Theatre-maker, Educator, Researcher
Krysta directed the premiere of Max Caplan’s one-act chamber opera Aleda for Musicians of Ma’alwyck at CLYNK in the Glenville Business & Technology Park in June 2017. Set in Staten Island in 1916, the opera tells the true story of a unique women's suffrage demonstration attempted by early female pilot Leda Richberg-Hornsby and the National American Woman Suffrage Association (N.A.W.S.A.). Equipped with a bi-plane, a cargo of votes-for-women petitions, and a huge banner reading "Women want liberty too," the suffragists endeavored to fly over New York Harbor during a national celebration at the Statue of Liberty in order to "bomb" President Woodrow Wilson with petitions. While ending in failure, the attempt stands as a testimony to the courage and inventiveness of these women in their struggle for the right to vote. The presentation of the opera coincided with the 100th anniversary year of the passing of women suffrage in New York State. The performance opened with Krysta’s one-act play, The Burden of the Ballot. The unique performance venue was a 1942 Navy warehouse built to service aircraft that now functions as a bottle redemption facility.