In this course, student composers will explore the various ways in which their music can be harnessed as a tool for telling stories and creating characters. Throughout the semester, they will analyze the techniques that theatre composers utilize to depict narratives, organize dramatic content, and interpret and inspire lyrics and libretto, and then practice those techniques in their own, original songs and instrumental compositions. For their culminating course assignment, they will conceive, compose, rehearse, workshop, and present a new song for a hypothetical or currently-in-progress theatrical project, drawing upon constructive feedback from their instructor, classmates, and performer-collaborators, as they continuously revise and refine their work. In order to participate in this class, students must be able to notate their original compositions in a music publishing program such as Sibelius, Dorico, or MuseScore. Familiarity with a DAW such as Logic or GarageBand is also recommended, though not required.