Composer and PlaywrightMiss Metcalfe Goes to College (2016)
a 10-Minute Musical for Voice and Piano
Book and Lyrics by Sarah Mucek, Music by Karl Hinze
- What About (demo) Download PDF
- Won’t Even Miss Me (demo) Download PDF
- Second Chance
- Won’t Even Miss Me (Reprise)
Premiere: Premiered July 27-31, 2016 in “ARCHETYPE” (The Theater at the 14th Street Y, NYC)
Commission: Commisioned by the 2016 Prospect Musical Theatre Lab
For the 2016 Prospect Musical Theatre Lab show, writing teams each drew two Jungian archetypes out of a hat and were instructed to write a show that put those two characters in conflict.
Which archetypes did you pick?
The Magician and The Explorer
Did you have any ideas going in?
Karl: We went into this process pretty open to whatever—but once we saw our archetypes we had lots of ideas!
How did you get the idea for your show?
Sarah: We brainstormed a bunch of possible conflicts between magician-types and explorer-types. Because the explorer, by nature, needs to explore, we wanted to find a way that the magician (magical, but controlling) could get in the way of exploring. We had some fun ones we couldn’t use, including Astronaut vs. Astronaut’s Wife and Sea Captain vs. Siren. I sincerely hope someone on the subway saw me writing these phrases.
Describe/explain your show in around 25 words
High School Senior Laura Metcalfe is packing to leave for college the next morning when her mother reveals a weird and important secret.
What are you most looking forward to in this experience? / What was the most valuable part of this experience?
Karl: It’s been wonderful to work with Sarah, who is a friend and writer I’ve admired for years. Also the entire Prospect team has been great about letting us just be writers on the piece (as opposed to writer/producer/SM/director/etc.), which is a rare and valuable thing.Sarah: What Karl said, but about Karl instead of me.
What do you hope audiences will take away from your show?
Sarah: That people of all ages deserve an adventure.
What was the biggest challenge of writing this type of show (a short, thematic, workshop)?
Karl: I think telling a complete story in a short piece can be challenging. Lucky for me, Sarah has an extensive background in improv and sketch comedy so she was totally prepared to help assemble our story beats into something that I think really works.
Sarah: It’s easier to impress the audience when they know you’ve just made it up. When you have time to write, the challenge is to make sure it has the fun and the polish to warrant 10 minutes of their time.