Then Again Very Indeed
Stefan Farrenkopf's solo debut album
Stefan Farrenkopf
IN MUSIC: STEFAN FARRENKOPF is a piano-based singer-songwriter in Columbus, OH. His music covers topics ranging from life, love, and loss, to parenting, road trips, and kitchen remodeling. He has played in the band Any Questions, was a founding member of the a cappella group Throat Culture, and spoke and performed at TEDxColumbus. His solo CD debut was produced by Jeff Ciampa and is available from iTunes, CD Baby, and from Stefan his-own-self.
IN THEATRE: Stefan writes and composes musicals, including Lunch Lady: Tater Tots of Love, Beautiful Cul de Sac, and, for Available Light Theatre, Buzzfed: The Musical and The Bad Idea Theatre Company Presents Hamlet, The Musical: Life In The Key Of A Melancholy D. With Brian Casey he wrote a musical based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Stefan wrote Stevie: Life in the Key of Wonder For Momentum Dance, and educational dance program through Ballet Met and Columbus Public Schools. Stefan has directed for The Columbus Academy,Madlab, Shots In The Dark Independent Theatre and has performed as an actor in shows for Available Light Theatre Shots In The Dark and as guest musician for #Hashtag Comedy's TBD: The Improvised Musical.
Photos by TEDxColumbus, Cynthia Wilson, and Anonymous.
Upcoming events
theresa Rebeck's Seminar
As actor.
In Seminar, a provocative comedy from Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck, four aspiring young novelists sign up for private writing classes with Leonard, an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting Broadway comedy.
Featuring: Ella Palardi, Cody Schmid. Megan Lear, R. Jordan Estose, and Stefan Farrenkopf
WARNING: This production contains STRONG LANGUAGE and NUDITY.
Performances:
Friday, June 9 at 8:00pm
Saturday, June 10 at 8:00pm
Sunday, June 11 at 5:00pm
Friday, June 16 at 8:00pm
Saturday, June 17 at 8:00pm
Sunday, June 18 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm
former events
Stevie: Life in the key of wonder
Original script by Stefan Farrenkopf with music by Stevie Wonder
Produced by Momentum Dance
Performed by students from Columbus Public Schools.
the drowsy chaperone
As director for The Columbus Academy Theatre Program
Photos by Andrew Morris
TBD: The musical
#Hashtag Comedy. Where photo approval goes to die.
These guys make up a musical on the spot. Someone has to play the music. For these two shows it's me.
"TBD: The Musical! is a full-length, completely improvised musical based on YOUR title. Featuring musical improvisers from all over Central Ohio, TBD brings you big ensemble numbers, heart-wrenching solos and showstoppers, and of course, moving love songs. Add in brilliantly talented instrumentalists* who become characters in their own right, and you have a show that is truly an experience you don't want to miss. Every other Friday...just $5!
Food and drink available, reservations strongly recommended."
* me!
Lunch Lady: Tater Tots of love
Presented by Whitehall Yearling High School March 31 & April 1.
Photo by David Block of Columbus Academy production.
TEDxColumbus: Risk
Closed the event with a performance of a song about the speakers composed in real time during the event itself
Photos by TEDxColumbus. View full gallery here.
TBD: THE MUSICAL EP 8 FT. STEFAN FARRENKOPF
Performed as guest musician for this improvised musical at Shadowbox Bistro.
4TH MONDAY SONGWRITER SERIES AT BIG ROOM BAR
Guest performer at 102.5 FM's venue.
MADLAB YOUNG WRITERS SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL
Director of "Garage Sale" by Zoe Thomas.
F#Ck Cancer Cabaret at madlab
Solo performance of "Kitchen Beautiful" as part of this benefit.
available Light theatre 24 hr thtr
Contributed an original musical, The Bad Idea Theatre Company Presents Hamlet, The Musical: Life In the Key of a Melancholy D, available to read in the Theatre section below.
