LICITY COLLINS Creator
Libretto • Suzy's Vocals • Sam 6's Vocals • Multi-Sam Scenes • Ensembles • Motifs
Described by NPR as “Courageous. Writing and singing full-frontal.” A multidimensional genre-busting artist, Licity creates music, word, and art experiences designed to ignite fearlessness in the blood of her audiences. Licity’s music is “shaped by emotion and shared vulnerability—giving listeners an uplift.” (VC Reporter) Licity co-founded Portland’s rebel defunkt theatre company; built community-based scripts with Los Angeles’ Cornerstone Theatre; founded the Women’s Prison Theatre Project in Providence; and served on the BRAVO Committee of the Ojai Music Festival. Licity's trailblazing conceptual art gained world-wide attention, features on NPR, inlcusion in art history books and an award for the study of bigotry and human rights. Licity is currently serving as the inaugural Music Fellow at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.

STEPHEN MONTALVO Sam's Saxophone  
Stephen Montalvo is an active composer and performer of acoustic and electronic music, as well as audiovisual installation artist, based in New Orleans, LA. Through his music, he explores concepts related to resonance and rhythmic interplay, works to promote equity in artistic experiences by creating agency for performers and audiences, and draws inspiration from social, ecological, and political concerns. He is a Take Notice Fund Awardee for 2023, a program by the National Performance Network recognizing artists of color in Louisiana, and his works have been performed throughout the United States by artists and ensembles including Longleash, trumpeter and technologist Alexandria Smith, the Portland Percussion Group, mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen, the Rhythm Method String Quartet, Bent Duo, and the Talea Ensemble, as well as internationally at the Osaka University of Arts Electronic Music Festival. 

LICITY COLLINS Sam 1's  Double Bass
Growing up in the cello section of the Washington, DC Youth Orchestra Program, Licity has a particular affection for composing for double (and electric) bass, the supportive sound she heard behind the cellos. Sam 1 is also Licity's favorite scene, coming entirely out of her imagination, not from any real-life scenario, this scene felt truly written by the character himself. This scene is where Sam showed Licity that the work was about shifting realities, a splintering of time, and a heart that wanted to stay connected.  It became an entire world, narrative, and journey—and an opera. It was a delicious, mournful, delight to write and compose Sam 1's ice cream scene.