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The Composer
Ric Averill decided to write this opera primarily because he did not think that there were enough operas for children. Most “adult operas” are way too long for kids, and abridged versions don’t do them justice. So, Ric decided to combine his love for theatre and music with a fondness for collaboration. He wanted to write something fun that could be performed and enjoyed by many. This particular opera, unlike so many is truly accessible to many, the music is simple and direct and the storyline is magical and captivating. “I enjoyed writing the opera,” said Ric, “…it took me longer than it does to write a play, and longer than it does to write music. I thought and planned and wrote the libretto, then set it to music, then changed the words to fit the music, then the music to fit new words. The opera has evolved…”

Ric Averill has been the Artistic Director and principal playwright for the Seem-To-Be Players professional children’s theatre company since he and his wife, Jeanne, founded the company in 1973.

He writes both plays and music, with a B.F.A. in Music Composition and an M.A. in Children’s Theatre, both from the University of Kansas. Ric is a Kansas Playwrighting Fellow, and he and his company are recipients of the Kansas Governor’s Arts Award and numerous touring and operational grants from the Kansas Arts Commission, Heartland Arts Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Hallmark Cards.

Ric’s plays are published by Dramatic Publishing, and he has contributed a chapter on playwrighting for Basic Drama Projects, a national high school textbook by Dr. Fran Tanner.

Ric has had two plays selected for the Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices play development symposium two selected for the IUPUI/Boderman Youth Theater playwright symposium in Indianapolis, and has also attended both events as an actor and a director. He is also a three time winner of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education’s Unpublished Play Reading Project.

Included among Ric’s many commissions are the Kennedy Center’s Alice in Wonderland, First Stage Milwaukee’s Little Drummer Boy, and a yet-to-be-named script for the Nashville’s Children’s Theatre.

Ric also writes screenplays, directs, teaches, acts, plays banjo, mandolin, fiddle, loves his two grown kids and talks like a duck.

The Director
Graham Whitehead (Director) was born in Egypt, raised in England, lived in Canada for almost thirty years and now resides in the United States. Since becoming a permanent resident of the U.S., he has taught at Arizona State University and worked as a freelance actor and director. Directing highlights include Fiddler on the Roof, Dear Esther, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Cabaret, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Pippin, Carousel, Comedy of Errors, Driving Miss Daisy, and Comet in Moominland. For the Kennedy Center, Graham has directed Mary Hall Surface's adaptation of The Reluctant Dragon and East of the Sun, West of the Moon. As a playwright, he has written two scripts, Just So Stories, and Peter and the Wolf, which won awards as outstanding productions from the international puppetry organization UNIMA. Graham is presently Associate Artistic Director at Childsplay in Arizona where he has directed numerous pieces including Wolf Child, And Then They Came for Me, Wind in the Willows, Selkie, and The Boxcar Children. He has also appeared as Lincoln in Lincoln's Log and dressed in extremely warm upholstery, where he played the Chair in Y. York's Portrait, Wind and Chair. In addition, he directed Androcles and the Lion for Free Space Theatre in Orel, Russia and made a cameo appearance as the voice of God in Castles in the Sky, which he directed and co-created with Gayle LaJoie. Playing God was much cooler than playing an armchair.

The Actors

Check out what the actors had to say about their roles in this opera as well as their own backgrounds and experience!

Ross Dippel (Chernaud) is thrilled to be making his Washington DC theatre premiere at The Kennedy Center. Recent credits include appearances at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Stepping Stone Theatre and the American Players Theatre, as well as the Academy of Classical Acting in association with the Shakespeare Theatre. Ross would like to thank his vocal coach Kate Hearden, his accompanist Dianne Shupp, the faculty and students of the inaugural class of The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting, his parents and of course his beautiful and talented wife.

1. How old were you when you started singing? How do you keep your voice in shape?

I have been singing for as long as I can remember. I remember my first music teacher in grade school, Mrs. Salutos; she is still a very good friend of the family back home in Wisconsin. I sang all through junior and senior high in different choirs and school musicals. After my undergraduate work at UW LaCrosse, were I did a number of musicals, I drifted away from singing and focused my attention on classical theatre, but it seems the draw of music is too strong. I keep my voice in shape through use. The voice is like a muscle and it must be regularly exercised. My recent classical training has developed my voice and I keep it fit by regular exercise and proper use. I also do not smoke!

2. What is your favorite fairy tale? What do you like about it?

When I was a kid I did not read a lot of fairy tales. My favorite books were ones by Richard Scarry and Dr. Seuss. I liked Richard Scarry’s books because they provide a flavor of another culture and Dr. Seuss’s books are entertaining and educational.

3. What are some of the challenges and rewards that you foresee of performing in an opera for children?

The greatest challenge I foresee is singing again; however I also feel that will be one of the greatest rewards. I believe that one must seek great challenges (things we fear to do). It is thru mastering those challenges (conquering those fears) that we take one step closer to realizing our full potential.

