I attended the world premiere of THE HUNGER, a new operatic work by Donnacha Dennehy in collaboration with the group Alarm Will Sound, and co-produced by Opera Theatre of St. Louis this weekend, and I was blown away by how affecting and compelling this 90 minute piece is. It's a multi-media exercise that attempts to convey a sense of the seven year famine that Ireland suffered through from 1845 - 1852. It was a time of starvation and widespread disease that saw many families emigrate to other countries, cutting the overall population by a nearly a quarter. This production at the Touhill (September 17, 2016) is both harrowing and invigorating in equal measure, and an absolute must-see for people interested in modern opera.
LA Opera's 2016/17 season will continue with the west coast premiere of The Source, opening on October 19. In this penetrating multimedia work, Brooklyn-based composer Ted Hearne, librettist Mark Doten, director Daniel Fish and production designer Jim Findlay dive into the media hysteria responsible for the many faces of Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army private who infamously leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.
LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will conclude with the world premiere of Anatomy Theater, opening on June 16. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning and Academy Award-nominated composer David Lang, who co-wrote the libretto with Mark Dion, the new work is presented at REDCAT (631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012) as part of the LA Opera Off Grand series. The presentation is part of a multi-season collaboration between LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects to present cutting-edge contemporary works.
LA Opera's 30th Anniversary Season will conclude with the world premiere of Anatomy Theater, opening on June 16. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning and Academy Award-nominated composer David Lang, who co-wrote the libretto with Mark Dion, the new work is presented at REDCAT (631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012) as part of the LA Opera Off Grand series. The presentation is part of a multi-season collaboration between LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects to present cutting-edge contemporary works. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look below!
It seems ironic--to me at least--that New York's venerable City Opera would be returning to life at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, just as the “Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now” festival was finishing up its run at alternative venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Prototype “unleashed a powerful wave of opera-theatre and music-theatre from a new generation of classical and post-classical composers and librettists”--their words, not mine, but I won't dispute it--while City is doing a warhorse.
Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE present the fourth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running today, January 6, through January 17, 2016, in New York City.
New York City Premiere, Dog Days is a work of contemporary opera-theatre that investigates the psychology of a working class American family pitted against a not-so-distant-future wartime scenario. Exploring the ultimate struggle of humanity—stuck between nature's indifference and society's barely restrained brutality—Dog Days asks: is it madness, delusion, or sheer animal instinct that guides us through severely trying times? Where is the line between animal and human? At what point must we give into our animal instincts merely to survive?
Daniel Fish, the innovative director of theater, opera, and film, collaborates with designer Jim Findlay to create WHO LEFT THIS FORK HERE, a new interdisciplinary work inspired by the psychological and emotional themes of aging and mortality in Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters. WHO LEFT THIS FORK HERE is set for four performances only, tonight, December 9, through Saturday, December 12, at 7:30pm at Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC)'s Howard Gilman Performance Space, 450 West 37th Street.
Daniel Fish, the innovative director of theater, opera, and film, collaborates with designer Jim Findlay to create Who Left This Fork Here, a new interdisciplinary work inspired by the psychological and emotional themes of aging and mortality in Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters. Who Left This Fork Here is set for four performances only, Wednesday, December 9, through Saturday, December 12, at 7:30pm at Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC)'s Howard Gilman Performance Space, 450 West 37th Street.
Young Jean Lee's STRAIGHT WHITE MEN will have its West Coast premiere November 20 - December 20, 2015, at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed by Lee and presented in collaboration with the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. The first U.S. performances of the play since The Public Theater presented its New York premiere last fall will feature a cast of Frank Boyd, Richard Riehle, Brian Slaten and Gary Wilmes.
Daniel Fish, the innovative director of theater, opera, and film, collaborates with designer Jim Findlay to create WHO LEFT THIS FORK HERE, a new interdisciplinary work inspired by the psychological and emotional themes of aging and mortality in Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters. WHO LEFT THIS FORK HERE is set for four performances only, Wednesday, December 9, through Saturday, December 12, at 7:30pm at Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC)'s Howard Gilman Performance Space, 450 West 37th Street.
Young Jean Lee's STRAIGHT WHITE MEN will have its West Coast premiere November 20 - December 20, 2015, at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed by Lee and presented in collaboration with the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. The first U.S. performances of the play since The Public Theater presented its New York premiere last fall will feature a cast of Frank Boyd, Richard Riehle, Brian Slaten and Gary Wilmes.
Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE are pleased to announce full casting for the fourth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running January 6-17, 2016, in New York City. Deemed "suddenly indispensable" (New Yorker), this 'bracingly innovative' Festival, founded, directed, and curated by Kristin Marting (of HERE), Beth Morrison (of BMP), and Kim Whitener (of HERE), has quickly become 'a point of reference" in the field (The New York Times) over three astoundingly successful seasons.
Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premiere of Los Angeles-based choreographer Lionel Popkin's RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, an evening-length work performed by Popkin, Emily Beattie and Carolyn Hall, with an original score by avant-garde accordionist Guy Klucevsek, performed live by Klucevsek with Mary Rowell on violin.
The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced the complete list of 2015 award recipients tonight at the 31st Annual Bessie Awards ceremony. Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, The Bessies were held at the legendary Apollo Theater at 7:30pm. The full list of Bessie Award recipients follows!
The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, celebrate the winners from the 2014-15 season at its annual ceremony tonight, October 19.
Three finalists have been selected for Center Theatre Group's 2016 Richard E. Sherwood Award: Miwa Matreyek, Dr. Chantal Rodriguez and Kevin Williamson. Center Theatre Group recognizes and celebrates this year's finalists for their exceptional contributions to the Los Angeles theatre landscape and their potential as innovative and adventurous artists.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' razor-edged new comedy APPROPRIATE opened this weekend on October 4 and continues through November 1, 2015, at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!
Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premiere of Los Angeles-based choreographer Lionel Popkin's RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, an evening-length work performed by Popkin, Emily Beattie and Carolyn Hall, with an original score by avant-garde accordionist Guy Klucevsek, performed live by Klucevsek with Mary Rowell on violin.
