DIRECTING

(2026)
THE ELEMENTARY SPACETIME SHOW
Book, Music, & Lyrics by César Alvarez
Additional Book & Lyrics by Emily Orling
In the opening moments of The Elementary Spacetime Show we see a young girl, Alameda, attempting to take her own life. She is drawn into a tunnel which deposits her into a liminal void somewhere in between life and death. Alameda is faced with an awkward challenge: in order to die she must play and win a game show. Over the course of the show Alameda soldiers through a series of musical and philosophical trials, each one of which illuminates another dimension of her struggle. Her clash with a depressed mosquito asks her to reassess the meaning of violence. Her encounter with another version of herself pulls her into a reckoning with self-hatred. A talking piece of Rhubarb becomes a confidante. Across the unfolding drama, a queer kinship builds between her and the denizens of the in between. In the end when Alameda is faced again with the excruciating choice between being and nonbeing, the hopelessness of the opening scene has been warped by strange flecks of possibility: the possibility that she isn't alone, the possibility that her darkness is a gift, the possibility that every state of being is in flux.

(2025)
HONG KONG AFTER MIDNIGHT: THE DISCO DISCO MUSICAL
Book & Lyrics by Trevor K. Band
Music by Amos Wong
Concert Reading presented by PRISM: A Festival of New Queer Musicals
"Hong Kong After Midnight: The Disco Disco Musical" is a new musical set in 1970s Hong Kong, telling the story of Gordon Huthart and his legendary gay club, Disco Disco. The musical, written by Trevor K. Band and with music by Amos Wong, explores themes of identity, community, and fighting for acceptance in a city facing both police oppression and the impending handover to China. It's a story based on firsthand accounts and features a "rollicking disco score".

(2025)
THE POTLUCK: IN CONCERT
Book, Music, & Lyrics by César Alvarez
Directed by Sarah Benson
Presented in partnership with Lincoln Center & Dartmouth College
(Associate Director)
On November 3, 1979 five communist labor organizers were murdered in broad daylight in the streets of Greensboro, NC by a group of KKK and Nazis. All five of the victims had committed their lives to fighting the rule of the capitalist class. The murders had been planned and supported by paid informants of the Greensboro Police and agencies within the U.S. government. One year later in Greensboro, César James Alvarez was born into the survivor community and named after two of the victims, César Cauce and James Waller. 36 years after that an “entertainment” company paid César to write a musical about the Greensboro Massacre, but it turned into a musical about ghosts and queerness and feelings and how to recuperate from trauma that happened to you before you were even born, and also capitalism.

(2024)
NOISE
Book, Music, & Lyrics by César Alvarez
Wilbury Theatre Group
NOISE tells the story of a bunch of musicians who agree that society isn't working. And since civilization is found in its earliest form in musical structure, they figure they should be able to make some music that reflects a society they'd actually like to live in. Like, right now. In this musical…

(2024)
THE WELKIN
by Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Sarah Benson
American Premiere at Atlantic Theatre Company
(Associate Director)
Rural England, 1759. As the country awaits the return of Halley’s comet, a young woman is sentenced to death. When she tries to escape the noose by claiming she is pregnant, twelve ordinary women are gathered to decide whether she is telling the truth. A dark, fierce, funny play about democracy and housework.