ODC Ensemble Present New York Premiere of Immersive Opera

 

Award-winning international theatre company ODC Ensemble, with New York City's The Directors Company, present the New York premiere of the innovative cinematic opera "OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding." Conceived, written and directed by 2018-19 Fulbright Artist's Award recipient Elli Papakonstantinou, "OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding" has original music composed by Tilemachos Moussas and Julia Kent performed live into an array of surreal cinematic environments created by Stephanie Sherriff. "OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding" will play a strictly limited engagement at BAM Fisher (Fishman Space), located at 321 Ashland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217, beginning Wednesday, September 25th through Sunday, September 29th, 2019.

An immersive opera which mixes traditional performance with cutting-edge technology and emerging neuroscience, the production draws narrative inspiration from Sophocles' classic tragedy Oedipus Rex. A 2018-19 Fulbright Artist's Award recipient and visiting scholar at Stanford University; 2018-19 "Music Theatre Now" international award recipient, Elli creates her own visually striking, lyric adaptation and explores engaging audiences in a new radical way. By using new technologies which turn the audience into the actual chorus of the opera, the piece rediscovers the community at the heart of a political performance, as it was in the ancient times.

Mythology, pop cultural references, and gender reexaminations feed into this unique theatrical mashup, as an all-female acting ensemble of opera singers and jazz vocalists join forces with musical virtuosos (live augmented cello, piano & new instruments) on stage for a deep-dive into a haunting mind game.

Partly developed during the director's stay at the Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University, "OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding" also has artists and scientists joining forces on a new neuroscientific case study. The study explores the questions: "Are we free?," "Dο we experience free will?," Are there real alternatives, or is all that takes place the outcome of necessity?" An exploration into Determinism and Self, the answers describe either our majesty or captivity.

The advisor to the project is Professor Manos Tsakiris, Professor of Psychology, University of London (manostsakiris.com).

"OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding" premiered at CCRMA, Stanford University on April 4, 2019, produced by ODC Ensemble. The limited engagement at BAM Fisher is the beginning of an international tour. The next staging will take place in Athens, Greece later this fall, with the participation of cognitive scientists from The Warburg Institute, University of London.

The all-female cast of "OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding" at BAM Fisher (Fishman Space) includes Nasia Gofa, Anastasia Katsinavaki, Theodora Loukas, Lito Messini and musicians Julia Kent (cello) and Misha Piatigorsky(piano). Additional casting TBA.

Electroacoustic environments are provided by Hassan Estakrian and Barbara Nerness.

Tickets to "OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding" are priced at $30 and will be available beginning August 6, 2019 via www.bam.org/oedipus.

 

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