4. What steps do you take to prepare for a role?

Developing a role for the theatre is a collaborative effort. I develop ideas about who my character may be from the text, bring those ideas to the initial rehearsal and through discussion and experimentation with the other theatre artists involved in the production I begin to make more concrete decisions. Those decisions manifest themselves physically, vocally and emotionally. The amount of preparation I do before rehearsal begins varies with the play and the role. For this production I have spent a great deal of time with my vocal coach and accompanist. I am focusing my preparation time on learning the music, which will enable me to use the limited rehearsal time to collaboratively develop the story we long to tell.

Kathryn Rice (Reyalto) received her Master of Fine Arts from the Catholic University of America, where she played Isabella in Measure for Measure, Agnes in Agnes of God, Beth in Little Women, and Agnes in Dancing at Lughnasa. Regional performances include Becket at Olney Theatre, Lady in the Dark and The Children’s Hour at American Century Theatre, as well as Women in the Forest at Le Neon Theatre. She has also recently understudied the Greek Chorus in Agamemnon and His Daughters at Arena Stage.

1. How old were you when you started singing? How do you keep your voice in shape?

I was ten years old when I started singing. I take voice lessons and I practice (ugh!).

2. What is your favorite fairy tale? What do you like about it?

Beauty and the Beast. I like the premise of the story, that true love is not just physical attraction, but rather something that lies deeply within.

3. What are some of the challenges and rewards you foresee of performing in an opera for children?

I love performing for children because I enjoy seeing the excitement in their eyes. One of the major challenges is keeping my performance interesting for a young audience.

4. What steps do you take to prepare for a role?

I create the character I am playing by asking questions about her. How does she walk? Talk? What does she like and dislike? If she were an animal, what would she be? What is her background socially and economically? Why does she do the things she does?

5. In what ways do you think you are like/unlike your character?

I’m very independent and I still don’t like my father to tell me what to do (even though he may be right . . . sometimes.)

Scott Sedar (Emperor) works the length, breadth and depth of the Washington theatre scene. His credits include Floyd Collins at the Signature Theatre, the Kennedy Center national tour of The Red Badge of Courage (directed by Richard Thomas), Anna Karenina at Washington Stage Guild, Children with Stones at Source, Man of La Mancha, Threepenny Opera and Twelfth Night at Round House, 1776 at West End and I Do, I Do at Fredericksburg Summer Theatre. His opera credits include Dr. Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni and the loudspeaker in The Emperor of Atlantis for the IN SERIES. When he has a free moment, he paints local landscapes.

1. How old were you when you started singing? How do you keep your voice in shape?

I started singing when I was five years old and my favorite song at that time was Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star.” I study vocal technique with an excellent teacher. In addition, I keep my entire body in shape, because my voice is only part of the complete system.

2. What is your favorite fairy tale? What do you like about it?

My favorite fairy tale is one that I read in Italian. It’s called “Il Linguaggio degli Animali,” which translates as “The Language of the Animals.” I like this story for several reasons. First, in this story, a boy learns to communicate with animals. I believe this is possible, because my two dogs tell me what they want all the time, just not in my language. Second, the boy talks with the animals and his father cannot. I think this is funny and very true. At one point, the father thinks the son is crazy because the boy says he can talk with animals. Third, the boy uses his special ability of talking with animals to do good in the world, to help others.

3. What are some of the challenges and rewards you foresee of performing in an opera for children?

Opera is a challenge because it is a combination of art forms: music, theatre, and even dance. It is an opportunity for me, as a performer, to use as many of my skills as possible. I find performing for children especially rewarding, especially when the production is honest. I plan to work hard to make my part in this production as genuine and honest as possible.

4. What steps do you take to prepare for a role?

I read the play, I watch a video of another performance of the play or opera if one is available, or I read a book that helps me understand the era when this story takes place. I bring a few ideas to the first rehearsal, such as how my character might talk or walk. Then, I prepare to listen. I listen for the way in which my character speaks to other people and I listen for what other people say to him or about him. I listen to the director. Sometimes I hear the information I need, sometimes I don’t. But I keep listening. I start to make choices about the character and to find out how he and I are similar or different. Then, I begin to walk around my house imagining wearing his slippers or coat and not my own.

5. In what ways do you think you are like/unlike your character?

My character likes nice clothes and so do I. The emperor loves his power over other people. I prefer to love my wife, my plants and animals and my work.

