Past Workshops

Steel Trapp

Our Inaugural Lab · June 2026

VLP began with a two-week developmental workshop of Steel Trapp at the Spieker Center on the Menlo School campus. Students from five Bay Area high schools worked alongside professional artists and alumni mentors to develop a new musical.

Ridley Pearson is the author of the Steel Trapp books and co-author, with Dave Barry, of Peter and the Starcatchers. Chip Lamb is a theatre director, actor and playwright who taught acting, directing and playwriting at Pomfret School. Their work on Steel Trapp brought storytelling and theatre-making into our inaugural lab.

Nearly 150 people joined us for the final presentations. The work in the room mattered just as much: exploration, collaboration, revision and discovery.

A Look Inside Our Inaugural Workshop

(Opens on YouTube)