![[Project Creatine] (working title)](https://creative-capital.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Brown_5-e1777051124252.jpg)
[Project Creatine] (working title)
[Project Creatine] (working title)
Lex Brown, Creatine Price, Samuel Beebe, Danny Zelibor
Lex Brown, Creatine Price, Samuel Beebe, Danny Zelibor
Project Creatine was born from the desire to uplift the talents of an extraordinary performing artist, Jordan Weatherston Pitts. Jordan is a professional operatic tenor, whose voice has graced the stages of the New York City Opera, Lincoln Center, The BBC Concert Orchestra, and Hartford Symphony Orchestra. But opera, a form mired in tradition, presents rigid limitations based on gender and historical typecasting. Seeking a more liberated expression, Jordan began performing in drag, under the name Creatine Price, an homage to the groundbreaking Leontyne Price, the most prolific black American opera singer to perform to international acclaim. As Jordan’s artistry has straddled two seemingly different worlds, his professional life has taken a unique form, but pushed him into a creative binary.
For an artist already precariously navigating niche spaces, Project Creatine will be a groundbreaking, original work which melds these two worlds together, expands opera repertory, and offers audiences a deeply emotional narrative in which they will find surprising moments of both grandeur and relatability. Structured in two mini-acts, our piece presents Creatine’s odyssey towards the Precipice: an abstract point of elevation from which she might fall, or fly. Along the way, she faces and finds a way to break the rules meant to govern her artistry and identity. Act I In Act I, Jordan is a young singer, grinding as a barista by day and a go-go dancer by night to make ends meet. Amid the chaos, he meets Romeo—a charismatic man whose promise of stability masks his penchant for control. Their relationship deepens, even as Romeo remains secretive about his powerful, conservative family. As Jordan is offered new opportunities, he begins to sense the shadows behind Romeo’s charm and tensions escalate between the two. A heartbroken Jordan breaks free, but not without consequences, as a final twist leaves his future uncertain.
Act II Reborn as Creatine, Jordan steps into life at the cabaret, where she finds camp, comedy, and an artistic community that allows her to thrive. Creatine’s talent secures her a spot on a major television competition show. During a live moment on the show, Creatine inadvertently reveals the identity of her former lover. Romeo’s influential family retaliates, suing her for defamation and threatening the life she has built. Echoing the tragic mechanics of Tosca, Romeo corners Creatine with a coercive bargain: sleep with him, and the lawsuit will disappear. Betrayed again, but refusing to be silenced, Creatine takes the witness stand, delivering a testimony that is both self-defense and self-definition. The opera culminates in her defiant declaration of identity—an artistic, personal, and political triumph.
Musical Theater, Opera, Performing Arts, Theater
2026
About Lex Brown
Rome, Italy
Lex Brown is a multimedia artist who creates allegorical narratives about the Information Age. Working fluidly across painting, installation, opera, video, set and interior design, her work speaks to a spiritual existence beyond contemporary social and political structures. Brown has exhibited work at the MIT List Center, New Museum, the High Line, The Kitchen, The Baltimore Museum of Art, the Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art, the International Center of Photography, and the Munch Museum. Her films have been presented at e-flux Screening Room, New York; Transmediale Festival in Berlin; Sovereign Futures at Tulsa, Oklahoma; and the East End Film Festival, London. Her first short opera, Tati (composed by Kyle Brenn) was commissioned and premiered by the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center (January 2025). Brown received her undergraduate degree in visual art from Princeton University and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. She is the author of My Wet Hot Drone Summer, an erotic sci-fi novella published by Badlands Unlimited in 2015; and Consciousness, an artist book anthology of 46 videos and performances published by Genderfail in 2019. Consciousness has been collected by the libraries of the Met, MoMA, and Whitney museums amongst other notable institutions. Brown has been a faculty member at Harvard University and Princeton University, and has lectured widely. She was a 2021 United States Artist Fellow and was the 2025 Nancy B. Negley Rome Prize Winner. Brown is based in Rome, Italy.
