Myriad projects are always actively in the works! From scripts in development – whether for the stage, screen or other creative treatments – to collaborations with various musicians, artists and theatre professionals.
Select works, both from the past as well as ongoing and upcoming, below.
STOOP BITCH
She’s the eyes of the street – all knowing, all seeing. Don’t dare get on her bad side.
Taking stock of the world on her block in South Philly, Dolores Finnegan tells it like it is and takes no prisoners. Yep, she’s the STOOP BITCH, native to many a neighborhood block and a downright Philly institution. You seen her, you fear her, you trust her – and face it, you know she’s right.
But, what don’t you know? There are ghosts from her past, unfulfilled dreams, battles to be won, and much more to her than meets the eye.
TICKETS ON SALE! SEPT 8–13, 2026
“Complicated, simple, hardened, and yet vulnerable” says actress, Lois Sach. “The layers we hide beneath and the layers we peel off is the great revelation of any snapshot of a life in real time. She embraces moments with an unabashed zest to feel all of her life at once, and with a grace befitting a stoop bitch.”
September 2026
The Louis Bluver Theatre | Philadelphia Fringe Festival
Philadelphia, PA
Written by Daniel Neer
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky
Performed by Lois Sach
EAT MY SHORTS
Welcome to The LAB’s incubator! New work is bubbling up and the chemistry is cooking…
In the EAT MY SHORTS laboratory, four versatile performers tag team multiple scripts and characters in a showcase of staged readings – everything from short one-acts to experimental ideas to snippets of plays in development. A beaker of this, a test tube of that, throw in a few drops of whatever, and the stage is set for your front row seat in the operating theatre of what’s in the works. (*protective goggles and hazmat gear optional.)
TICKETS ON SALE! SEPT 9–10, 2026
September 2026
The Louis Bluver Theatre | Philadelphia Fringe Festival
Philadelphia, PA
New works by Daniel Neer and Ted Gorodetzky
Cast featuring Neena Boyle, Ted Gorodetzky, William R. McHattie, and Daniel Neer
DACHAU FOR QUEERS
A provocative workshop premiere at the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. At times shockingly brutal and at others comically surreal, this innovative odyssey is punctuated by surprising characters, leaps of fantasy, and heartfelt truths.
Adrift in 1970’s San Francisco, runaway Jonah Goodson lands in the belly of the beast, confined at California’s notorious Atascadero Psychiatric Hospital. His “sickness?” Homosexuality. Navigating a psychotropic maze of barbaric treatments, he encounters the most unlikely guides – but are they real or imagined?
“With five actors and over two dozen parts, the pace is energetic, almost cinematic, but measured… The multi-casting is also totally entertaining, since each of the characters is colorful, distinct and real.” — The PlayGround
“miraculously juxtaposes beautiful romance, surreal comedy, and blisteringly painful drama together in a jagged soup-like, yet surprisingly lyrical, form of storytelling.” — ShowTones
“This piece moves like a symphony as the scenes progress. Each character and scene is tightly packaged… luring the audience into a false sense of security only to turn us on our heads.” — OuterStage
“a dreamlike meld of past and present that stayed sharp because of the beautiful writing, the nuanced and extraordinary acting, and the deft direction.” — The PlayGround
September 2025
Theatre Exile | Philadelphia Fringe Festival
Philadelphia, PA
Written by Daniel Neer
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky
Cast featuring Tristan Jenis, Lois Sach, Neena Boyle, Ted Gorodetzky, and Avery Leach
HOPPER HAIKU
Written and performed by Ellen Mandel and Daniel Neer, and inspired by the artwork of American painter Edward Hopper, this art song collection provides a musical voice to the characters and environments depicted in Hopper’s iconic works. Set to narrative haiku by lyricist Daniel Neer, Ellen Mandel’s jazzy musical settings create an evocative soundtrack to the urban isolation and gritty landscape of twentieth century America, and explore the complexities of isolationism and human connection in modern society.
November 2025
Scorca Hall | National Opera Center
New York, NY
Composed by Ellen Mandel
Lyrics by Daniel Neer
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky
Performed by Daniel Neer (baritone) and Ellen Mandel (piano)
THE FINAL WALTZ
The Final Waltz celebrates the height of operetta’s popularity in Vienna while exploring the devastating challenges faced by its creators during Hitler’s annexation of Austria and the ensuing Holocaust. Some of the most famous melodies from Viennese Operetta’s glorious apex in the late 1930’s are accompanied by original narrative media segments of archival film and photography – paying homage to the art form’s exceptional artists, mourning the many tragic losses and honoring the heroes of the era.
March 2024
Battelle Fine Arts Center
Otterbein University | Westerville, OH
Written by Daniel Neer
Direction & Media by Ted Gorodetzky
Daniel Neer, baritone
Suzanne Newcomb, piano
June 2025
Ralli Hall
Hove, England, UK
Written by Daniel Neer
Direction & Media by Ted Gorodetzky
Produced & Musical Direction by Simon Gray
Daniel Neer, baritone
Lindsey McKee, soprano
Simon Gray, piano
MERCURY FALLING
A monodrama for tenor, solo dancer and chamber ensemble, Mercury Falling interprets the last night in the life of Parisian sculptor Jean-Louis Brian (1805-1864) with shifts between reality and an allegorical fantasy. Attempting to protect his clay statue of ‘Mercury in Repose’ from the bitter cold by covering it with his only blankets, Brian froze to death beside his famous sculpture while finishing it. As the temperature drops and he succumbs to hallucinations, he is lured into a world in which his Mercury creation comes to life. Through music, dance and drama, Mercury Falling explores the artist’s struggle for meaning, recognition and even survival.
