Ryan Nelson Stevens

Ryan Stevens. Humm, what is it about him that you'd want to know? Well, he creates multi-media, rock operas, Singspiels (song plays), musical books, cinemAudio. Yep, you read it right: all of this and more under the banner of Literatunes. Let's look and listen further. The fine friends and scholars at Wikipedia tell us a Singspiel is "regarded as a genre of opera . . . characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias (which were often lyrical, strophic, or folk-like)." But, knowing the mere mention of the word "opera" (let alone the oddity known as Singspiel!) can traumatize the uninformed and unprepared, Ryan created a friendlier model for the eyes and ears of today's modern listener-reader. Adding rock and pop and soul music to the literature, shaping the words with illustrations and story boards you might find as the backbone for a film, a multimedia art we call Literatunes is born. So, create a story (or adapt one from an existing classic), transform it by intertwining music, sight, and sound by combining literature with melody and images into a multimedia extravaganza. (Yeah, sure, then stir briskly, bake at 350 degrees, serve at room temperature). We're serving up multi-faceted mixed media musical books shaped as song play rock operas, full of life afirming themes set to rock and rhythms that will bring the audience into the world of Literatunes. Literatunes first project is "The Velveteen Rabbit: an Illustrated Rock Opera." Others are in the works.