Fresh Squeezed Opera Premieres SELF DEFINED CIRCUITS AT at the HERE Performing Arts Center
The opera, which tells the story of a newly created sex robot, who tries to find out what it means to be a woman while trapped in a world created by her programmer.
By: A.A. Cristi May. 10, 2022
Fresh Squeezed Opera premieres Self Defined Circuits, a new opera from Jillian Flexner, composer, and Orlando Segara, librettist, May 3, 5, 6, and 7 at the HERE Performing Arts Center, Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, with every night sold out.
The opera, which tells the story of a newly created sex robot, who tries to find out what it means to be a woman while trapped in a world created by her programmer, Pete, and his "Siri" device, Cora, is a driven, complex, well-heard, and human piece. Inspired in part by the composer's own experiences in an abusive relationship during her formative years, and the works of Sci-Fi pioneers Isaac Asimov and Ursula Le Guin, this opera explores the idea of "womanhood" through the lens of someone new to the world, and desperate to find where she fits.
The production became especially poignant, when on its opening night, news leaked from the United States Supreme Court about Justice Alito's draft opinion essentially overturning Roe V. Wade. "This opera showcases the fetishization of women and the neglect of their well beings both physically and mentally, while exploring feminine agency and independence," says Brittnay Goodwin, librettist and stage director.
Says Flexner about the creation of the opera, "I was in an abusive relationship when I was forming ideas about gender, sexuality, and self-identity. The most invasive and damaging thing he ever did was to define these for me. For a very long time, I lived trapped within his definitions of who I was and what I meant to the world. I wanted this opera to reflect this abuse: that defining a person is just as damaging as any other type of harm."
Flexner's music - meaningful, moving, wildly creative, and challenging - and text setting of Segarra's words work with and at times against the machine-like orchestra, helmed by Whitney George.
The production, with direction from Michael Hofmann, was particularly inventive in its use of technologies. A particular challenge in Self Defined Circuits is the staging of the Siri-like character, Cora, which Hofmann brilliantly utilized screens and projections, by co-designers Ted Boyce-Smith and Taylor Edelle Stuart, to personify this bodiless computer program.
Photo by Jonathan Levin (Sara Lin Yoder as Gal and Shane Brown as Pete)
Sara Lin Yoder and Shane Brown, as the Fembot, Gal, and her creator, Pete, respectively, stole the show with their intense and subtle stage partnership and crisp yet emotive singing. Yoder's moments of redemption through Gal starkly contrasted with Shane's decent into madness as Pete.
Fresh Squeezed Opera's production of Self Defined Circuits was a triumph of technology and music, telling an intimate story that could not be more relevant and important for audiences to hear.
Full Cast: Sara Lin Yoder, Fembot; Shane Brown, Pete; Cara Search, Cora; Elyse Kakacek, Cora; Chorus: Sarah Daniels, Stephanie Feigenbaum, Mary Rose Go, Delaney Rosen, Victoria Davis, Rocky Duval
Full Production Team: Michael Hofmann, Stage Director; Whitney George, Music Director; Victoria Benson, Production Manager; Sarah Herdrich, Stage Manager; Jenn Burkhardt, Lighting Design; Corina Chase, Costume Design; Ted Boyce-Smith, Video Design; Taylor Edelle Stuart, Video Design; Wells Thorne, Scenic Design
Fresh Squeezed Opera is a small-ensemble-based opera company focused on presenting only new music with intimate and impactful productions. Our mission is to present genre-pushing new works of the highest caliber that explore the depths of operatic music.
FSO focuses on producing works that not only are new, but resonate with contemporary audiences. In our eight-season history, we have presented over fifty composers' works through our various programs, including our annual Showcase of Vocal Chamber Music, summer Fresh Squeezed Vocal Lab for Composers, our Main Stage Summer Operas, and our commissioning series.
FSO was founded on the core principle that art is democratic: anyone can make it and everyone has a story to tell. To this day, all music programmed is selected from open call for scores with no submission fees. Everyone and anyone can submit their work for consideration. You don't have to know the right people, be in the right network, or have gone to the right school to have your work performed by FSO.
For more information, visit www.freshsqueezedopera.com
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