PROGRAM B: MAY 30, 2024 | 7:30pm ET
Performances by Natalie Choo (Soprano), Brittany Fowler (Mezzo-soprano), Clayton G. Williams (Bass-baritone), Lucas Bouk (Baritone)
CHIPS!
MUSIC by ZIYAN YANG / LIBRETTO by ALECIA BAXTER
DIRECTION by MICHELLE CHAN
It's 2074 and not much has changed at the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses. Yup, everything is relatively the same. Well, except for the fact that the proverbial 'chips on people's shoulders' now literally grow out of their shoulders. Oh, and some people get to live in a space station during building renovations.
WINDY
MUSIC by MICHAEL OOSTERHOUT / LIBRETTO by ALEX MANAA
DIRECTION by SAM HELFRICH
Windy is a piece following a woman of the same name through three stages of her life, all in the same apartment complex in Chelsea, New York. Through the years we see her relationship with her neighbors and community shift in an increasingly individualistic society, as well as the chance of building something new.
TO REND A DREAM
MUSIC by JOHN CARROLL / LIBRETTO by BEN GINSBERG
DIRECTION by MICHELLE CHAN
"To Rend a Dream" is about two best friends of different class structures, having grown up together in the Elliott-Chelsea Housing Community, but who now have arrived at a crossroads. Their values come into conflict as one friend values the upward mobility of privilege while the other finds solace and purpose in the local settlement community.
IT'S NOON - DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR PLANTS ARE?
MUSIC by SEQUOIA SELLINGER / LIBRETTO by GREY
DIRECTION by SAM HELFRICH
What if everything in your home could talk. Or at the very least what if your plants could? Your plants can hear you and they are judging the hell out of you. And naturally they are doing it as a group, and possibly with the other living but not human things in your house. The story follows a more traditional narrative structure with a beginning, middle, and end. Hijinks ensue.
TESSERAE
MUSIC by ANDY LI / LIBRETTO by PATRICK THOMPSON
DIRECTION by MICHELLE CHAN
At 420 W. 26th street, the dreams and hopes of young children are memorialized in colorful tiles that wrap around the building in a mosaic entitled, “I want to be a…” While looking over the neighborhood, a teacher, a mother, and high school graduate contemplate what it would mean to leave the mosaic and leave their home.
AGING GRACEFULLY (OR NOT)
MUSIC by AMOS WONG / LIBRETTO by JOSÉ GABINO ALBA RODRÍGUEZ
DIRECTION by SAM HELFRICH
"Aging Gracefully (Or Not)" is a poignant opera that delves into the struggles of growing older, confronting mortality, and finding purpose in life's twilight. Through the intersecting lives of Jasper, Clara, and Rose—all in their 60s—this work explores the human desire for connection and belonging. Can Jasper find the courage to shed his insecurities and embrace life alongside his friends, or will the fear of aging and loss consume him?
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