ICONS/IDOLS
from The Byzantine Choral Project
Book and Lyrics by Helen Banner
Composed by Grace Oberhofer

ICONS/IDOLS is a tetralogy of choral plays for over a dozen  singers. Mixing music, movement and text, the four plays recover the secret history of these purple empresses as they ascend in a society with deep animosity towards female rule. Deeply committed to religious icons, these powerful empresses sacrifice personal relationships in an attempt to gain enough power to re-introduce them into an empire that fiercely and violently opposes iconography.

ICONS/IDOLS: Irene, the first in the choral play series, was recently adapted into a podcast that you can check out here.

DEAR RUTH
Book by Allison Benko
Music by Grace Oberhofer
Lyrics by Allison Benko & Grace Oberhofer

In the nine months leading up to World War II, thousands of refugee Jewish children were given safe passage from Nazi Germany to Great Britain. The vast majority of these children would never see their families again. Many children brought small mementos with them in their suitcases, and Dear Ruth is inspired by one such relic: a simple drawing featuring a young girl, Ruth Neumayer, and her British foster sister playing the recorder under the shade of two trees (above). Inspired by this simple image, we created an imagined version of Ruth’s experience. This powerful piece of musical theater follows Ruth's cultural adjustment in Britain as she grapples with trauma, creates new friendships, and reaffirms for herself the power of music.

HOT CROSS BUNS
Book by Julia Izumi
Music by Grace Oberhofer"
Lyrics by Julia Izumi & Grace Oberhofer

Welcome to Bunny Isle, home to the happiest bunnies! And when they’re at their happiest moment in life they do the only logical thing: they end it. Speaking of life, pop superstar bunny, Mayda, loves hers. So when her fiance, Duane, proposes to be crushed by the weight of two tons of carrots together at their wedding, she has very, very last minute regrets, hops out of the way, and causes a Rabbit Revolution. In Hot Cross Buns, a twisted new musical, Mayda is forced to confront the meaning of life and what’s worth fighting for. Nothing fluffy about it.

COLOR OF THINGS
Book & Lyrics by Lisa Mongillo
Music by Grace Oberhofer
Based on the children’s book by Vivienne Shalom

Jill––an 11-year-old autistic girl who loves engineering and summoning the occasional ghost––is stuck in self-doubt. Convinced she isn’t smart enough to apply for a junior apprenticeship, she seeks comfort from her dad, her best friend Brooke, and the ghost of her idol, world-renowned computer scientist Grace Hopper. But they have problems of their own. Her dad, a bold but struggling artist, worries about providing for their future. Brooke, a fiercely independent 6th grader and wheelchair user, is convinced she won’t fit in with the club she secretly wants to join. And Grace Hopper is late for a game of chess with Marie Curie. 

Soon, their problems are dwarfed when Drainit and DeWitt – two nefarious inventors in a nearby laboratory – build a machine to drain the colors out of everything and everyone in the town of Monroe. Can Jill and Brooke –and all the things that make life in it colorful– save their town from the clutches of a melancholic gray abyss?

A DOLL’S HOUSE: A NEW OPERA
Composed by Grace Oberhofer
Libretto by Grace Oberhofer
Additional Text by Allison Benko

Inspired by the continuing relevance of Nora's plight, we are currently developing a 90-minute piece entitled A Doll's House: A New Opera, composed by Grace Oberhofer and directed by Allison Benko. The piece follows the structure of Henrik Ibsen's original play, but uses music as an extension of Nora's "gilded cage." Although Nora's domestic life honors manipulation over authenticity, she is forced to find her own voice when the masquerade ends. It is then that her musical confines begin to unravel.