THE RETURN OF ULYSSES - Song of My Father at IN Series

IN Series’ lauded Monteverdi Trilogy continues with the second installation in the cycle. 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the start of official military action by the United States in Vietnam. It was a conflict that would change the face of America forever. The young souls that fought were wounded most acutely in ways that were invisible, and their return home was only the beginning of an epic struggle to live again.

Monteverdi’s second opera sets the story of Trojan War hero Ulysses’ traumatic homecoming from the epic The Odyssey. IN Series will bring this rarely heard masterpiece to life with an expansive work that incorporates a new English text crafted from interviews taken with Vietnam veterans, and the Thai contemporary dance company 18 Monkeys, bringing their unique mix of modern and traditional South-East Asian Kohn dance to the production. Monteverdi’s score will be joined by newly commissioned arrangements of popular Vietnam era songs in the style of Monteverdi madrigals and the words of Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong. An all star cast is led by Derek Chester and Elizabeth Mondragon (Zavala-Zavala) and performers from Orange Grove Dance, and is accompanied by a period instrumental ensemble from around the world. Memorial Day performances offer a moving and unique way to remember and honor the lives and living that was lost in those seas and jungles sixty years ago.

Tickets are $30 for veterans, and free for Vietnam veterans. 

Robert Mellon, Ulysses  
Elizabeth Mondragon, Penelope  
Elijah McCormack, Telemaco  
Featuring Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Janna Critz, Oliver Mercer, Kevin Short