I’m an artist. My mediums are theatre, music, and words. I am interested in original stories, voices, and collaborations which highlight unique voices. I am both sounding board and author
Author of Visionary Fiction.
“Trust me, it will only get weirder.”
We’re all on a journey. We glimpse the road signs, meet our guides and other travelers, making choices along the way as we chart the paths we walk. Sometimes, we take a detour, which could be as long as a lifetime or as short as a long weekend. The question is – where are you headed?
I have a fondness for silly books like Archie and Mehitabel. My contribution is a little book about an ambivalent astronaut en route to Mars, JOHN K – Am I Alone? . JOHN K was originally featured as a pop culture bible in the novel Mercury’s Wake – The Long Weekend.
The stories I tell are about people coping under extraordinary circumstances. Some might characterize the genre as sci-fi or paranormal. I prefer to call my stories fairy tales. If the sci-fi genre is present in them, it is expressed as possibility or personal challenge rather than spaceships and ray guns.
In space, we face our pasts and our futures
What we have been and where we might be going. Stephanie Vlahos becomes John K who hitches a ride on a mission to Mars. A place of potential aliens. She is inside his thoughts as he traverses the outer space.
‘I am a motorcyclist in a hailstorm recklessly speeding by the grace of a slipstream.’ Theatre Travels
JOHN K – I’m on a Road Trip to Mars at the Edinburgh Fringe
Creator and Collaborator
My work as a stage creator/director is the sum total of my evolving life experience in the arts and literature, drawing from my early experiences as an international opera singer and as a performance artist at celebrated clubs such as Jean-Pierre Bocara’s Cafe Largo. I value collaboration and the organic process exploring unique voices. I write new work tailored to the artist’s gifts, focusing on intimate storytelling with music whether in large ensemble or one-person events.
New works include a focus on cross-cultural collaborations and finding commonality, particularly through the voice of teens exemplified in years of mentorship and projects, significantly the Full Circle Opera Project at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts which received a substantial 15-year grant from the Thornton Foundation.
When the stage went dark during Lockdown, I brought together creators and performers in an ensemble focused on bringing voice to the word on the virtual stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (See: American InTent). My goal was to ensure that the artist’s voice could be heard, even when the lights had dimmed in theatres around the globe.
Director
Opera is an Intimate Medium:
“In my work staging Intimate Opera’s critically acclaimed Tosca last season, I saw the value in switching out the grandeur in opera’s mise en scene for the grandeur of stories that speak to our common plights,” explains Director Stephanie Vlahos.
As an Equity stage director I focus on the music inherent in the text. I always provide a soundtrack as inspiration for the actors to explore their intentions through the direct conduit of music. Then, we get into the words.
On The Full Circle Opera Project:
I was fortunate to be a part of the great art of opera on its highest level. I believe that anyone who has profited from opera has a responsibility to give back, in securing its wellbeing in the future. I am confident that the final product – one of collaboration between emerging artist and celebrated artist- will be an exciting night of theater.
Podcast
Podcast with multiple voices, bringing voice to the spoken word. This was another opportunity – borne from the constraints of ‘lockdown.’ The stage is an vital platform whether we experience it on a stage or in the stages of our imagination through the spoken word.
Talent
Master Voice teacher and Theatre Coach with over twenty-five years of experience. Former students include Angel Blue (Proms, Covent Garden, Met Opera), Dawn Cantwell (Bwy, Last Ship, Wicked), Andrew Chappelle (Bwy, Hamilton), Julie Adams (San Francisco Opera, Met competition winner), the women from the band HAIM, Micaela Tobin (sound artist, White Boy Scream). All styles.
I love singers. They’re great storytellers. My experience as a stage director means I bring professional insight in polishing auditions, bringing out the authentic artist in you. Voice lessons are focused on organic singing directly connected to and empowered by the breath and theatrical intention.
General Info
Yale University, The Juilliard School, LA Opera house mezzo and former director of the Young Artists Programme in Acting at LAO, Equity Stage Director, director and creator of the award-winning Full Circle Opera Project at the Los Angeles High School for the Arts (20 years), taught and directed at CalState Universities as well as USC. Served on Thornton Board of Counsellors USC. CHANEL Diva Award, Nine times WHO’s Who in American Teachers, American Artist Grant, Commendation Stanford University. Commercial and film voice artist, producer, actor.