see if he likes it, you know? It depends very much. And then some people are like back and forth a lot. With Dan, we do a lot of back and forth about whether this should be there, what that character is, who that is. So, I think it depends a lot. But there's a real beauty to there's a real magic to what happens when you work with your collaborator and it kind of sparks and you kind of figure out what your rhythm and tempo is and sometimes it takes a long time and sometimes it's like right away. >> Yeah. >> Well, first of all, every time you open your mouth, I want to just applaud. I mean, Urban Bush Women, that's like incredible. Um, I just wanted to quickly plug um Devisor, >> right? Um, as as you were speaking, Anita, I was thinking about um what it means to use some of the device theaters that the device exercises that I teach in my um class where, you know, we're building character in the mirror by um answering a prompt with movement and then seeing how our body naturally moves in a way that we're not used to in order to kind of like create this like shadow figure of ourselves. And um there are just so many ways that people can build story and uh I'm not an expert in Bob Fy, but he does come up a lot because I do work with a lot of director choreographers that you know they do the same. They do both things. And so um thinking about how Bob FSY built shows, you know, aside from being like an abusive alcoholic, um so much of it had to do with building a movement vocabulary first, right? and then um building character around that and and building story around that etc. And so I just want to say that because I know sometimes there are people in the audience who come to these panels because they're they're not writers first, right? They might be an actor, they might be a dancer, they might be a musician, and they're like, "Well, how can I switch my brain to become a bookw writer?" You and I just don't think you have to switch your brain. I don't think you have to change who you are. you can find a way to use what you have as an access point to your next destination. So >> I think similar to you I like the visual world and creating the theatrical contract of what the piece will look like. It's usually where I start actually. It's visual like movement. It's like closing the eyes visualization. What does it look like? What does it feel like? And it's very weird. It's very abstract but it feeds it's also something like some of the invisible work that we do as book writers. >> Yes. So talking about invisible work, [laughter] um I am a commissioner and I have commissioned oh >> these wonderful, wonderful writers to show us how their brain works by asking them to break down the immortal story of the three little pigs. Um they are going to each talk to us about what happened to their brain the moment I asked them to write a musical about the three little pigs. said I said it could be any tone, any language, anything they want, but it's really really important that you start there and immediately I'm going to start writing down what one of some of the thoughts that you guys did. So, do you guys want to go one by one or do you want to throw things out? Okay, >> let's go one by one starting with you. >> Me? Yes. >> Hi, I'm Michael. I'm a book writer that just got commissioned to write something about the three little pigs. Um, and honestly, uh, what fascinates me about the fable is actually the the architecture of the houses, right? Like one makes them out of hay, one makes them out of wood, one out of something more strong, brick. Thank you. And um, that made me think of like how can I get into the story? And um, I mentioned earlier that I was previously undocumented and kind of the cages that we build ourselves around that. And so the title of my show is called Daughter of the Air. And in the show I have one character who uh was born here and wants to leave. Daughter of the air. Uh then I have another one who is uh going through the immigration process and is married and so is a resident, right? Can't leave the country for more than six months. It's a different kind of uh house. And then I have the perfect immigrant kid who's undocumented and can never transition. And in a way it's like the infrastructure made of metal, right? Uh, the US is wonderful. I love living here, but I can't leave. And exploring that, right? And the big bad wolf metaphor, what's blowing the house down, uh, the American government, uh, you know, and the immigration process. I think there's, uh, sometimes a lack of nuance on the immigration process and infrastructure. And I think this allows me to look at three at the same time, um, while doing the cost, right? if they're three siblings and they each get a different life, you know. >> Um, so what's the title or where does the music come in? >> So, the title is Daughter of the Air. >> No, it's of a song. >> Oh, of a song. Well, Daughter of the Air would be a title, right? Um, but outside of title track, um, I'm thinking of a song title, um, called The Paperwork. And this would be a song based on the infrastructure of filling out an immigration form. Um, Magidal is my pen name because my real name is Patricia Karolina. No, the red one. Patricia Carina. Hey, >> five