Kiira Schmidt Carper is making her HGO debut as associate choreographer for West Side Story. Carper has served in the same role for this production of West Side Story at both Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and The Lyric Opera of Chicago, working closely with choreographer Joshua Bergasse to recreate the work of Jerome Robbins. Carper also served as revival choreographer for Opera Australia’s production of West Side Story in 2024. Carper is an assistant professor of musical theater in the Department of Drama at Syracuse University and a former assistant professor of practice at Texas State University. Her Broadway credits include Follies (2011 revival), Anything Goes (2011 revival), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012 revival), Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (2008-09), and No No Nanette and Stairway to Paradise at New York Convention Center. Her domestic tour credits include Fame The Musical, Crazy for You, and A Chorus Line, with international credits being Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Broadway Asia’s Real to Reel in Beijing, and Linzer Klangwolke 2023 in Austria. Additional choreography work includes the NBC TV show SMASH and The Fred Astaire Awards. Carper’s choreography was recognized by Austin Critics Table Awards, for TSU’s production of Ragtime, which was named the Best Production of 2018. In 2016, she received the Excellence in Choreography award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at TSU, an honor she also received in 2013 for A Funny Thing Happened…Forum at Sam Houston State University.