Mark
Lubas

BIOGRAPHY

 

MARK LUBAS is a stage director, voice teacher, and tenor originally from Wethersfield, CT, and is thrilled to make his University of Northern Colorado (UNC) School of Theatre and Dance directorial debut with Urinetown. Mark made his adult professional performance debut in 1996 with the Nashville Symphony as the soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and has directed and performed roles with companies including Aspen Opera Theatre Company, Boston Lyric Opera, Mobile Opera, Opéra Bastide, Opera Carolina, and Opera Tampa.

Mark is the Executive Director of Opera Fort Collins (OFC) in Fort Collins, CO, a non-profit arts organization that has been an active member of the Front Range community since its inception in 1979. As the Director and Production Manager, Mark designed and directed an Art Deco 1930’s Don Pasquale set in Fort Collins for OFC in March 2025, which was performed at the City of Fort Collins’ Lincoln Center. At the same time, Mark designed and directed an updated concept for Mozart’s The Impresario for UNC Opera Theatre. This production was reimagined not to take place in a German opera house in the late 1700’s, but rather as an audition for Vives’ Bohemios in the present at Campus Commons Performance Hall at UNC. Upcoming engagements include directing Act 2 of Carmen for an audience-participation-based New Year’s Eve soirée and toast for Opera Fort Collins at Bas Bleu Theatre in Old Town Fort Collins. Mark will then direct another OFC production, Wolf-Ferrari’s il Segreto di Susanna, set and performed in the Odell Wine Project’s tasting room in Fort Collins, CO over Valentine’s Day weekend, 2026. March and April 2026 find Mark at Boulder Opera to direct Der Rosenkavalier, as well as perform the role of the Italian Singer, at the Dairy Center in Boulder, CO. In May, Mr. Lubas will design and direct Freedom: A Dance and Staged Opera Chorus Performance, a collaboration of Opera Fort Collins and the Colorado Dance Collective. This unique performance will shine the spotlight on the oft-missed yet inspirational messages of freedom and social justice found in the music of the ensemble, enhanced with narration, staging, and dance.

At UNC to earn his doctorate in vocal performance, Mark has earned the opportunity to direct, in addition to The Impresario, Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle and Caleb Blake’s When the Birds Sing with UNC Opera Theatre, under the direction of Professor Brian Clay Luedloff. Outside of UNC, Mr. Lubas made his international directing debut when he assistant directed Mozart’s La flûte enchantée (The Magic Flute) in July of 2024 in a multi-lingual production in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Occitanie, France, in coordination with Opéra Bastide.

Mark is proud to make his parental stage debut with his 5-year old son, Noah, in December 2025 with the Sarasota Pops in Christensen’s A Christmas Carol: The Concert! Mark will reprise the role of Scrooge and Noah will play Tiny Tim. Recent local engagements include his two doctoral recitals in Milne Recital Hall at UNC in January and October of 2025, Tenor soloist in A Night at the Opera with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra in May of 2024, and Nemorino in L’Elisir D’Amore in April 2024 with the UNC Opera Theatre. Other recent engagements include Chip in Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town with Artist Series of Sarasota and Dr. Blind in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Opera Tampa). World premiere roles include the Juror in Machover’s Resurrection (Boston Lyric Opera), and Johnnie in Hulse’s The Game (Kennedy Center). Mark would like to thank his wife Allison for her support, patience, and love, and his three sons, Jake, Alex, and Noah, for their encouragement.

 

TEACHING AND DIRECTING EXPERIENCE

Executive Director, Opera Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO (June 2025 – Present)

  • Leads, manages, mentors, and supports OFC staff and artists
  • Oversees and manages daily aspects of OFC operations. Supports Board operations
  • Develops and implements all aspects of Opera Fort Collins’ strategic vision
  • Collaborates with Artistic Director to ensure programming and hiring meet strategy & mission objectives
  • Develops/maintains relationships with community stakeholders and other community cultural members
  • Sets/achieves organizational strategic and financial goals. Presents/consults w/Board for approval/execution
  • Collaborates with Treasurer and Board to develop, manage, and oversee OFC budget for each OFC fiscal year
  • Acts as initial point of contact and as public face of OFC
  • Provides leadership and management in grant writing, development, and fundraising

