Creation Lab

Gabriella Garcia is a writer and musician. Based in Seattle, WA, she works in education and holds a degree from Wellesley College. She is also a classically trained vocalist and a lifelong choral singer. A recent writing resident with The Seventh Wave magazine, she spends much of her free time reading, listening to The Concord Sonata on repeat, and baking focaccia (sometimes all at once). You can find her poetry in Rust & Moth and forthcoming from The Westchester Review.

Raya Tuffaha is a Palestinian actor, fight director and writer from Seattle. She’s trained under Philip d’Orléans, Ian Rose, Eli Lynn, & Geof Alm. FD credits include: The Marriage of Figaro, Miss Holmes, Les Misérables, Romeo and Juliet, Heathers. Acting credits include: Henry VI, Eurydice, A View from the Bridge, Hippolytus. Poetry collections: To All the Yellow Flowers (2020), apocalypse blues (2022). Words in Phoebe Journal, Ms. Magazine, Button Poetry. She’s powered by matcha. BA Swarthmore College, add'l British American Drama Academy, School of Amman Ballet. "Let it be a tale." www.rayatuffaha.com

Ozzy Wagner is a fledgeling playwright from Seattle, and is so excited to be back at Seattle Opera for a second year. They received a BA in Playwriting from Emory University, where they produced the student playwriting festival and received the Lucius Lamar McMullan award for extraordinary promise. Ozzy’s work, often experimental, explores history, labor, and madness, and has been invited to festivals such as KCACTF (2020, 2021), Essential Theater’s Bare Essentials readings, Barter Theater CPF, Horizon Theater’s NSYPF, Theater Emory’s Viral Plays, We Need New Plays, etc.; and has been developed through The Workshop Theater and Silver Glass Productions’ Experimental Playwriting Workshop.

Grace Ward (she/her/hers) is a Boise-based playwright, author, and essayist. Her debut novel, The Apollo, made waves in 2024, following the success of her poetry collection, (boy poems), in 2023. Grace loves to tell stories; from a hyperpop musical about college kids inventing a dating app to a YA novel about Romani immigration to the U.S. in the 1950s, she enjoys exploring the lives of messy women who curse a lot. Transitioning from ghostwriting “sexy billionaire romance” to crafting complex plays and young adult novels, Grace is now dedicated to amplifying the voices of Romani, Eastern European, neurodiverse, and queer rural American communities.

Jeremy Berdin (he/him) is a rising songwriter and composer based in Seattle. He aspires to tell stories of joy and belonging, as well as uplift narratives from his AAPI heritage within his creative endeavors. His compositions include the original musical, Buried Deep (Drake University); music for the new operetta, Currents (18th and Union); and contributions to the new musical Paranoia (Harrisburg Fringe Festival); with additional music collections on SoundCloud and Spotify. He’s excited and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Creation Lab! Updates on his various projects can be found at JeremyBerdin.com.

Nehemiah Jones is an engaging vocalist and composer from Bellingham, WA. His passion for music emerged during high school through choir and orchestra, leading him to pursue dual bachelor's degrees in Music Composition and Vocal Performance at Western Washington University (WWU). Currently, he studies under Dr. Richard Hodges and Dr. Charles Halka and is active within both his school and community.

Max Mabry is an American composer and performer born in Oregon. He holds a double major in music composition and performance from the University of Oregon. One of the primary goals of Max’s compositions is to use music as a medium to explore different ways of storytelling, and to take influence from not just the tradition of classical music, but also from a wide range of contemporary art. Max’s primary performing instruments are bass clarinet, clarinet, and saxophone. He believes that through performing, he can help bring to life the music of other people, and mostly chooses to perform works by living and more contemporary composers.

Portland-based composer and soprano Carolyn Quick (she/her) is “a composer of great renown” (Dr. Justin Smith) and “one of the most important voices in our community” (Makrokosmos Project). She writes music that is “deeply meaningful,” making a “huge impact on both singers and audiences” (Smith) as she explores interwoven lines, conversational counterpoint, and unique timbral and textural possibilities—particularly those of the human voice. In her work, she strives to set texts that are raw and vulnerable, often gravitating toward lesser-known poetic voices.

Deborah Brevoort is a playwright and librettist from Alaska who now lives in the New York area. She is an alumna of New Dramatists, one of the original company members of Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre, a member of the playwright’s collective at Florida Studio Theatre and a co-founder of Theatre Without Borders, dedicated to international theatre exchange. In 2024 she was appointed as a Fulbright Specialist for theatre, musical theatre and opera for the US State Department.

Jerre Dye is the librettist of The Falling and Rising, the first chamber opera performed in Seattle Opera’s new Tagney Jones Hall.  He also wrote Taking Up Serpents for Washington National Opera with composer Kamala Sankaram; Parksville, a virtual reality opera for Opera On Tap New York with composer Kamala Sankaram; and Opera 901 and Ghosts of Crosstown for Opera Memphis. New commissions include A Summer Place for Chautauqua Opera, The Transformation of Jane Doe for Chicago Opera Theater with composer Stacy Garrop, and A Pretty Little Room for Opera Memphis with composer Robert G. Patterson.

Possessing “an ear for the new and interesting” (The New York Times), Laura Kaminsky frequently addresses social and political issues in her work with a distinct musical language that is "full of fire as well as ice, contrasting dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection.” (American Record Guide). As One (co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed) is the most produced contemporary opera since its 2014 premiere, with 60+ productions to date internationally. Other operas include Some Light Emerges, Today It Rains, Hometown to the World, and Finding Wright.

Zach Redler is a composer, musicologist, music director, pianist, and educator whose work has been performed in concert halls, opera houses, and theaters around the world. They are the recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Award, ASCAP’s Max Dreyfus Award, and the American Prize for Opera Composition. As a musicologist, Zach’s research on and publications of Marcel Tyberg’s music has culminated in multiple premieres and recordings. Zach spent fifteen years working on the music teams of musicals on Broadway, regionally, and globally. 

Matt Perri is currently the Resident Music Supervisor for The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA. Perri recently made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut with Austen’s Pride: Live at Carnegie Hall. Broadway credits: Bandstand, Come From Away; Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella; Scandalous; How to Succeed… (2011); Promises, Promises (2010); White Christmas; and The Drowsy Chaperone. The 5th Avenue Theatre: Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, Afterwords, Austen’s Pride, West Side Story. Off-Broadway: Cagney. Perri also coproduced the original cast recording of Cagney. Television credits: The Sound of Music Live and Peter Pan Live, both on NBC; Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; The Late Show with David Letterman; and The View. In concert, he has served as music director and performed with Bette Midler, Kristin Chenoweth, Jessica Vosk, and Mario Cantone. He lives in Poulsbo, WA with his wife Molly, son Elliot, and daughter Nola.
Instagram: @mattperriconductor

Daren Weissfisch is a distinguished conductor, oboist, and educator based in Seattle, Washington. He currently serves as the Principal Conductor for the Tacoma Opera and the new Music Director of the Lake Union Civic Orchestra beginning in the 2024-2025 season. He is also Conductor for the Seattle Opera Creation Lab and has worked with local orchestras including the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, Harmonia Orchestra, and the Issaquah Philharmonic Orchestra.