Brownsburg, Indiana trip

Back in March I had the awesome privilege to go and work with the Madrigal Singers of Brownsburg High School in Indiana on their performance of Autumn. Below are some pictures I snapped on my Spring Break working in Indy. These students performed the piece with an amazing amount of integrity, emotion and focus (so much so that you would have a hard time believing they were high school students!). I owe a huge debt of gratitude to them and their amazing director, Debi Prather, for showing me Indiana and bringing my music to life while I waved my hands in front of them. I did a rambling, incoherent interview with the local paper as well. Here's their "fun picture".

The student who first emailed me about their performance, Kelly Lusk, had won a young playwright's award for the second year in a row and one of the nights I was in Indy his new play, We, The Boys, was being premiered by the Indiana Repertory Theatre. A few students picked me up and drove me downtown and I was able to sit right next to Kelly during the show. It was awesome!

Here's Kelly giving a tremendous thumbs-up during a tremendous performance. Those actors really brought his script to life. If I'm ever commissioned to write an opera or oratorio (a pipe dream, I'm sure) he is who I'm contacting about a script. He emailed me a few days ago to let me know that We, The Boys is going to New York. Way to go, Kelly!



















Here are my rides to the performance: Phil, Jenni/Jennie/Jenny and Jessica. We had a good ride from Brownsurg into downtown where we talked about the crappy cars that high school students drive. Apparently Phil's enormous van (that I'm sad to say I didn't get to see) looks a little like a vampire from the front and ironically drips red fluid wherever it goes (you might want to get that checked out).

The Madrigal Singers came out in force to support their brother. The student in the corner (whose name, I believe, was Jennie/Jenny/Jenni) is sporting the "Kelly Lusk" t-shirt the students wore all day. I also received one of these awesome shirts (on the back it says "Dynasty" because he has won the award both years it's been in existence).















The premiere took place in the amazing Indiana Repetory Theatre. Here's just the lobby:

And they served some crazy-delicious hors d'oeuvres. If I remember correctly the punch that went with them was called "Age of Innocence." It was really good...even if the name was a little lame.















For some reason these statues are in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. Who can resist running with the herd?















After the Madrigals and I performed Autumn they got all gussied up and threw down with some smokin' hot show choir moves. This is what they wore in the first half of their show (there was a lightning quick costume change midway that I was so flabbergasted by I failed to take a picture). In fact, they were so good that I'm pretty sure you could rightfully say I "got served".















Thanks to all the people I met during my days in Indianapolis. It was an amazing experience and I had an enormous amount of fun. Go Bulldogs!