Tom Sellwood (Simon) moved to the States a mere three months ago and is hoping that it lives up to its billing as the land of opportunity. He trained for three years at a drama school in London, pausing only to briefly appear in Pendragon on Broadway, which gained amongst other great critical acclaim, the New York Times’ Critic’s Choice Award. After this low-key start, Tom went directly into Lloyd-Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, initially understudying, and then going into the role of Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. Since Phantom, Tom has created the roles of Charles, Josephine’s lover in the world premiere of Napoleon on the West End and that of Beg Macca in a workshop of Queen’s forthcoming musical We Will Rock You. Incidentally, if you listen very hard, he can be heard on the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s new film Moulin Rouge. Tom’s straight theater includes Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Troilus in Troilus and Cressida, and Jerry in a particularly edgy interpretation of Edward Albee’s Zoo Story. Most excitingly, Tom has just finished playing a particularly unusual bad guy for a film with a supernatural theme. Tom is gratified to find a new world of acting genres opening up to him here, but seeing as he has been off stage for a longer time than any in the pervious six years, he is delighted to be treading a few boards again.

1. How old were you when you started singing? How do you keep your voice in shape?

I was twelve years old when I started having actual singing lessons. My voice broke when I was quite young so it had settled by my teens. I was prompted to start as I had already sung in school plays and was already an accomplished pianist and brass instrumentalist. I practice singing constantly, always pushing my limits using both exercises and songs that I work on. I have, however, had a couple of months’ solid break from singing as I had been singing nightly for three years with Phantom and Napoleon in the West End.

2. What is your favorite fairy tale? What do you like about it?

My favorite fairy tale is the story of sour grapes. I have a great fondness for animals and the fact that the fox convinces himself that he has not lost out in the end is very reminiscent of humanity.

3. What are some of the challenges and rewards you foresee of performing in an opera for children?

I love performing for children. Children are so much more willing to suspend disbelief and accept what is presented to them in the spirit it is intended. Also, if they are dissatisfied, you are well aware of it and so the challenge presents great rewards.

4. What steps do you take to prepare for a role?

Preparation for a role is a complex subject but to be brief, one should always research as much background to a character as possible. In this case, it is hard as the piece is set in no particular time period or location. However, that does not allow you to presume that he has had no life before the piece takes place. You have to create a history with as much as you can gain from either supporting literature, known facts (such as similar cases from that period and place) or at the very least anything that can be gained from the text of the piece. It is always important to have a real person though with thought processes, a past and goals and dreams.

5. In what ways do you think that you are like/unlike your character?

I have a few similarities with my character in that I am very ambitious, impetuous, emotional and straightforward in my processes to obtain what I want. I hope that I am a little more sophisticated and independent, but on the whole, we are not too dissimilar.

Schatar Sapphira White (Messienne), who is described as magnetism personified, again illuminates the Kennedy Center Stage with her performance. The melodic, harmonic quality of the voice and movement of this award-winning actress holds some of the secrets as to why this guest artist is repeatedly invited to bring life to a role. Loved by children and adults alike, this highly versatile artist’s credits include stage, screen and musical venues such as Blues Alley, the Shubert Theater, L’Hotel Sofitel, The World Trade Center and the British Embassy. In addition, she produces her own children’s education program for television. Schatar earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and completed graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Schatar dedicates this performance to her grandparents, to her grandaunt Martha and to all the people who loved her and remind us all to have fun out of life.

1. How old were you when you started singing? How do you keep your voice in shape?

I was five years old when I started singing in the church choir and I loved it. To keep my voice in shape, every day, I sing my favorite song three times in a row to keep my voice healthy and strong.

2. What is your favorite fairy tale? What do you like about it?

My favorite fairy tale is the new movie, Shrek. I especially love the ending because it lets everybody know that no matter what you look like, you can still be a winner and find love and happiness.

3. What are some of the challenges and rewards you foresee of performing in an opera for children?

It could be challenging to make sure that every word is sung very loudly and clearly. This way every person, even the tiniest person in the audience, can understand each and every word. A great reward I see is that opera music, all music, is universal. It can make people feel happy or sad just by hearing that special song.

4. What steps do you take to prepare for a role?

I do research at the library and on-line about the type of person that I will be playing in a show. In this show, I play the fun gypsy character, Messienne. So, right now, I am learning a lot about real-life gypsies.

5. In what ways do you think that you are like/unlike your character?

I think that I am very much like my character because in real life I love to tell a great story. I am not really unlike my character because I believe we all have a little Gypsy in us!

The Designers

Here are the people who made this show happen from behind the scenes. Click on the different links to learn more about their amazing work on this production!

Sound Designer - Tony Angelini
Tony Angelini began his journey of designing the sound for this show by reading the libretto and spending a lot of time talking with the director . As the sound designer, Mr. Angelini decides on what mikes to use for the actors, as ell as coordinating the timing of all of the music in the score. He said that his biggest challenge was customizing the timing of the music from the original recording to fit the actual timing of the opera.