Natalie's coal fired pizza
Stefan Farrenkopf returned to Natalie's in celebration of his new CD Then Again Very Indeed, this time with the debut of a full-band. Joining Stefan for a night of original music were members of Popgun, Hoo Doo Soul Band, Birdshack, The Womack Family Band, and other top-tier talent.
This amazing night of music featured an all-star line-up, including Jeff Ciampa (Popgun, Hoo Doo Soul Band, Birdshack) on bass; Tony McClung (Popgun, Hoo Doo Soul Band, Birdshack) on drums; Lucas Holmes (Popgun, Lucas Holmes Group, Jesse Henry and Strutterfly) on keyboards; and Dennis Hodges (Dennis Hodges Trio, Dirty Money) on guitar, with additional vocals from The Womack Family Band's Haley Schaffer and Noah Heyman.
scripts
Available for production except where noted. Contact Stefan with inquiries.
Lunch Lady: Tater Tots of Love
Lunch Lady: Tater Tots of Love is a hilarious and touching musical that takes place in and around a high school cafeteria, where field-hockey girls and Warhammer boys face off when their friends disrupt the social order. But what secret does Anthony David's love, Camilla, hold? Why is Dean Dean a Dean from Hell? And when things take a turn toward the supernatural, can the Lunch Lady and the Kitchen Staff save the day. (Yes. Of course they can.) This original musical by Stefan Farrenkopf skewers the politics of high school while respect the kids who live there. Produced by schools across the country, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and winner of multiple awards when produced by Shots In The Dark Independent Theatre Company in Columbus OH.
Broadway World Awards, 2012: Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, and more.
"Rather than saccharine dross, this new musical has a sinister side. . . .A school musical that for a refreshing change doesn't sell its soul for cheesiness." Review of Edinburgh Fringe Production
Photos of 2007 Columbus Academy production by David Block
Beautiful Cul de Sac
Set in 1999 or so in Stony Bridge Lakes, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, BEAUTIFUL CUL DE SAC follows two families as they interact, intermingle, and intercourse their way through suburban life. This is a hilarious new musical that tackles themes of family, love, sex, and art.
"A breath of fresh air that celebrates the creation of something entirely new." Broadway World Reviews, June 23, 2015
Photos of 2015 Shots in the Dark production by Jerri Shafer
Stevie: Life in the key of wonder
Written for Momentum, an educational arts program in partnership with Columbus Public Schools, this dance show tells the biography of Stevie Wonder through his music and the dancing of hundreds of students grades 2 to 8.
Not officially available for production, but contact Stefan for inquiries.
Photo via screen grab from The Ohio Channel
Buzzfed: The Musical
A short musical written, composed, rehearsed, and performed in one day as part of Available Light's 24 Hour Theatre, in which Buzzfeed, Twitter, Facebook, and other denizens of the web distract our hero from writing the best novel in the world.
The Bad Idea Theater Company Presents Hamlet, The Musical: Life In The Key Of A Melancholy D
Written for Available Light Theatre's 2016 24 Hour Theatre, in which an audience member objects to a musical version of Shakespeare only to learn that he himself is subject to his own theatrical conventions.
Photos by Stefan Farrenkopf (x2) and Michelle Schroeder (x2)
A Midsummer Night's Swing, Or, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
A Swing Musical by Stefan Farrenkopf and Brian Casey. Book by William Shakespeare.
This adaptation uses classic songs from the swing era to build a musical of Shakespeare's classic comedy about love, dreams, delusions, and the nature of art.
Script under revision. Contact for inquiries.
media
TEDXColumbus
Exemplifying the TEDxColumbus 2016 theme of risk, singer-songwriter and educator Stefan Farrenkopf closes the TEDxColumbus event by performing a song even he had never heard, a song that culminates the days talks that he composed during the talks themselves. Stefan Farrenkopf is a singer-songwriter, playwright, and educator from Columbus.
Local Limelight, The Columbus Dispatch, interview.
Today's The Day Featuring Andy Batt, theater podcast, interview