Doctoral Candidate/Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO (August 2023 – present) – ABD August 2025; Completion Date of Doctor of Arts in Vocal Performance – May 2026

  • Taught individual voice lessons, with a technical focus on vocal health and articulative relaxation, muscular coordination/release, breath origin/management/direction, vowel placement, and finding singer’s formant/maximizing resonance in each student
  • Cultivated interpretive artistry in students through system of word-for-word translations, diction and pronunciation assessments, vowel-based vocal exercises using songs to be performed, and student staging assignments and coaching
  • Coached students toward vocal health in roles and assignments to be performed in university musicals/ensembles/classes
  • Prepared students for NATS Chapter and regional auditions
  • Mentored/Coached undergraduate students on practice habits, role preparation, diction, and recitative performance practice
  • Taught English, Italian, French, and German Diction for singers – IPA, phonemes, rules, performance
  • Directed Mainstage Operas and Opera Scenes for Opera Program
  • Assistant Directed Mainstage Operas for Opera Program
  • Dissertation Topic: The Efficacy of Non-verbal Gestures in the Applied Studio Environment

Director and Production Manager, Opera Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO  (December 2024 – March 2025)

  • Don Pasquale, Donizetti  (March 7 & 8, 2025)
    Responsible for Production Staging; Rehearsal Schedule Construction; Coordination of Set Design and Build; Lighting Design; Supertitle Composition; Costumes, Prop, and Furnishing acquisition and management; and construction/administration of production week schedule

Assistant Director, Lyric Arts France/Opera Bastide, Villefranche-de-Rouergue, FR  (June – July 2024)

  • La flûte enchantée, Mozart  (July 2024)
    Responsible for maintaining a log of blocking direction; addressing actor/singer concerns; reblocking problematic scenes; learning and abiding by French labor laws; and running rehearsals in the absence of the director

Assistant Director, Opera Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO  (May-June 2024)

  • La Vida Breve, de Falla  (June 2024)
    Responsible for maintaining a log of blocking direction; addressing actor/singer concerns; reblocking problematic scenes; and running rehearsals in the absence of the director

Adjunct Professor of Voice, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL  (August 2017 – May 2023)

  • Taught individual voice lessons, with a technical focus on vocal health and articulative relaxation, muscular coordination/release, breath origin/management/direction, vowel placement, and finding singer’s formant/maximizing resonance in each student
  • Prepared age- and development level-appropriate Musical Theatre and Classical-based literature for Musical Theater (BFA) and Voice (MUS Ed and Performance) majors for recitals, juries, and auditions (internal & external)
  • Cultivated interpretive artistry in students through system of word-for-word translations, diction and pronunciation assessments, vowel-based vocal exercises using songs to be performed, and student staging assignments and coaching
  • Coached students toward vocal health in roles and assignments to be performed in university musicals/ensembles/classes
  • Provided paid performance-based internship positions for current vocal students in professional area performing arts organizations and churches
  • Directed scenes for Voice Performance/Opera Workshop Ensemble
  • Guest-Taught Vocal Pedagogy, Diction, and Music History Classes as needed
  • Prepared students for NATS Chapter and regional auditions; over 40% of students won and/or placed

 

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
BULLET POINTS:

 

  • Students learn easily and fully in a safe, inclusive, caring, and supportive environment; that environment encourages them to take risks without fear of repercussion or failure. 
  • Once that environment is created and nurtured, learning begins. Environment encourages learning; students ask questions and experiment with critical thinking and how their bodies (instruments) make sound. 
  • Process is more important than product. 
  • Communication is instinctual, as evidenced by the fact that we scream or cry almost from the moment we are born; to stifle that instinct is counterproductive. 
  • We also breathe instinctually (breath coordination), which explains how we make it through the night alive when we fall asleep. 
  • Therefore, humans are naturally equipped to coordinate their muscles to make noise (sing); in the applied studio, I strive to help them be aware of and react to the physical sensations produced by their body while singing. 
  • The student has the tools to use their own body/instrument, and the teacher guides the student towards using those tools efficiently. 
  • Overall process outcome goals: individual growth, collective positivity and contribution to an inclusive, supportive community.