Lex Brown is a multimedia artist who creates allegorical narratives about the Information Age. Working fluidly across painting, installation, opera, video, set and interior design, her work speaks to a spiritual existence beyond contemporary social and political structures. Brown has exhibited work at the MIT List Center, New Museum, the High Line, The Kitchen, The Baltimore Museum of Art, the Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art, the International Center of Photography, and the Munch Museum. Her films have been presented at e-flux Screening Room, New York; Transmediale Festival in Berlin; Sovereign Futures at Tulsa, Oklahoma; and the East End Film Festival, London. Her first short opera, Tati (composed by Kyle Brenn) was commissioned and premiered by the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center (January 2025). Brown received her undergraduate degree in visual art from Princeton University and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. She is the author of My Wet Hot Drone Summer, an erotic sci-fi novella published by Badlands Unlimited in 2015; and Consciousness, an artist book anthology of 46 videos and performances published by Genderfail in 2019. Consciousness has been collected by the libraries of the Met, MoMA, and Whitney museums amongst other notable institutions. Brown has been a faculty member at Harvard University and Princeton University, and has lectured widely. She was a 2021 United States Artist Fellow and was the 2025 Nancy B. Negley Rome Prize Winner. Brown is based in Rome, Italy.
About Creatine Price
New York, NY
Creatine Price (Jordan Weatherston Pitts) is a New York City and Paris based opera singer and drag artist whose work fuses grand opera, oratorio, and musical theatre with boldness and vision. Creatine has earned international acclaim for performances praised as “heroic,” “passionate,” and “bewitching,” captivating audiences with a powerful voice and commanding stage presence. A finalist on La France a un Incroyable Talent (France’s Got Talent), Creatine’s artistry has been recognized across international media, with coverage in Le Monde, Le Parisien, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Opera News, The Wall Street Journal, and on broadcasts including BBC Radio3 NPR, WQXR, and ABC News. On the opera and symphony stage, Jordan has performed with The BBC Concert Orchestra (featured on BBC Radio3), The Royal Opera Wallonie-Liege, New York City Opera, The Hartford Symphony, Opera Saratoga, Hawaii Opera and is a recurring artist with The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Whether in drag or in classical performance, Creatine Price continues to redefine what it means to be a modern diva, fearless, innovative, and unforgettable.
Creatine Price (Jordan Weatherston Pitts) is a New York City and Paris based opera singer and drag artist whose work fuses grand opera, oratorio, and musical theatre with boldness and vision. Creatine has earned international acclaim for performances praised as “heroic,” “passionate,” and “bewitching,” captivating audiences with a powerful voice and commanding stage presence. A finalist on La France a un Incroyable Talent (France’s Got Talent), Creatine’s artistry has been recognized across international media, with coverage in Le Monde, Le Parisien, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Opera News, The Wall Street Journal, and on broadcasts including BBC Radio3 NPR, WQXR, and ABC News. On the opera and symphony stage, Jordan has performed with The BBC Concert Orchestra (featured on BBC Radio3), The Royal Opera Wallonie-Liege, New York City Opera, The Hartford Symphony, Opera Saratoga, Hawaii Opera and is a recurring artist with The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Whether in drag or in classical performance, Creatine Price continues to redefine what it means to be a modern diva, fearless, innovative, and unforgettable.
About Samuel Beebe
Jamaica Plain, MA
Samuel Beebe is a composer and sound designer exploring the dramatic possibilities of music and sound through collaborations that produce interdisciplinary works that encourage reflection and foster meaningful change in the field. He collaborated with Lex Brown on the NYTimes Critic’s Pick Carnelian (MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2023), and received a Live Arts Boston grant from the Boston Foundation to create [Project Creatine] with Brown, starring tenor / drag performer Jordan Weatherston Pitts / Creatine Price and pianist Danny Zelibor (ICA Boston, 2026). POW POW POWER UP: Someday is Now , a collaboration with artist Liss Lafleur inspired by the life, work, and philosophy of Corita Kent, was presented at the 2022 Arts Summit at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, premiered by the chamber chorus Artifice. Biophilia , a dystopian chamber opera in two acts set amidst a continental drought with a libretto by Sara Costantino, was filmed remotely during the Covid-19 lockdown and premiered by Stony Brook Opera in 2021. Additional collaborations include Boston Opera Collaborative, Opera On Tap NYC, Boston Choral Ensemble, Chelsea Symphony, Ensemble Decipher, and Lilith Vocal Ensemble. Beebe is a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor in Music at Wellesley College, a Visiting Lecturer in Composition at Salem State University, and teaches incarcerated students through Merrimack College’s Jail Education Project.
