Events

Adamandi is a new horror musical in the genre of dark academia with book and lyrics by Mel Hornyak and Elliot Valentine Lee and music by Lee. The story focuses on three queer students of color at an elite college going to horrific lengths to prove their worth for a coveted graduation honor. The show features a score with baroque pop and dark cabaret influences. Directed by Lecturer in Theater Georgina L. H. Escobar.

November 11 & 12, join the Adamandi team for two early access performances that will allow the creative team to hone the staging of this new work. Adamandi returns to the stage November 17-19.

Tickets & Details

The performances are free and open to the public; no tickets required.

Content Advisory

Please be advised that the production discusses self-harm, racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious trauma, murder, student death, and suicide. Please consider your own comfort when deciding whether to engage with this production.

View Program Information for Adamandi

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Directions

Get directions to the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center.

COVID-19 Guidance + Updates

Per Princeton University policy, all guests must either be fully vaccinated, or have recently tested negative (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen test within 8 hours of the scheduled visit) and be prepared to show proof if asked, or wear a face covering when indoors and around others.

Accessibility

symbol for wheelchair accessibilityaccess symbol for open captioning, two white O C lettersThe November 18 performance will be open captioned. The Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue. Learn more about accessibility at McCarter Theatre Center. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.

 

New Musical Development Process

In developing the project as their senior independent work in the Program in Music Theater, Lee wanted to play with merging theatrical rock, his background in writing and producing “weirdcore” pop, and the classical music influences of dark academia to explore the narrative worlds of each character. For the duo, one of the motivations behind the writing of Adamandi was to create a piece that explicitly centers characters of color and queer voices, giving actors opportunities that they might not have encountered when auditioning for roles in the musical canon, regardless of identity and voice type.

Lee and Hornyak, who have co-written musicals together under the artist name Melliot, wrote the show to explore the unique pressure on marginalized students to earn their place in institutions that were not built by or for them. The story challenges long-accepted norms of academia and the stories told about it: the pressure to compromise one’s well-being in the pursuit of success, the fetishization of independence and competition, and the faux-meritocracy’s promise that marginalized students experiencing discrimination can overcome it through enough effort. Traditionally dark academia (a genre focused on 1920s-1940s prep school luxury and the study of the arts and humanities — e.g., Dead Poets Society or Kill Your Darlings) focuses on cis, white, upper-class men, so the writers wanted to explore race, class, gender, and sexuality in the pursuit and romanticization of this “academic” ideal. Like the writers’ previous works together, Adamandi ultimately focuses on the complicated, transformative, and redemptive experience of queer love and desire.

About the Writers

Elliot Valentine Lee is an English major pursuing certificates in the Lewis Center’s Programs in Music Theater and Theater and the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies. He has written musicals since high school, specifically within the realms of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Mel Hornyak is a psychology major focusing on social decision-making and interracial interaction and pursuing certificates in the Programs in Theater and Creative Writing. They are also editor-in-chief of figments, Princeton’s publication for student-written speculative fiction. The musical represents Lee’s thesis in English and independent work in music theater and gender and sexuality studies and Hornyak’s independent work in theater, according to their roles on the writing team. Their writing advisor for Adamandi has been Tamsen Wolff of the English Department, and their advisor in the Theater Department has been Elena Araoz. The two seniors have honed their skills as writers, performers, designers, and producers both in the Lewis Center and student theater groups at Princeton, including Theatre Intime, Princeton University Players, East West Theater, and the Playwrights’ Guild. They first collaborated in Theater Intime’s Play in a Day festival in 2019 and wrote their first song together in Princeton’s “Introduction to Musical Theater” writing class their sophomore year. This is the second show they have written together, after Princeton University Players’ staged reading of The Art of Pleasing Princes last year. Both Lee and Hornyak have written shows for student theater groups that were moved online or canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, so Adamandi represents their first fully staged production. 

About the Director

Lecturer in Theater Georgina Escobar is a Ciudad Juárez, México, native and international playwright and director of speculative futurism, femmetasias and science fiction stories based in sites of misunderstood knowledge like queer realities, memory, deserts, and la frontera. Escobar is a MacDowell, La MaMa, Clubbed Thumb, Djerassi, Kilroy List, NAMT, NMTC, and Fornés Workshop writer. A recipient of the National Darrell Ayer’s Award and the Outstanding Service to Women on the Border Award, her work has been featured and produced in New York City off-Broadway and across the U.S., Italy, México, U.K., Denmark, and Sweden. Escobar’s experience with new musicals prompted the Lewis Center to connect her with Lee and Hornyak in the fall of 2021 to discuss their intent to write a dark academia horror musical. The conversation evolved out of that, from inspired mentorship to directing the musical.

About the Cast and Production Team

The student cast includes seniors Kyle Ikuma, Andrew Matos, and Matthew Weatherhead; juniors Lana Gaige, Addele Hargenrader, Teddy Leane, River Reynolds, and Tobias Nguyen; sophomores Miel Escamilla, Ayanna Smith, and John Venegas Juárez; and first-year student Raphaela Gold. The six-piece band includes seniors AJ Comsti and Asher Muldoon and juniors Jare Bozinko and Jay White.

Professional members of the production team include music director Vince diMura, set designer Raul Abrego, costume designer Hahnji Jang, sound designer Matt Otto, fight/intimacy coordinator Jacqueline Holloway, and assistant stage manager Milan Eldridge. Student members of the production team include lighting designer Magdalena Poost, choreographer Kate Stewart, assistant director/dramaturg Kaelani Burja, assistant music director Jare Bozinko, stage manager Aleena Brown, assistant stage manager Eslem Saka, and assistant fight/intimacy coordinator Kat McLaughlin. Faculty advisors are Elena Araoz and Tess James, and senior Anna Allport is stage management advisor.

Presented By

  • Program in Theater

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