Artistic Team | Los Angeles Rock Opera

Mark Governor is a renowned film and TV composer, with music in 20 feature films and over 200 television series, specials and documentaries. An eclectic composer with a style that is both lyrical and rhythmically driving, Mark’s music is an exciting and contemporary blend of classic orchestration with cutting edge alternative rock, dance, electronica and ethnic influences. Mark’s work in independent film has been met with great critical acclaim, especially his scores for “Notes From Underground” and “Santa Fe,” and his collaboration with Johnny Depp and Iggy Pop on the score for “The Brave.” As a songwriter and record producer, he has worked with many artists including Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Fisher, Bird York, Concrete Blonde, Moxy Phinx and Carmen Rizzo. In theater, his rock musical “shAme” has had sell-out 8-10 week runs at 250 -500 seat venues in Los Angeles, Boston and Berlin and his Latin-themed “Possession: The Legend of El Rojo” is being developed for productions in LA and Europe in 2010. Mark studied with renowned American composer Aaron Copland, and in the classical world, concert versions of his suite “On the Occasion of Falling Rain” have been performed by ensembles in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Boston.Mark has received commissions for ten dance pieces from Modern Dance companies in California, and he was the subject of a video documentary on his dance composition, “Peace By Piece”, which won an Emmy award in 1993. In 2009, Mark brought together electronica producer Carmen Rizzo and the Tuvan throat-singing ensemble Huun Huur Tu to create “Eternal”, a groundbreaking electronic/world music project that topped the World Music charts and received great acclaim, including features on NPR and in Time magazine. Mark toured with the Eternal project as Musical Director, playing keyboards and arranging and conducting string ensembles in Perm, Russia, as well as New York, Los Angeles, and world music festivals in the US. Mark is currently scoring the Special Edition DVDs of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” trilogy, as well as developing new works and productions for the Los Angeles Rock Opera Company.

Janet Roston is an award-winning Director/Choreographer of theater, concert dance, television, live tours and commercials. Janet approaches her directing and choreography work from a theatrical premise, she strives for an emotional connection in her productions, whether joy, comedy or drama. This holds true for her whether directing/choreographing a new rock musical, creating concert choreography or devising movement sequences for television.

As Director/Choreographer: Tonya and Nancy, The Rock Opera (American Repertory Theater, Boston; King King, Hollywood) based on the stranger than fiction story of skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan; Midsummer Night (Lillian Theater, Hollywood and UT Austin) a rock musical version of Shakespeare’s comedy set in a Rock Festival by composers Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda; CarnEvil (Sacred Fools Theater, Hollywood) a rock horror musical; Walk’n Thru the Fire (Hayworth Theater, Los Angeles) a dramatic memoir with text and movement; The Wanting (Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica) the tale of a woman taken in by an isolated cult family told with song, dance, film and puppetry. With her own company, the Los Angeles Rock Opera Company, Janet has been the Director/Choreographer for the rock musical shAme, (King King Nightclub) a goth musical version of The Scarlet Letter; A Quick One While He’s Away (Highways); Perseus at the Oki Dog (Highways) and Possession (Unknown Theater) a Pan-Latino dance musical. Janet has been instrumental in developing these shows, working closely with the writers and composers. Her next Directing/Choreography project is Striking 12 at The Laguna Playhouse.!

Theater choreography includes the hit musical The Color Purple (The Celebration Theatre) which garnered her Los Angeles’ top theater award, the Ovation Award as well as the NAACP Award. The Color Purple also won the 2013 Ovation for Best Production and Best Musical Production from the L.A. Weekly Theater Awards. Other theater choreography includes Justin Love, Celebration Theatre (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, Best Production) Once On this Island, International City Theater(NAACP Award, Choreography); Bed and Sofa, International City Theater; Avenue X (Ovation Nomination, Best Production), Odyssey Theater; Tracers, Odyssey Theater; Footloose (Rubicon Theater) and The Trouble With Words (Lost Theater). Janet received a Scenie in 2013 as Choreographer of the Year for her choreography for multiple productions. Janet’s most recent theater choreography was for Psyche, A Modern Rock Opera. Her choreography for the show received ecstatic reviews.

Concert choreography includes dances presented at London’s Royal Academy of Music (Head South on Sepulveda); Theatre de la Ville, Cannes France (Malibu Souvenir), Pasadena Dance Festival (Anais, Prologue); Mix Match Festival and Push Play (Sweet Sisters); L.A. Dance Invitational (Cubanissimo). Her work, The Tanjore Project, won Best Ensemble at the Palm Desert Choreography Festival.
Janet has created choreography for film, television and commercials including the award-winning promo for KCRW, Balance, which featured 200 world dancers. Other commercials include Wendy’s, Formula 409, Velveeta, Barbie, Motorola and many more. She was the series choreographer for The New Adventures of Old Christine, A League of Their Own and Ned and Stacey. She has staged the world tour of country music artist, Lonestar, and created the the live martial arts show Tiger Claw Martial Arts Elite for Disneyworld. Janet has received two American Choreography Awards, one for a series of San Miguel Beer commercials the other for KCRW’s Balance.