names. Um, when I had to start doing my immigration process, I my name did not fit. >> Yeah. >> And so I have to get a second form and pay my lawyer $100 more for the form. And so that's what I would do in that song and call it the paperwork. >> Awesome. Okay, that's the first three little pigs. Oh my god. [applause] >> Okay, hear me out. >> All right, so we've got an HGTV reality TV [laughter] show >> competition. We got three contestants building a house. [laughter] >> Um, but the materials is not that doesn't matter. We they each have different methods. And so the big bad wolf is represented by the producer of the reality show, the the inherently predatory nature of production of a reality show. And so over the course of the show, we're seeing how each of these contestants are navigating this corporate greed machine. And one will be like just kind of climbing the ladder. Yes to everything. Whatever you need me to do. If you need me to make an ass of myself on television so I can be on the show longer, I will do that. Um, one will be like, you know what, I'm going to try to make a difference from the inside. And then we see them like, you know, kind of being corrupted by the access to the fame and the followers. And then one of them is going to be like moving with a lot of integrity and being the difficult one and saying no and saying uh you're trying to make like unionization plays with the other contestants. Um and yes, that is the concept a musical. um gonna have to find someone to tell me, you know, like I the thing is I work with like the the story first and then I find a collaborator with the right like with an aligned vision or a style that will complement um this the tone. Um and I mean it's it's performative if it's reality TV. So um every every contestant will have their their song. Maybe the like USA at home can vote for their favorite whatever. Um, but uh I don't know a song title. Um, meme me America. Me [screaming] [laughter] >> me. >> All right. [applause and cheering] >> Uh, producer, I have a question for you. Yes. >> Who's your Who's your target audience? >> You get to choose it. >> Oh, I get to choose it. Holy [ __ ] >> No, no, no. That's why on the email is like it can be it can be delue, it can be ty, it can be horror, they did their homework or less, you can do sex, you can do whatever you want, but it's yours. I I am a very lenient producer that way. >> Ah, no. meant immersive a thousand% uh a thousand% pop out of cayones like I experienced it popping out of tents we're all helping them build their their sets there uh we are activating the community by helping them be part of what the world we're creating but the world aside I remember from the prompt something that stuck out was like or that I kept hearing kind of like it was like sort of this film noir aspect this detective aspect. So I was like, who whose viewpoint are we going through? And I feel like it's the middle piggy, right? Cuz I'm a middle child. And so I think it's a sibling thing and it's like whose story like my story versus your story versus your story and sort of getting this accusatory sort of thing broken down through three viewpoints and us being sort of part of this you know film noir detective story and putting it together and putting some music that is coming out organically of uh whoever the audience is and maybe making the music happen there. So three siblings. >> Yeah. Three siblings. >> A title or a song title because it's just like and I think it's like about like with each other with siblings. So it's like about exploring what it means like not as a derogatory thing but like as an like an active thing and are they the good people the good guys or the bad guys in this case the piggies right? Not like the policia but you know like so like morano just sounds like a really delicious word. Yeah. >> All right. Mareno. [applause] >> Okay, I'll go. I Okay, I'll be honest. I did not know the story of the three little pigs until about an hour ago. So, uh, forgive me. So, I did not put much thought into this. However, you all inspire me. Um, so I can see it as, and this is not fully fleshed out, of course, but um, I mean it's really hard when you're not given a container by a commission and I'm like because I can be like, >> I would love to write a 30 person musical. Let's go. Um, but I think I would start with maybe like um a Corido musical. um uh something like Luis Valdez's uh tales like the p the old PBS thing and taking each one the three the three pigs and make it really dramatic and fun and kind of tell a different story. Uh and then the big bad wolf is the narrator of the story and just kind of going through and then a song title would be called thress. Let's go and maybe feature in the music uh a lot of th like piano you know kind of different things. Um, >> and yeah, yeah, right. Uh, right. See, we all we're getting inspired over here. I love it. Uh, and I think that's all. That's my short pitch. [applause] >> What's the title? Um, >> that's it. Simple, easy ta. Okay, >> I can go. >> Uh, when I think the three little pigs, I think what we all think. I think diaspora. I think um [laughter] I think I think uh three little pigs, I think displacement. Um I think chain