Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University. His research focuses primarily on twentieth-century American music, and he most recently has been investigating the place musical theatre holds within communities far removed from Times Square. His first book, A Theology of Voice: Mormons, the Musical Stage, and Belonging in America (under advance contract, University of Illinois Press), considers the practice of speaking on behalf of another person and suggests that one way to study this vocal phenomenon is by examining how Mormons frame their religious identity by, and perform a unique theology through, conventions of American musical theatre.