In April 2008, Heartland, a full-length operetta with music by Philip Westin (pictured), was one of four works selected in a national competition to be included in the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop at Disney Studios in Burbank, California. The work had been completed in 2007, and was subsequently featured in a studio recording. At the ASCAP/ Disney workshop, principals from Center Stage Opera, several of whom sang in the Heartland recording, performed segments from the work to an invited audience including industry heavyweights Stephen Paulus, Eric Whitacre, and Stephen Schwartz, Director of the workshop, who led the panel discussions. According to ASCAP, Heartland was the first “opera” ever to be selected for presentation at the prestigious workshop. As a direct result of the ASCAP/Disney workshop, Center Stage Opera commissioned Marie’s Orchard. Envisioned as a reworking of Heartland into a full-blown opera, the libretto by Dylan F. Thomas was inspired by the Willa Cather novel, O Pioneers! As work on the piece progressed, although Westin chose to retain many musical elements from Heartland, for the most part Marie’s Orchard is a completely new piece.

Center Stage Opera will premiere Marie’s Orchard in a fully staged production at the Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park, California, on October 8 and 10, 2010. The title role of Marie has been tailored especially for Shira Renee Thomas, who sang the role at the ASCAP/ Disney workshop. Brian Onderdonk will conduct the Center Stage Opera Orchestra, and Dylan F. Thomas will direct the production.