Tony Angelini is happy to be back at The Kennedy Center after designing The Great Quillow in the fall of 2000. Recent credits include: Much Ado About Nothing with the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival on Long Island, NY; the world premier of The Rhythm Club at Signature Theater in Arlington, VA; SLAM! at The San Diego Repertory Theatre; Gross Indecency at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Fool For Love and A Streetcar Named Desire with the Keegan Theatre/ Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Ireland; Available Light and Tell Me On A Sunday, at Signature Theatre; Quintuplets for Gala Hispanic Theatre/National Theatre of Cuba; Comic Briefs, Master Harold and the Boys and SLAM! at The Studio Theatre; The Fantasticks and Three Days Of Rain at The Round House Theatre; Translations, The Field and On The Verge! for the Keegan Theatre. Other credits include Ruthless at the Source Theatre, Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde at Gallaudet University, and Brady Of Broadway! for The National Portrait Gallery. He has designed sound at the Washington Stage Guild for productions of Anna Karinina, The Late Edwina Black, and others. Mr. Angelini is a manager at RCI Sounds Systems in Rockville, MD.

Costume Designer - Timm Burrow
Timm Burrow, the costume designer admitted that his biggest challenge of designing the costumes for The Emperor’s New Clothes was keeping intune to the director’s concept of “timelessness” to the opera. “Timelessness” means something that occurs beyond boundaries of a certain place and time. So, Mr. Burrows had to design costumes that were very imaginative! He said that it helped when he decided to assign each character a different color theme for their costumes to match their personality. Can you tell which color goes to which character?

Timm Burrow Theatre Design: Marisol (Trumpet Vine Theatre Company); Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Life of Galileo (Washington Shakespeare Company); Costume Designer Dreams and Assistant Costume Designer Soul Possessed (Kennedy Center); Wait Until Dark (West End Dinner Theatre); Leaving the Summerland (Tribute Production). Opera: Assistant Designer Cosi Fan Tutte (Wolf Trap Opera Company); Hansel and Gretel (Capital City Opera). Film and television: Pride and Prejudice (The Learning Channel); Eating and Weeping (Handbag Productions).

Tony Cisek (Set Designer) recently worked with the Kennedy Center’s Youth and Family Programs in the fall of 2000, designing the set for The Great Quillow. Tony received a 1999 Helen Hayes Award for his designs for Much Ado About Nothing at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre. Other recent designs include Hamlet at the Folger; Communicating Doors at Round House Theatre; Three Tall Women at Rep Stage; the 1999 VSA Arts Playwright Discovery Program at the Kennedy Center; A Raisin in the Sun at City Theatre in Pittsburgh; Edmond at the Source; La Grenada at Gala Hispanic Theatre; and Oak & Ivy at Arena Stage. His work has also been seen at Theatre of the First Amendment, Olney Theatre Center, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Washington Shakespeare Company, Baltimore’s Peabody Opera, and Florida State Opera, among others. Tony holds a Master of Fine Arts in design from NYU.

Dreama J. Greaves (Properties Artisan) has served as properties artisan for many Kennedy Center Youth and Family Programs shows. Her credits include such diverse productions as The Snow Queen; Little Women; Alice in Wonderland; The Nightingale; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and others; many of which have toured nationally. She has a Master of Fine Arts from Northwestern University and free-lances throughout the metro area.

Martha Mountain (Lighting Designer) is pleased to continue her association with YFP, having designed Suzanne Farrell Stages the Masters of 20th Century Ballet, Paulette Laufer’s plays The Great Quillow and Little Women, as well as My Lord, What a Morning, The Snow Queen, Red Badge of Courage, Walking the Winds, and many others. She designs extensively around the region for diverse companies including Round House Theatre, Theatre of the First Amendment, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Folger Shakespeare Library, Le Neon Theatre Company, Theatre J, and Opera International. Ms. Mountain serves as resident lighting designer for Bowen McCauley Dance and Eric Hampton Dance. She teaches lighting design at George Mason University and at the University of Maryland, and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829 (IATSE).

Debbie Wicks LaPuma (Musical Director) is delighted to be working at the Kennedy Center with Youth and Family Programs once again. She has been working the Washington DC area for 8 years as a composer, music director, and performer with the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, Imagination Stage, MetroStage, Signature Theatre, the University of Maryland, and American University. She is the recipient of the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Robert M. Golden Award, the N.E.A. New American Works Grant, and was a 2000 Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding Musical Direction of a Resident Play for Studio Theatre's Crack Between the Worlds. Her work has been commissioned and has premiered at the Kennedy Center (Walking the Winds, The Magic Rainforest), Olney Theatre Center (The Fifth Season), Imagination Stage (The Magical Piñata, Ferdinand the Bull, and Sleeping Beauty: The Time Traveler and her New Millennium Prince). Ms. La Puma received her MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and her BA from Stanford University.