Lotus at the Blake School for the Arts

Mike will be spending the months of January and February 2003 as an artist-in-residence at the Blake School for the Arts, a performing arts magnet in Tampa, FL, where he will serve as musical director for a new, fully staged production of Lotus Blooming in a Sea of Fire.

Eric Davis, a member of Blake's musical theatre faculty, contacted Mike in May 2002 about performing the show, which he discovered on this very website. Mike lost little time in agreeing, and has taken the opportunity to undertake signficant revisions to the opera.

Eric has proven himself an invaluable asset to these revisions, assisting Mike in the hefty task of redeveloping of the script. Although Lotus' premiere (in May 2000 at Dartmouth College) was certainly successful, it revealed a number of shortcomings which would require significant attention before another production could be mounted (see also "Musical Theatre Professionals Critique 'Lotus'"). This is par for the course in the world of new musical theatre, but a herculean task nonetheless.

Much remains to be done as of this writing (12/1/02), but Mike and Eric look forward to putting up a greatly improved "Lotus" in February with a very talented cast and crew of Blake students. Mike is beyond excited to be working with them.

If you would like to attend the show, please e-mail Mike at:
miketrob@hotmail.com