Director
Alyssa’s pillars of directing:
People first.
The cast, the crew, the audience. They’re all people, and must be respected as such.
trust The team.
The best possible show is an amalgamation of each person’s strengths and it’s my job to discover, bolster, and blend them.
Follow the North Star.
Each show is an opportunity to distill a core idea that leads us through a facet of our messy humanity. Once you find that core, everything aligns.
Create shapes.
Music and movement are more beautiful with depth and form.
It started with a broken sword.
“As a young ballerina I danced the role of Rat Queen in a production of The Nutcracker. My sword snapped at the hilt approximately two 8-counts before I needed to stab my dance partner. Amidst cries of ‘throw your tiara!’ and ‘punch him!’ from the wings, I decided to grab the Nutcracker’s own sword and continue on to the stabbing. My choreographer liked my instincts, so she handed me swaths of shows to shape and choreograph for my own. When I went to school for music, I kept choreographing. With my keen understanding of spatial relationships, the plight of a singer-actor, and the nuts and bolts of a good story, the Chair of Opera Studies at the New England Conservatory, Joshua Major, took notice and opened the door to what seemed like the inevitable: directing.
I continue to both choreograph and direct across the country, and enjoy telling stories from a wholistic, bird’s-eye view. My work is recognizable, often characterized as ‘distinct,’ ‘clever,’ and ‘compelling.’”
See Alyssa’s signature style at the Blackfriars Playhouse in February 2024, where she will direct Cupid & Death.
Previous shows
During the 2023 festival season, Alyssa joined the Utah Festival of Opera & Musical Theater in their productions of Sentimental Journey (Choreographer, Soloist), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (Assistant Director/Choreographer, Fight Captain), Oliver! (Assistant Director/Choreographer, Fight Captain), and Elton John’s Aida (Fight Captain).
The 2022-2023 Season highlights include directing sell-out productions of Rigoletto (Opera in the Heights, Houston) and L’elisir d’amore (Boston Opera Collaborative), devising and directing an updated Così fan tutt[i] at Carnegie Mellon University, and joining the New England Conservatory to direct Hansel & Gretel and the Undergraduate Opera Scenes and selections of the graduate Perkins Opera Scenes programs. Alyssa joined Reagle Music Theatre as assistant choreographer in their August production of Pippin.
Earlier in 2022, Alyssa directed Venus & Adonis at the renowned Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia in collaboration with Early Music Access Project and later served as staff at the international summer festival Prague Summer Nights. There, she directed the Scenes Program, taught movement and acting classes, and assisted (staging, choreography, fight choreography) in the productions of Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro at the famous Estates Theatre, where Mozart himself conducted the world premier of Don Giovanni.
The pandemic disrupted arts across the world, but Alyssa was able to create meaningful performances in a variety of altered circumstances. With a final dress rehearsal completed, Alyssa directed Viardot’s Cendrillon (Operativo Houston) in March 2020. One year later in March 2021, Alyssa directed a live-streamed production of Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night in collaboration with John McKeever at the University of Colorado Boulder. Originally slated to direct Mavra and Renard with Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood Project in April 2020, the creative team pivoted to an interdisciplinary piece of virtual “theatre” that featured Russian repertoire and premiered in the Fall of 2021. Alyssa served as Director and Choreographer, John McKeever served as Music Director, and Seamus Ricci served as Producer for the piece “B-la-F” that incorporated a string quartet, classical singers, and two dancers to share a story of growth, joy, loss, and acceptance. In July 2020, Alyssa served as apprentice director for Opera NEO’s Virtual Magic Flute.
Pre-pandemic, Alyssa finished an apprentice directorship with Opera NEO on-location in San Diego, California. While there, Alyssa directed several scenes in the NEO Cabaret, including the infamous Cell Block Tango from Chicago, with “aptly aggressive” choreography, and “Per piacere alla signora” from Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia, which was praised for its “cleverly designed” staging. Her choreography and assistance in the “compelling” mainstage production of Eugene Onegin culminated in a show that held its own in comparison to “potent memories of Lyric Opera Chicago’s early 1980s production of Eugene Onegin with Mirella Freni as Tatyana and Nicolay Ghiaurov as Prince Gremin.”
And those six women who owned the stage in their take no prisoners “Cell Block Tango”: [they] confidently executed Alyssa Weathersby’s aptly aggressive choreography and belted with delectable derision.
“Per piacere alla signora” from Rossini’s Il turco in Italia, a duet replete with vocal pyrotechnics and gymnastic choreography [was] again cleverly designed by Alyssa Weathersby.
In 2018, Alyssa was Assistant Director at the Crested Butte Music Festival for their production of Verdi’s Falstaff. As a choreographer, she has collaborated with opera companies in Texas, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Arkansas, on productions including Cendrillon, Pirates of Penzance, Rigoletto, Salsipuedes, and Il Postino. Alyssa is currently on faculty with the Brookline youth theatre Artbarn. As part of the Rafters directing team, she has choreographed numerous productions, including The Drowsy Chaperone, Into the Woods, Matilda, Fame!, Firebringer, Newsies, Shrek, The Addams Family, and Just So.