migration. Um and Daddy Yankee owes me a favor. So my title is Chicharon. Um, and so it's about these three separate little piggies and um, Bad Lobo has kind of taken over the game. Um, [laughter] um, and so he's trying to, um, get them out of the regaton scene. Um, and then it's going to be weird cuz I'm Mexican uh, and doing Regaton, but um, yeah. Um, and I think one of the songs I have this in my head right now. Where'd it go? >> [laughter] >> Oh. Um, pigging out and it's like a dal dondal kind of song. Um, very I don't want to spoil too much but like very like um very very So that kind of thing. [laughter] Yeah. Um um I'm thinking um Shakespeare in the park kind of thing. Um yeah, that's it. [cheering] Oh, >> can I can I go? Okay, so speaking of research. Okay, I you might be going this direction. I don't know. Um, so the original I grew up on the Disney cartoon, right? I looked at the original fable, which is an old English tale, and a couple of really weird things come up in that. The first weird thing is that um instead of the little pigs getting to choose their building materials, they're actually just given. They're each given by just by chance. One of them goes out to make his way and somebody gives him straw. The other one walks out to get his way. Somebody gives him sticks. Then the third one gets bricks. Now the brick pig lives. So um so I thought well that's really interesting. The other big shift uh in the fable for me is that the first two pigs die. >> They get eaten and the third one the the third pig eats the wolf. >> He eats the wolf who has already consumed his brothers. So, now we're into cannibalism and some really right. Um, it gets very dark and funny to me, but um I thought I thought first we start with these three pigs each blandly kind of getting their assignment like here you go, good luck. And um then by the end the what we hear at the beginning the last scene is we we hear just the the scraping of the cutlery. as the pig starts to eat his [laughter] last meal. And then Yes. And then the ghosts of his brothers and the wolf come in. They sing a quartet called Loz [laughter] which I think is the title the title song that it's um that you become if in order to succeed you end up uh becoming the predator um in a in a a system that is just luck based just you happen to get lucky um in order you you say goodbye to your family you say goodbye to where you came from and you eat them up. >> Look at Gomez. And oh, isn't there an um uh there is an instrument uh it's Peruvian Rose, the bottom jawbone. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So he So the pig gets the jawbone of the wolf off and then starts using it as an instrument, right? And the teeth rattle. That's pretty good. >> That's good. [applause] >> I hate that. >> Mine is all ritualistic. >> Oh, mine too. [laughter] >> NO, YOU GOT TO GO into the elements. Like there was like straw and there was mud. >> Super ritualistic stone or maybe there was sand. So, I think there's a song for each of the elements and a rhythm for each person who's building. Like each pig has its own kind of like straw straw. And then I think there's a sound of a wind like the wind because the wind comes and blows them away because I know it's a wolf that makes a wind, right? But I'm on the wind. Okay. [laughter] So, I think the wind is blowing and I don't think the story I think they come together in the end. >> I don't want them to, you know, we don't have to. >> Yeah, we don't have No, no, not that. But then after [laughter] not happy. No, they come together to compare to compare to compare how they did with their building structure. And then the wind comes along and blows all of them away except one. So it's a victor, >> but he's not really the wolf. >> Okay. Awesome. What's the title? >> The wind. >> The wind. I like the birds. [laughter] >> Witch more. >> I'm dead. >> Okay. I want to see every which all of these musicals really badly. >> It's a threat. [applause] >> Okay. So, mine's about ritual, but in a very different way. And it also is kind of like darkly based in I don't know. There's just a lot of It's a These fairy tales are like really dark, y'all. Um anyway, so my musical takes place about 500 years after the original story. And what has developed is that the pigs now every year do a blood sacrifice where they catch a wolf and they kill it >> in order to keep them safe. So this is their ritual to try to stay safe from wolves, right? And um our heroine >> Thank you. >> Yes. [laughter] Um I don't want to every every name that I can think of sounds delicious >> like porchetta or something but um our heroine um let's just call her pee. She um she doesn't believe that they should like no one remembers why they're doing this anymore. She doesn't believe the stories about these three little pigs who had their houses like blown down and then one of them had >> the myth of the pig. She's like, "This is BS. Why are we killing all these wolves? I'm a vegan. [laughter] You know what's going on?" Um, so she sets on a quest to go and um journey to the top of this mountain where the pig lord is said to live, >> right? And that's who they're sacrificing the wolf to so the pig lord can keep them safe. >> Middle child. >> Yes. Maybe maybe she's the middle child. Yes. Um and >> they're cooking. They're cooking. >> She reaches the top of this mountain and there's nothing there. >> But she receives a vision and the vision is what actually happened 500 years ago that began that inspired this ritual. And that's the end of act one. AND THAT'S HIRE HIM. [applause] >> So that's as far as I got. Yeah. >> A song name or title or musical? