ABOUT the WORK
Nightcaps is a new musical drama by lyricist C. Brooke Vandervelde of Amherst and composer Richard L. Rose of Richmond, set at a fictional small college in the present, with flashbacks to 1910 and 1940. As five friends conduct research in the college archives, the incidents they encounter come to life on the stage, challenging the students’ understanding of themselves. What’s past is prologue, they find, in elemental issues of sexuality and race. But when power defines the narrative, truth about the past can be hard to find, and even harder to face. Richard Rose’s vibrant score brings the script to life with soaring melodies, complex rhythms, and sweet jazz.
ABOUT the CREATORS
Richard L. Rose writes and composes music in Richmond, VA, after a career in science and science teaching. Richard’s recent opera Monte and Pinky was performed by Capitol Opera Richmond at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. Visit Richard's own site, frameshifts.com, and his Amazon author page on Amazon.
Brooke Vandervelde has retired from a career teaching classical studies and is now music director at Ascension Episcopal Church, Amherst, where she also leads a bi-weekly Gospel Jam.
John Vandervelde, set designer for Nightcaps, taught shop in Amherst County Public Schools for twenty years. He has built and sailed three bluewater sailboats.
ABOUT our PRESENTERS
The mission of Amherst Glebe Arts Response (AGAR), is to commission, research, produce and publicly present educational materials in the arts and the humanities, primarily in Amherst County and Greater Lynchburg, Virginia. AGAR is the sine qua non of the Nightcaps project, providing extensive artistic advising as well as administrative support and publicity.
The mission of Second Stage | Amherst is to inspire creativity and community by providing a place where the cultural, civic, and economic vitality of Amherst County is encouraged. The performance space at Second Stage, a former church sanctuary, is a perfect fit for Nightcaps.