Teatro Grattacielo Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant to Support the World Premiere of “Jefferson Lives!”

NEW YORK, NY – Teatro Grattacielo is pleased to announce it is the recipient of an FY 2026 grant award of $24,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. This funding will support the world premiere performances of the multidisciplinary chamber opera “Jefferson Lives!”. This grant award complements a FY 2025 grant awarded of $30,000 to Polyhymnia, the co-producer of “Jefferson Lives!”, from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support opportunities across the country for Americans to experience and participate in the arts,” said Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “As we celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary this year, it is a moment to recognize the important role the arts continue to play in our lives, communities, and heritage.”

This compelling new work is a profound reflection of the disputes and acts that led to the birth of the United States and the signing of the Declaration of Independence … told through the words of John Adams and his contemporaries. It explores the Revolution’s key moments and the enduring legacy of Thomas Jefferson. The performance of “Jefferson Lives!” is a poignant portrayal of the colonists’ quest for freedom … their struggle to shed the chains of colonial rule and assert their unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Paying homage to America@250, Polyhymnia will workshop this new multi-media commission in Tucson this October, culminating in two presentations at the University of Arizona in Holsclaw Hall on October 29th, with one presentation to High School Students. “Jefferson Lives!” will debut on November 7 and 8 in New York City at The Flea Theatre.

“Rather than presenting history as a fixed narrative, the opera approaches the American Revolution as a living psychological and theatrical experience,” says Stefanos Koroneos, Librettist and Director. “Moving fluidly between dialogue, monologue, music, and silence the work transforms documented events into a dramatic journey that traces how ideas of freedom and resistance migrate from thought into action.”
Jefferson Lives! invites audiences to encounter the Revolution not as a monument, but as an unresolved human reckoning.”

The creative team bringing this vision to life includes:
• Joshua Daniel Nichols, Composer in Residence, Polyhymnia
• James R. Harrigan, Original Libretto, COO, Polyhymnia
• Stefanos Koroneos, Revised Libretto, Director, Teatro Grattacielo
• Saverio Alfieri, Conductor
• Camilla Tassi, Projection Designer
• Amara McNeil, Lighting Designer
• Angela Huff, Costume Designer

National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities
The NEA and NEH are independent federal agencies that are the largest funders of The Arts and Humanities in communities nationwide. They are a catalyst for the public and private support. Both agencies foster and sustain an environment in which the arts and humanities benefit everyone.