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Any ideas from the audience? >> Myth of the pig was good. >> What? >> You said myth of the pig. >> Myth of the pig. Yes. Myth of the pig. >> I love that. That's a good one. >> Song title. >> Yes. >> Myth of P. >> [laughter] >> All right, Mr. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Is there anything you'd like to add now that you thought and you can listen? Pass [laughter] it. Pass it. Do it. >> Um, alternate idea. >> After hours late night cabaret show of all the pigs in a throppple. Great. >> YES. [applause] The gay agenda has been met. Thank you, everyone. [laughter] >> All right. So, this is how bookw writers minds work. What's the time? >> 5:30 minutes. Okay. This is where >> No, you have 15 minutes. >> 15 minutes. >> Our fabulous writers are going to come out to you >> and you guys are going to get to your own musical. And so just think about it. You are going to get Little Red Riding Hood and the and you guys have 10 minutes to come up with what you would do for that story. Start thinking structurally, >> etc. And we'll have each of you come around from the table to help encourage the next. whatever you want. >> Yes. Thank you. >> And so freedom is scary. Structure is good. But I'm So all of you have 10 minutes to come up with a Little Red Riding Hood your version. It can be cabaret. It can be goth. It can be whatever you want. But start thinking about this because we're demystifying. We're showing you how hard it is to write story and also how accessible it is if you open yourself up to it. So, you're writing your first musical or your second or your third depending on who is in this room. And we're going to have these expert bookw writers, composers come around to ask you some questions about it. So, ready guys? >> Go mle the next generation. >> Be a good drama child. Just ask question. >> Exactly. >> [laughter] >> Oh my god, you guys. >> You're right. And outside. [laughter] I don't know. I didn't Look at that. Talk about How are you toilet? [laughter] 14. It's like That's a crazy Look at that. Three more. Three more minutes, guys. party. [laughter] >> [laughter] >> Hello. Everyone's name is One more minute. One more minute. So, are you going to go around? >> Okay. >> 30 seconds. >> I'm a very demanding producer. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 one. Your play, your musical is due. >> Okay. Uh popcorn, who would like to share one of their quick ideas over there? Okay. Um uh Jacqueline is running a mic over there. And we're gonna do this really quickly because we're gonna just be inspired. We're gonna leave here inspired for the next carnival. [laughter] >> You get 30 30 seconds to a minute. There we go. >> Baby, [singing] it's a loop. >> And it's called Laoba. And and the songs are I am the wolf. >> Oh, >> and she is a good girl. >> She wears her little red sweater and it's set in the 1950s. And she goes and she when her mom says, "You got to go take this basket of calito soa to your grandma who's not feeling so good, but she wants to check things out and see things out." She runs into the Lobo, right? And then she gets to the bed and there's the logo and the logo is like, "Oh, big eyes, big ears, you know, all of that." And then she's like, "Yeah." And she takes out her little >> Oh, right. Okay. So then the Lobo the Lobo eats her. >> Oh, okay. >> Right. And then she's like, "You think so?" And she's like >> from the inside and she steps out. >> Yeah. >> She's got a knife. And then she's and then she's covered in red blood >> and tattoos >> and she is she is the >> that's very she's a cha >> a chola a chola looo. I love it. Okay. I am commissioning you. I'll go for it. Yes. Over here. >> Oh. Well, let's start here. We got just got to go everywhere, sir. >> Amen. >> So, ours is um punk is folk. Uhhuh. >> And it's um the grandmother is the legendary Alice Bag, >> the [laughter] the grandmother of East LA Punk. >> Yeah. >> And her granddaughter is coming over cuz she wants to be punk, too. And she wants to learn how to play the guitar like her grandma. >> And when she gets there, >> Tommy Matah. >> Oh. >> The producer or the [laughter] the >> Yeah. the >> is >> the predator >> is in grandma's uh pink skirt and checker top and and he's like but Miha why do you want to do punk that makes people scared what if what if we what if you write something like Britney Spear and it's about the commodification of art and the commercialization of art and he's she's like well why is your mouth so big because I'm going to show you how to sing better I'm going to show you how to uh why are your eyes so because I see your ads in Time Square [laughter] and why is your no because I could smell the happy meals we're going to sell with you. And that's where she says my grandmother would