American Opera Projects To Present The Stonewall Operas

I’m so excited to have been involved in this program! My 30-minute opera with composer Kevin Cummines goes up this Saturday, May 18th, with additional performances on May 19th and May 20th at the Stonewall Inn itself.

There are four half-hour long mini-operas inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots will making their world premiere at NYU’s Shubert Theatre and the Stonewall Inn. The four operas performed will conclude NYU’s Stonewall at 50 Series, a collection of panels, performances, events, and discussions commemorating the riots and their legacy.

Our opera is called “The Community,” and it is directed by I-Chen Wang.
It’s 400 years in the future, and humanity has rebuilt itself after an apocalyptic event that sent the survivors into another dark age. The only artifact they have from the previous civilization is a book on the history of the Stonewall Uprising. A madcap dystopian comedy that asks, what happens when a society is built on the story of Stonewall and what happens when someone wants to deviate from the norms?

The other operas include “Nightlife” by TJ Rubin and Deepali Gupta in a production by Nina Fry; “The Pomada Inn” by Brian Cavanagh-Strong and Ben Bonnema, directed by Sam Helfrich; and “Outside” by Bryan Blaskie and by Seth Christenfeld in a production by Francisco Rodriguez.

Errin Duane Brooks, Brandon Coleman, Sara Couden, Amy Justman, Kathryn Krasovec, Jordan Rutter, Hans Tashjian, and Clayton Williams will star in the works.

These mini-operas are the fourth entries in the collaboration between Brooklyn contemporary opera producer American Opera Projects and The NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program’s “Advanced Opera Lab” in which emerging opera writers compose works based on a historic New York City location.

The opera will take place at NYU’s Shubert Theatre on May 18, 2019, and within the modern-day Stonewall Inn itself on May 19 and 20. Tickets here.

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