Are you a baritone looking for your next contemporary aria for audition season? Show off your acting chops with these dramatic options:

Looking for something serious?

Try “What I feel” from Elsewhereless: Malcolm, the housekeeper at a wealthy ambassador’s residence, describes his sense of suspension in time and space as he hears gunshots outside.

Or “Queer Little Trees” from Proving Up: Johannes Zegner, a homesteader in drought-ridden 1870s Nebraska, sings of the “queer little trees” at a neighbor’s abandoned homestead. These trees are actually gravestones – crosses made of human bones.

Want something horror-themed?

How about “The square root…” from Nigredo Hotel: Ray, a neurosurgeon, frantically tries to calm himself by reciting scientific jargon, while a strange being claiming to be his own child self tries to open the door to his hotel room.

Or “I have killed seventeen” from Pub Operas: a serial killer recounts his prior murders.

If you’re looking for something a bit lighter in tone, try “Ladies and Gentlemen” from The Perfect Screw: P. L. Robertson playfully demonstrates the new “automatic spiral ratchet spring-loaded screw driver,” affectionately called the “Yankee.”