Photo Flash: First Look at Firehouse Theatre's TO DAMASCUS

TO DAMASCUS builds on a range of sources including the bible story of Paul's conversion, August Strindberg's THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, the rivalry between Lorenzo de' Medici's patronage of secular art versus Girolamo Savanarola's bonfire of the vanities and his call for an orthodox religious revival, Thomas Mann's only play FIORENZO, the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, James Marcus Schuyler and Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and the Catholic Mass. Check out photos below!

Braxton weaves these sources in to his libretto and has composed a lush score that will be performed by an orchestra of 16 musicians and 5 singers. The opera examines the rituals we practice to reconcile the sacred and the profane and ease the noise between our angels and demons.

In Firehouse's Season of Possibilities we're rejecting traditional ideas and embedded conventions of historicized Opera so we can make an anti-opera for the 21st century.

Performers
Michele Baez
Elisabeth Carlton Dowdy
Michael David Gray
Chase Peak
Imani Thaniel

Musicians
Flute: Susan Davis
Oboe: Jane Kise
Clarinet: Myrick Crampton
Bassoon: Anthony Cavanaugh
Horn: Roxanne Williams
Trumpet: Aaron Bottoms
Violin 1: Katharine Wooldridge, Marissa Resmini
Violin 2: Heather Ryan, Alanna North
Viola: Brenda Johnson, Justin Williams
Cello: Ned Haskins, Jacquelin Spears
Bass: Ayça Kartari
Keyboard: Leilani Fenick

Production Team
Director - Joel Bassin
Musical Directors - Leilani Fenick (vocal coach) + Michael Knowles (conductor)
Environment Designers - Isabel Layton
Lighting Designer - Bill Miller
Costume Designer - Kathleen O'Connor
Stage Manager - Corrie Yarbrough
Assistant Stage Manager - Taylor Rumbley

?Performance Schedule
Thu, 1/18 - 7:30pm (preview)
Fri, 1/19 - 7:30pm (press opening)
Sat, 1/20 - 7:30pm
Sun, 1/21 - 4pm (post performance panel/talkback)
Thu, 1/25 - 7:30pm
Fri, 1/26 - 7:30pm
Sat, 1/27 - 7:30pm

??Tickets $15 - $40
804.355.2001 / firehousetheatre.org

Photo Credit: Bill Sigafoos

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