SAN FRANCISCO, CA- ScolaVox (scolavox.org) and Thick House Theater (thickhouse.org) are proud to present the World Premiere of The Lariat, a dark comic opera by composer Lisa Scola Prosek, based on the 1927 novella by the poet and anthropologist Jaime de Angulo. This production will take place January 23-31, 2015 at Thick House Theater in San Francisco.
Winner of the NY Center for Contemporary Opera "Atelier" Award, The Lariat tells the story of the colonial Spaniards' drive towards self-destruction, as they took the California Native American world down with them- a prescient story of a culture clash where neither culture is a winner, when simple reason is abandoned for religious and social dogma.Set in the 1790's, Father Luis (portrayed by Philip Skinner) is a Franciscan friar obsessed with learning the Esselen language to better convert the Big Sur tribe to Christianity. His plan becomes more complicated when he falls in love with a young Esselen woman named Ishka (Crystal Philippi) who has abandoned her shaman husband and found refuge in the Carmel Mission. The brokenhearted shaman (Clifton Romig) puts a curse on any future suitors, tormenting them with dreams of wild animals and death. Human relationships become a metaphor for tensions in the interactions between the Spaniards and the Esselen. This eventually becomes personified as a love triangle between Father Luis, Ishka and Kinikilali (Mark Hernandez), a handsome vaquero that she falls in love with. Father Luis' consciousness is a lethal mix of Catholic "correctness" and repressed sexuality. When he falls in love with Ishka, his self-torment is heightened by an irrepressible curiosity for "primitive" shamanistic ritual. Luis lusts not only for the girl, but for power and magic, and a tangible religious experience. Meanwhile, his Franciscan counterpart, Father Bernardo (Joe Meyers), is busy exploiting the Esselen Natives, with his God-given sense of duty and righteousness, for if he feeds them, he can exploit them.Videos