John’s first libretto with composer Clint Borzoni, When Adonis Calls, was selected for inclusion in Fort Worth Opera’s 2015 Frontiers showcase and Opera America’s 2017 New Works Forum.  It had its world premiere at Asheville Lyric Opera in 2018, in a production directed and choreographed by him. John’s second collaboration with Borzoni, The Copper Queen, won the top prize Arizona Opera’s commission program, Arizona SPARK. The Copper Queen is being adapted for a film with a planned release in the late 2021. John and Clint are currently in development with The American Opera Project on a new holiday opera, The Christmas Spider. John was commissioned by Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative to create an original work with composer Christopher Weiss. The resulting piece, Service Provider, premiered at The Kennedy Center in 2015, and has since been performed by Urban Arias, Opera Memphis, Hawaii Opera Theater, Virginia Opera, Opera Idaho, Westminster Opera Theatre, and was selected as the first opera performed by the Lake George Music Festival. In 2020, he wrote and directed The Roost for UrbanArias in collaboration with Decameron Opera Coalition. John serves as librettist-in-residence for Opera Lab at The Juilliard School.