A 10-episode mini-series filmed on a soundstage for television, created by a community of 16 librettists and composers over the past 4 years.
Rolling Stone New York's Experiments in Opera (EIO)-the mad scientists behind Video Operas, Radio Operas, Binge Operas, Podcast Operas-will offer critics the chance to preview EIO's new and free 10-episode video opera EVERYTHING FOR DAWN ahead of its October 7 broadcast and streaming premiere on ALL ARTS.
The week before, a one-night-only 'Opening Night' screening of all ten episodes takes place at Anthology Film Archives on Saturday, October 1, 2022 from 6:00-10:00 p.m.
Everything for Dawn is a 10-part serial video opera mini-series, with each episode telling the next part of a single story. Started in 2018, the plot and characters were developed in the EIO Writers' Room, which brings together authors, playwrights, and librettists to collaborate on new original operas. Once the librettos were complete, each was handed to a different composer. The full opera was workshopped and rehearsed over a three-year period (spanning the pandemic) and was recorded and videoed on a soundstage in the fall of 2021. The 2022 release of Everything for Dawn corresponds with EiO's celebration of its 10th Anniversary as a company, over which time they have produced 85 new operatic works by 55 composers. Everything for Dawn is an original coming-of-age story spanning the 1990s. Dawn is a teenager dealing with the impact of her father's suicide. Her personal tragedy becomes public when his paintings become celebrated as "outsider art."
Episodes 1-3, set in 1997, take place in a suburban Detroit home, where a college-aged daughter (Dawn) and her mother (Gloria) discover a box of paintings by their recently deceased father/husband (Mac).
Episodes 4-7, set in 1995, go back in time to the mental health facility that the father had been in prior to his death.
Episodes 8-10, set in 2001, pick up after the end of Episode 3, when the father is hailed by the art world as a star of outsider art.
Everything for Dawn is an extension of Experiments in Opera's long-standing explorations of alternative mediums for contemporary opera. Examples include EiO's podcast operas AquaNet & Funyuns and Buick City, 1:00 AM ("Jam-packed with intrigue...top-notch, gorgeously produced"-I Care If You Listen) which was released in 2018; Video Operas ("fascinating...charming"-The New York Times) in 2016; and Radio Operas ("innovative opera miniatures"-WQXR) in 2013. These programs have positioned Experiments in Opera as a perennial disrupter of opera's business-as-usual approach.
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