never eat that. She only eats carvas. [laughter] And Alice bag jumps out from the closet and she says throws her the guitar and uh little Ally >> Uhhuh. >> starts playing the her punk guitar and the reverberations of it make the globo explode. >> Okay, we're going to Broadway with that one. I love it. The >> title song is Punkas Folk. >> Punk is folk. I love it. Henry Galinz, >> just an idea. [laughter] >> It's a It's a historical rock opera about the Amazon in the 16th century when the Spanish concistadores tried to conquer them going up the Amazon and every time we get pushed away, turned back with arrows in their butts. Um, so it is it's something like that. >> I love it. [laughter] >> Hairs in their butts. I love it over there. >> So our show is called Busousa Busa. >> Busabusa. >> Based off of the Yeah. the phrasing in Guatemala City. So it's about this very precocious young girl who is sent on a trip to visit her grandmother, but the fastest way to get there is uh around the volcano. Um and while there uh comes across a u an American tourist who is on their own journey has clearly taken some sort of mindaltering substances um and listening to their music and so uh you know the the Gaparusa wishes that uh that the tourist might be able to better to hear you with better to hear the advice the warnings of this area and then um the the stone tourist uh believes that their nawal of the balam of the jaguar has come out or the or the wolf. Um and so uh act one begin or ends with the explosion of the volcan or the eruption of the volcano >> and culminates uh in act two with uh Caparusa's own adoption of her nawal of the hunter and with the uh breaks up a piece of obsidian from the u of the volcanic lava flows and you'll just have to see what happens. >> Oh my god, I'm going to have to raise a lot of money for that volcano. I love it. Moral of the story is don't eat the locals. [laughter] >> I love it. I love it. Over this >> We're going to do some back here. We have We have time. >> Okay, good. >> Um, okay. You guys talk about processes. It has process. >> Can we a little bit louder, please? >> Yeah. Can you hear me? Okay. Um, so far right now. Okay. Okay. After it happened, she left with only her clothes and the red blanket her grandmother had woven. As she crosses the trail over the mountain, she hears the low cry of the wolf. The wolf had seen her from his perch high in the peak when the moon was high. His howl turns to a sad song of sorrow. She then I'm sorry I'm reading my writing and she continues on and as she reaches another peak she sees the light from the window of her grandmother's shot. But then the crowds come, the clouds come, and it darkens, and she loses her way. And the wolf continues his howling yet gentle song and leads her to her grandmother's home all the way down to the valley. >> Beautiful. [applause] Okay. Um, so this is called Gray spelled G R E Y and Grandma and Red are hunters. They have killed all the wolves in Yellowstone. Gray is the last wolf or he thinks he's the last wolf. So he decides to get out of there. He decides to go to Mexico. um kind of with the help of I think underground railroad Nazi you know helping people move but he finds a group helps him move. He's very happy in Mexico until he finds out that his cousin Gray spelled with an A as opposed to E is still living and hiding in Yellowstone in a community and Yellowstone has gone down the e the ecosystem because they need the wolves. Um, so Red and Grandma have decided to um beg the wolves to come back, but Gray doesn't trust them. Gray's um the other Gray is like, "Please come back because we need you." So, he has to resolve whether to go back to Yellowstone and help his cousin or to stay in Mexico. So, it's kind of an expat. Some of [laughter] the songs would be The Last Wolf, Let's Go, and It's Not Safe. >> Woo! I love it. [applause] >> All right, we're going to do >> There's some over here. >> Put your hands up if you want to go. >> Oh my goodness. So many. >> Okay, we're going to be quick. Okay, >> we're going to be really quick. >> Very quick. >> Hello. We'll be real quick. So, our show is called The Big Bad Wolf, but it's actually ironic cuz the wolf is innocent because what's happening is is that these fascist pigs are like making these like myths that wolves are bad, but it's all just lies. They're using Fox News to turn public [laughter] against the wolves. And basically, uh taking from like what happened in Scotland, they're the the Ireland Ireland, they uh they're exterminating the wolves because they're trying to colonize the area. And there's only one wolf left. And so they're using Little Red Riding Hood to get to this last wolf. >> Whoa. Very good. >> Damn. Yeah. [laughter] Too close. Too near. I love it. >> All right. Hi everyone. Uh team, I changed it slightly because ideas started coming to my head. Um so ours is uh titled Seora Lola Roa and it is Little Red Riding Hood in America is in severe debt and the bank has sent Mr. Hunter over to collect and she says she has received word that her grandmother in Latin America, we have not yet defined the country yet. We're going to say Colombia. Um, you know, hey, hey, uh, she has to go down there to harm her grandmother to