ABOUT GET STUFFED

Written by Alexis Diamond and composed by Richard Payne for 5 singing actors and 2 musicians, Get Stuffed is produced by Tapestry in partnership with Words In Motion (WIM) and developed with Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA).  Get Stuffed promotes environmentally-friendly, healthy food choices inspired by the Canada Food Guide with special prominence for Ontario grown produce.  The libretto (the opera’s text) includes foods representative of Canada’s diverse population.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Tapestry’s creative process of ongoing dramaturgy and workshops has provided the creative team of Diamond and Payne with feedback and dialogue as the work was written and composed. Workshops and performances with invited “focus groups” (children, their parents and teachers) have been an integral part of the development process which influences the creative team’s choices of contemporary vocabulary and situations. Using words, music, sounds and humour, the final production will entertain and educate children to make ‘good’ food choices.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The target audience for this production is children aged 6 – 12, their families and teachers. The opera is 35 minutes in length and both pre and post performance educational materials, developed by Words In Motion with support from the CDA, is be available to reinforce its messages. The in-school performance will be preceded by a workshop and study guide that will further explore age appropriate themes of making healthy food choices and creating new opera – story, composition and performance.

CREATIVE ARTISTS BIOS

Alexis Diamond – Librettist

Alexis Diamond is a playwright and librettist based in Montreal. Most recently, her one-act opera The Perfect Screw,created with composer Abigail Richardson, was produced by Tapestry for its annual Opera to Go showcase at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront (Toronto) in March 2009. Previous operas include Enid and the Swans, an adaptation of The Ugly Duckling, with composer James Rolfe for Soundstreams and the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus and The Two Graces with composer Sean Ferguson for Tapestry’s Opera to Go in 2004. Alexis won the 2008 Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition for her play Strange Land, which will receive a reading in Toronto in Fall 2009. Recipient of a Canadian Opera Creation Program Fellowship and a Leighton Studio Residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Alexis received an IPOLC grant from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage to develop Ride, a musical for children, with composer Nick Carpenter and percussionist Kristie Ibrahim. As a member of the Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal playwrights’ unit, Alexis has been working on her new play, Angel’s Share. In her spare time, Alexis works as a translator and editor. Alexis has a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Concrdia University and an M.A. in English Literature from the Université de Montréal. She served as president of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal for five years.

Richard Payne – Composer

Richard Payne immigrated to Canada from California as a classical guitar instructor in 1970. He earned his Master of Music degree in composition from the University of British Columbia and was a participant composer with the Banff Centre’s first Music Theatre Studio Ensemble, setting Tom Cone’s There and receiving a commission for The Minotaur to a Leofwin Luke text. His children’s opera I am Hungry received its concert premiere in Victoria in 2001. Other works include BinocularsPacific Lines and Reel Music for the Victoria Symphony, Blue Corona for the Corona Guitar Quartet, Akimbo for the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Con Ver Sing for bassist Gary Karr and guitarist Kazuhito Yamashita at the Yatsugatake International Music Day Festival, Sun for the Phoenix Chamber Choir, Chushingura for Michael Strutt, and pieces for other chamber ensembles as well as scores for CBC, NFB and independent producers. His studies of traditional Japanese music and theatre, including an invitation to study at the Imperial Palace School of Music, are reflected in his Pacificthemed stage and concert works. Richard resides in Toronto where he teaches creative music making and guitar, while continuing to compose for concert, stage and electronic media. His website: www.goatmusic.com.