“The music constantly changes to fit Brian’s mood swings. These are superbly realized by Neer as performer, his voice coloring all Brian’s fears and yearnings while expressing his derangement with haunting physicality… The physical interaction of sculptor and statue is viscerally staged, adding nuanced dimensions to the concept, sensitively shaped by director Ted Gorodetzky… this is a confident, intriguing work.” – The News & Observer
June 2009
Long Leaf Opera Festival | Stewart Theater
Raleigh, NC
Composed by Chandler Carter
Libretto by Daniel Neer
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky
Musical Direction by Chandler Carter
Choreography by Jody Oberfelde
Jean-Louis Brian: Daniel Neer, tenor
Mercury: Jake Szczypek, dancer
Piano: Viktor Valkov, and Benjamin Smith
BRUCE BAILEY
An urban cantata for soprano, baritone and piano trio, based on housing advocate Bruce Bailey, who tirelessly championed for tenant’s rights on NY’s Upper West Side during the city’s gentrification and infamous housing crisis of the 1970’s and 1980’s. The new musical work, commissioned by Two Sides Sounding, pays homage to this influential local hero and the city he lived in, offered in vignettes by vocalists who portray myriad characters throughout the piece. Original photography by Tish Webster (longtime friend, advocate of Bailey and staff photographer of the Columbia Tenants Union) is reimagined as a backdrop of visual media, accompanying the stirring musical drama.
September 2014
Brooklyn BEAT Festival | Brooklyn Historical Society
New York, NY
Composed by Daniel Felsenfeld
Libretto by Daniel Neer
Direction and Multimedia Composition by Ted Gorodetzky
Performed by Daniel Neer (baritone), and Eleanor Taylor (soprano), Mila Henry (piano), Lynn Bechtold (violin) and Jennifer DeVore (cello)
THE INTERVIEW
A one act drama about women in art, The Interview focuses on themes of nudity, racism, objectification, elitism and sexism in the art world. Split into two interweaving scenes from vastly different periods (Paris, France 1891 and Brooklyn, New York in present day), the overlapping action explores the psyche of four women with contrasting perspectives of the art world, and their subsequent struggle for identity and success.
April 2011
New Works 3: International Short Play Festival
Richmond Shepard Theatre
New York, NY
Written by Daniel Neer
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky
Cast featuring Evangelia Kingsley, Mary Leggio, Laura Michelle Cleary, and Lorna Haughton
GITCHEE GUMEE
A stirring song cycle and original multimedia concert commemorating the historic 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Honoring the 29 crew members tragically lost, the text tells a multigenerational narrative of lives lived on and lost to the Great Lakes, with stories from a crew member aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald, his father who lost him when the ship fatefully went down in Lake Superior, and the crew member’s son upon the 20th anniversary of the sinking. The collaboration between lyricist Daniel Neer and composer Jonathan David, sung by Neer with Suzanne Newcomb at the piano, also features multimedia video by director Ted Gorodetzky.
February 2026
Battelle Fine Arts Center
Otterbein University | Westerville, OH
Composed by Jonathan David
Libretto by Daniel Neer
Direction & Media by Ted Gorodetzky
Daniel Neer, baritone
Suzanne Newcomb, piano
MASKS & THE NEW SONG
Masks is an original theatrical composition for baritone, piano, guitar, actor and electronics. With text comprised of three poems initially inspired by the photographic images of Andreas Gursky, the piece functions as a veneer underneath which a drama is enacted through music, motions, and electronic sounds. The audience is invited to ponder the relationship between words spoken and unspoken, and speculate about just how many layers of masks there may be.
February 2017
Scorca Hall | National Opera Center
New York, NY
Composed by Alex Burtzos
Libretto by Daniel Neer
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky
Vocalist: Daniel Neer
Piano: Erika Dohi
Guitar: Jason Robert Taylor
Actor: Sonoko Kawahara
WHAT MISS DICKINSON HEARD – AND DIDN’T
An Opera for Rhapsodist, Vocal Quartet and Duo-Pianists devised by Kit Young. What Miss Dickinson Heard–And Didn’t follows a large arc of Emily Dickinson’s life as if it were one day by exploring Dickinson’s depth of auditory artistry through evocative improvisational music and environmental sound, expressed in her poetry, letters, with some additional commentary. An improvising pianist herself, the soundscapes are human, animal, natural and celestial, along with 19th-century parlor music, readings and hymns.
August 2019
Emily Dickinson International Society Conference
Asilomar, CA
Rhapsodist: Daniel Neer
Duo-Pianists: Eve Kodiak, Kit Young
Directed by Ted Gorodetzky