Samuel Beebe is a composer and sound designer exploring the dramatic possibilities of music and sound through collaborations that produce interdisciplinary works that encourage reflection and foster meaningful change in the field. He collaborated with Lex Brown on the NYTimes Critic’s Pick Carnelian (MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2023), and received a Live Arts Boston grant from the Boston Foundation to create [Project Creatine] with Brown, starring tenor / drag performer Jordan Weatherston Pitts / Creatine Price and pianist Danny Zelibor (ICA Boston, 2026). POW POW POWER UP: Someday is Now , a collaboration with artist Liss Lafleur inspired by the life, work, and philosophy of Corita Kent, was presented at the 2022 Arts Summit at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, premiered by the chamber chorus Artifice. Biophilia , a dystopian chamber opera in two acts set amidst a continental drought with a libretto by Sara Costantino, was filmed remotely during the Covid-19 lockdown and premiered by Stony Brook Opera in 2021. Additional collaborations include Boston Opera Collaborative, Opera On Tap NYC, Boston Choral Ensemble, Chelsea Symphony, Ensemble Decipher, and Lilith Vocal Ensemble. Beebe is a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor in Music at Wellesley College, a Visiting Lecturer in Composition at Salem State University, and teaches incarcerated students through Merrimack College’s Jail Education Project.
About Danny Zelibor
Staatsburg, NY
Pianist Danny Zelibor, praised for his sensitive and colorful playing, is a sought-after collaborator. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with baritone Jarrett Ott and has performed in recital with soprano Harolyn Blackwell, mezzo-soprano Devony Smith, Los Angeles Philharmonic principal cellist Robert DeMaine, Chicago Symphony cellist Brant Taylor, and Canadian cellist Amanda Forsyth with whom he recently made his debut at the famed Carlyle Hotel. Mr. Zelibor’s debut CD for Toccata Classics, the first in a multi-volume set of the piano music of Alexandre Tansman, received widespread praise from top music publications including Fanfare, MusicWeb International, and Gramophone. The second album in the series, which includes two world premieres, has been equally applauded. An ardent lover of art song, Zelibor has recorded world premieres of songs by Jake Heggie and Jennifer Higdon and is a frequent performer with the Brooklyn Art Song Society. He was chosen as pianist for Caramoor’s Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program and has performed multiple times with the New York Festival of Song. Zelibor was a vocal piano fellow at Tanglewood where, along with multiple art song recitals, he played the world premiere of Oliver Knussen’s Reflection with violinist Jacob Schafer, a performance The Boston Music Intelligencer called ‘truly memorable.’ He is frequently on the front line of new music, workshopping, recording, and performing new works by dozens of composers. A true believer in the power of music to be a bridge and a force for good, he joined baritone Sidney Outlaw on a concert tour and series of masterclasses in The Republic of Chad sponsored by the U.S. State Department and recently performed in his first series of Well-Being Concerts at Carnegie Hall with cellist Joshua Roman and violinist Simon Porter.
Pianist Danny Zelibor, praised for his sensitive and colorful playing, is a sought-after collaborator. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with baritone Jarrett Ott and has performed in recital with soprano Harolyn Blackwell, mezzo-soprano Devony Smith, Los Angeles Philharmonic principal cellist Robert DeMaine, Chicago Symphony cellist Brant Taylor, and Canadian cellist Amanda Forsyth with whom he recently made his debut at the famed Carlyle Hotel. Mr. Zelibor’s debut CD for Toccata Classics, the first in a multi-volume set of the piano music of Alexandre Tansman, received widespread praise from top music publications including Fanfare, MusicWeb International, and Gramophone. The second album in the series, which includes two world premieres, has been equally applauded. An ardent lover of art song, Zelibor has recorded world premieres of songs by Jake Heggie and Jennifer Higdon and is a frequent performer with the Brooklyn Art Song Society. He was chosen as pianist for Caramoor’s Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program and has performed multiple times with the New York Festival of Song. Zelibor was a vocal piano fellow at Tanglewood where, along with multiple art song recitals, he played the world premiere of Oliver Knussen’s Reflection with violinist Jacob Schafer, a performance The Boston Music Intelligencer called ‘truly memorable.’ He is frequently on the front line of new music, workshopping, recording, and performing new works by dozens of composers. A true believer in the power of music to be a bridge and a force for good, he joined baritone Sidney Outlaw on a concert tour and series of masterclasses in The Republic of Chad sponsored by the U.S. State Department and recently performed in his first series of Well-Being Concerts at Carnegie Hall with cellist Joshua Roman and violinist Simon Porter.