Where I’m From: The Musical is an original book and lyrics and written by The Visionaries during a dramatic musical workshop held in the spring of 2018. The workshop took place at VISIONS at Selis Manor, a nonprofit rehabilitation and social service organization for the blind and visually impaired in New York. The participants listened to and read classic and contemporary music books and lyrics from a variety of composers. The Visionaries then wrote original poems and songs inspired by the listening selections. And then the workshop created a collaborative script written and produced by all the participants, naming themselves The Visionaries. The musical was performed at an event in the Spring for a live audience.
The workshop was led by artists-in-rresidence Dave Johnson and T. Scott Lilly with the special assistance of sound man and musician, Peter Spagnuolo, and teaching assistants, Napoleon Felipe and Bruce Kirkland.
We would like to send a special thanks to the entire staff at Visions, especially Ms. Lee, Ms. Lewy, Ms. DeShazo, and Mr. Thompson (for printing all our work every week in Braille). We enjoyed every minute! We hope you will enjoy reading and singing our original musical, Where I’m From!
Teaching Artists: Dave Johnson & T. Scott Lilly
The Visionaries – The Writers & Singers
Carmen Becker, Janet Seth, Hasheem Kirkland, Liz Hernandez, Yvonne Whitehurst, Teresa Castellano, John Diorio, Lyda Schoenfeld, Meghan Rafferty, Debra Zanca, Winston Watson (Ras), Donna Madnick, Mary Connor, Donna Hedges.
Poet, playwright, art historian, and social innovator, Dave Johnson is the author of two books of poetry, Dead Heat and Marble Shoot; and two plays, Baptized to the Bone and Sister, Cousin, Aunt. He is the co-translator and dramaturg of two Italian stageplays, the international bestsellers Gomorrah and Super Santos. His visual art curatorial work includes exhibitions at the Queens Museum of Art and at the Milan World Expo. Dave founded and directs Free Verse, a publishing house and working artists’ program born in the New York City Department of Probation waiting room. His awards include fellowships from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. Dave teaches at The New School and Montclair State University. His present work centers on women artists of the Italian Renaissance.