Librettist | Resident Artist
LAURA BARATI
Laura Barati is a writer and deviser of new works whose libretti, musicals, and plays have been performed across the United States and internationally. Barati’s experience as the queer daughter of a Jewish Colombian mother and a Muslim Iranian father fuels her desire to make untold stories and complex identities come alive onstage. She delights in pushing the limits of traditional genres and picking apart the messy intersections of gender, race, and sexuality through a critical but joyful lens.
Her operas include The Cost of Healing with composer Edward Shilts (The Atlanta Opera’s 96 Hour Opera Project), 75 Miles with composer Matt Boehler (Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative), Henna Leaves with composer Aleksandra Weil (The American Opera Project), Uprising with composer Aleksandra Weil (The American Opera Project/The Rally Cat/The Tank), and Thirst with composer TJ Rubin (The American Opera Project/Lowbrow Opera Collective). Laura’s opera Caravana de mujeres with composer Nicolás Lell Benavides is in development with MassOpera’s New Opera Workshop and was featured at Opera America’s New Works Forum. The Interaction Effect with composer Pamela Stein Lynde, is also in development at Fresh Squeezed Opera.
Selected plays and musical theater works include How To Create A Young Girl with composer TJ Rubin, Miss Havisham’s Wedding with lyricist David Gomez and composer Jude Obermüller, #doingthisforme with composer Danny Ursetti, and The Electric Brain's We Regret To Inform You That Reza Is Dead.
Laura’s writing has been performed in New York City at the American Opera Project, Opera America, The Tank, Prospect Theater Company, NYMF, The Duplex, and Don’t Tell Mama; and internationally at Washington National Opera/The Kennedy Center, The Atlanta Opera, Lowbrow Opera Collective, Barrington Stage Company, Two River Theater, Stage Femmes, Music Theatre Kansas City, Leeds Conservatoire, and the West End.
Barati is a founding member of the devising collective The Electric Brain. Fellowships include The American Opera Project’s Composers & The Voice and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. She’s trained at the National Theater Institute and the School at Steppenwolf. B.A., Kenyon College. M.F.A., NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
In Development/Current Commissions:
Caravana de mujeres (Composer: Nicolás Lell Benavides); MassOpera’s New Opera Workshop
The Interaction Effect (Composer: Pamela Stein Lynde); Fresh Squeezed Opera