get a hold of this money and to pay off this banker, Mr. Hunter, who is going to be accompanying her in case she's trying to flee the country. She goes down there and she meets the head of the household, Senora Lova, who is extremely severe, does not give her any chance to hang out with her grandmother whatsoever, who is this kindly old woman. And because we're running out of time, the twist of it all is Seenora Loba is actually her grandmother testing her granddaughter to see if she actually loves uh and is worthy of the inheritance. And this kindly old grandmother is the head of the household. >> Oo, manipora. I love it. [laughter] Who's awesome? >> Okay, [applause] two more. >> This one over here, >> three more. But this cable needs it >> like 45 seconds. Okay. [laughter] >> Okay. I wrote something for uh Caposita. Desperate to provide for her sick grandmother, a young woman takes a job as a night ballerina in the in the town's cantina. uh uh you know, every evening she prepares backstage until one day she uh hears a very like hunting but seductive like bolero song uh sung by the cantina's owner. Everybody knows him as elob uh charming and seductive. You know how it is. And um [laughter] uh you know he he makes her believe that he's the only way out that that he's like her only security. and you know his true nature slowly reveals he's very manipulative and she finds out um you know she's intertwined in the webs uh and I mean at the end she finds courage to becomes um you know to leave the cantina and she inspires every other women in there um to also leave and choose freedom uh selforth dignity over fear >> I was Yeah. Okay. foreign. [singing] [laughter] [singing] ALL RIGHT. >> [applause] [cheering and applause] >> OKAY, we got mom who is like a famous mariachi singer. We're in LA and then something happens to her and she is mute like she doesn't sing anymore and her mom grandma is like, "Um, that's my meal ticket. What are you doing?" So, we're going to send granddaughter off to music school so then she can be the provider for us cuz she's a little prodigy. And then she meets her hunter who's got like her axe, but it's like guitar teaching her to like find her own sound. And then we have a predator producer um wolf. >> And we don't have a title or anything, but grandma's gonna have a song called Goodies. [applause] So more on a serious note, the name of the musical is desort about little girls and sexual predators. >> So her mother had always said, "Don't go that way. Don't go through the mo or the metaphorical parking lot or the bad neighborhood." But she goes off to give her mother, bring her grandmother some food. And she meets this predator, the wolf, who convinces her, "You're going to be late if you don't take the shortcut. You want your grandmother to get sick." And she doubts herself. She knows something's wrong. But she doubts herself. Takes the shortcut. The wolf is already there, has murdered the grandmother, and has disguised himself. And she knows there's something wrong with his snout and his ears, but she doubts herself. She doubts. And then the song she sings acha, which means axe, she finds the reason in herself to defend herself >> and defends herself and kills him. [applause] >> Last one. >> Big finale. Okay. So, we decided to call ours >> the wolves. The wolves plural, but not that one. [laughter] >> We got only to the end of act one. So, it's all it's all the wolves in the story together, but post Little Red Riding Hood because there is a re a revelation that happens right at the end of act one. So, it's all these all the wolves from the different stories. There's the wolf from Peter and the wolf classical music, right? Um, there's the wolf from Little Little Red Riding Hood, who is the narrator talking about all these wolves, but post Little Red Riding Hood. So, hm, what does that mean? And then there's also the wolf from Three Little Pigs. And that's that's it, right? Those are wolves. I said we should have the wolf that was Michael Jackson, but they did not like that video. [laughter] Whatever. Anyways, The big reveal though, they're going to have a they're going to share a I want song and talking about their needs, hopes, desires, what they want, right? But the end of act one is Little Red. Her big song is going to be seeing Red because she has infiltrated the wolves and is dressed as a wolf. So, she is a drag king. >> Okay. So, she's a drag king who will eventually defeat all of all of the wolves, not just Little Red's Wolf. >> Very good. >> You guys, I want to thank all of you so much for sharing your creativity and bookw writing. I'm really excited to hear what happens with these ideas. So, this is what story making is. It's just putting your ideas together, being brave, being dumb, being fast, and putting it down. And now keep thinking about it because my best writing happens when I'm walking, when I'm swimming, when I'm talking to friends. It doesn't happen at your computer all the time. So, um, I really wish you to go forward and I'm really excited for the new stories that spring forth. Thank you to our wonderful libertist, bookw writers, composers who shared with us. And let's go celebrate uh, Fruitvilleian [cheering] Fression. Sorry.