Who are you?
I’m a writer and composer, born and educated in the United Kingdom. A former Commercial Attorney, I practiced as a Barrister in England for eleven years. I earned an additional postgraduate degree from Atlanta’s McAfee School of Theology, culminating in the dissertation That There Might Be Inspiration – a critical examination and articulation of transformative music-drama, including through the historical and contemporary works of Handel, Wagner, Puccini, Sondheim, Lloyd Webber and Rice, Boublil and Schönberg. Tappin’s unique approach to writing and composition is full of innovation and authenticity, arising from an inquiring, analytical mind, literary background and gifted musicianship.
I wrote and composed I Dream, a Rhythm and Blues Opera based the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., and am currently writing and composing Becoming Othello, based on Paul Robeson’s year playing Othello at London’s Savoy Theatre, in 1930. I also wrote and composed six other significant musical-dramatic works including Deliverer, Diva, and 2042.
I’m a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and live in Atlanta, Georgia with my wife and two children.
Ok, here are a few random questions. Have fun:
1. What book has influenced you the most?
The Bible. Which, being precise, is a collection of 66 ‘books’.
2. If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what question would you ask and why?
What is truth?
3. Are humans getting better through the generations? Please explain.
Better at what? (and, yes, that’s a second answer by way of another question – which is an approach I may find more use for momentarily…)
4. If you could witness any event of the past, present, or future, what would it be?
First thing that comes to mind is: England winning the world cup, way too long ago, in 1966. Though that’s a ridiculous waste of a question so, really, something else.
5. If you could advise your younger self, what would you say?
Patience, young man!
6. Does an ideal Government exist?
Never in the history, or future of humanity.
7. If you drop soap on the floor, is the floor clean or is the soap dirty? Please explain.
Who still uses bars of soap?
8. Can you picture the child you once were, what were they really good at?
(In my own head) a World Class right winger on the football (aka soccer) pitch.
9. What concerns you about our collective future? Does it matter if it isn’t even here yet?
Nothing that the ‘moral arc of the Universe’ won’t fix.
10. What is something that everyone looks stupid doing?
Most things…if you look hard enough, and with enough imagination.
11. What did the first person who discovered milk think they were doing?
Checking off another “thing to try” on a list headed: “What can I fill the refrigerated aisle of my ancient grocery store with?”
12. If you could only keep five possessions, what would they be?
Depends – how long can I, or must I, keep them for?
13. What’s the most ridiculous fact you know?
Which French verbs take ‘etre’ in the future tense. For which I blame a teacher from long ago.
14. If humans still exist in 10,000 years time, what will civilization look like?
Both different, and similar.
—
Have you secured your ticket yet to TEDxToledo 2018? It’s probably a good idea to do that now.
