"We have stories to tell, and we're not afraid
to sing them."

 

 

 

 

 

Who we are

 

Co-Artistic Directors Royce Vavrek and Lauren Worsham

 

Lauren Worsham, Co-Artistic Director

Lauren Worsham, Co-Artistic Director

Lauren Worsham is a New York-based actress and singer whose favorite roles include Amy in Where's Charley at New York City Center, Cunegonde in New York City Opera'sCandide, Lili in Goodspeed Opera House’s Carnival (dir. Darko Tresnjak), Cinderella in Kansas City Rep’s Into the Woods (dir. Moises Kaufman), Clara in Weston Playhouse’s The Light in the Piazza and Olive in the first National tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

 

Other theatre credits include Jerry Springer the Opera at Carnegie Hall, Master Class (Sophie) at Paper Mill Playhouse and The Fantasticks (Luisa) at Emelin Theatre. Lauren has participated in workshops and readings of Picnic at Hanging Rock (Daniel Zaitchik) at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Mermaid in a Jar (Royce Vavrek/Rachel Peters) and The Chemist's Wife (Julianne Wick-Davis/Rachel Jett/Will Aronson) at Tisch, Le Fou (Bekah Brunstetter/Julia Meinwald/Robert Shapiro) at New Georges and Mirror, Mirror (Sarah Treem) at Playwrights Horizons. Lauren also performs in concert frequently, including shows at Joe's Pub, Henry's, The Canal Room, Galapagos Art Space and New York City's VOX Program.

 

Lauren is the 2009 2nd place award winner of the Kurt Weill Foundation's Lotte Lenya competition.  Among her screen credits, Lauren is especially proud of her performance as the voice of the cousin-loving Urara in the English-language dub of the anime classic TheSakura Diaries. Lauren graduated cum laude from Yale University, with a B.A. in Spanish Literature.

 

Lauren is most proud to be the co-founder and co-artistic director of The Coterie.

 

 

Royce Vavrek, Co-Artistic Director

Lauren Worsham, Co-Artistic Director

Royce Vavrek is a multi-disciplinary narrative artist from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, whose work has been hailed as “wildly dramatic and… exhilarating” by The New York Times and “smart, crisp, [and] witty” by See Magazine. Vavrek has collaborated with diverse artists on a wide variety of opera and musical theater libretti and lyrics including Dog Days (New York City Opera VOX; Zankel Hall/Carnegie Hall; Peak Performances, Montclair, world premiere directed by Robert Woodruff), Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera (Bard Conservatory; New York City Opera VOX), and Last Nightfall (21c Liederabend) with composer David T. Little; The Hunger Art (American Lyric Theater, Center City Opera Theater, Burning Bayreuth) and Maren of Vardø (Center City Opera Theater’s Creative Development Projects; New York City Opera VOX; Yale Institute for Music Theater) with Jeff Myers; I [XX] (21c Liederabend) with Matt Marks; Unsaid in a Field of Wildflowers (Remarkable Theater Brigade/Carnegie Hall) and Bully Pulpit (Metropolis Opera Project) with Kristin Hevner; and Nora at the Altar-Rail with Jay Anthony Gach (American Lyric Theater, Boston Metro Opera).

 

Upcoming projects include Song from the Uproar with Missy Mazzoli (Beth Morrison Productions at The Kitchen), Yoani with Paola Prestini (Vision Into Art), The Bear Dance with Nick Martin (Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant), 1882 with Mark Baechle (Swiss Society of New York), The Beach with Andrew Gerle (New York City Opera VOX), Angel’s Bone with Du Yun (Mann Center for the Performing Arts), and The Wild Beast of the Bungalow (The Coterie; Opera on Tap) with Rachel Peters. Artistic Director of opera-theater company The Coterie, founded with soprano Lauren Worsham.

 

B.F.A: Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University, Montreal; M.F.A: Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, NYU. A Resident Artist in American Lyric Theater's Composer Librettist Development Program, Royce was commissioned by ALT to write …of the Flesh with Jay Anthony Gach as part of The Poe Project by ALT in 2010.

 

 

Eric Hurtig, Managing Director

 

Eric joined the Coterie as Managing Director in 2010. With a background in film and theatrical development, Eric's producing credits include Last Chance Saloon (Producer, 2006, Corus Young Filmmakers Initiative), and I Will Not Be Sad Anymore ('I Will Not Be Sad Anymore', Winner of 'No Sweat' QCFI 48 hour Filmmaking Contest, 2005). Eric is a graduate of Concordia University's (Montreal) Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema (B.F.A.)

 

 

Rachel Peters, Composer

 

Rachel Peters hails from St. Louis, Missouri. Work includes: the critically acclaimed Stretch (a fantasia) (Living Theatre, 2008) and Tiny Feats of Cowardice (New York Fringe Festival, Adirondack Theatre Festival) with Susan Bernfield; Only Children with Michael R. Jackson (NYU Mainstage, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Dixon Place), Mermaid in the Jar and Prairie Dogs with Royce Vavrek, Food of Love (Spitfire Theatre), Dark Fancies (Scary Little Girls Productions), 365 Days/365 Plays (Salt Theater). Unrequited (Public Theater Shakespeare Lab), The Bacchae (Asolo Rep Conservatory), The 52nd Annual Davenport Family Clan X-mas Spectacular (Ars Nova), The Tale of the Good Whistleblower of Chaillot’s Caucasian Mother and Her Other Children of a Lesser Marriage Chalk Circle (Antidepressant Festival/Theatre Askew) and Definite Possibilities with Stan Richardson; Among Others (Second Avenue Songbook Series) f2m with Michelle Elliott, and Public Domain. 2009 recipient, Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Award. Double B.A. summa cum laude, Brandeis University; MFA, NYU Musical Theatre Writing. Member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.