Sea Fog and Shadow Sister - Sarah Meyers imagines an oppressive Lizzie Borden

Welcome to National Opera Week and the hundreds of events occurring nationwide. As we begin our collection of posts from women opera directors on American works, we aim to create a fascinating collage of some of the medium's finest thinkers, and a window into a few of the greatest operatic works from the 20th century.

Tweet @operathink and #operaweek, and JOIN this blog to share the news!

A portrait of the enigmatic Lizzie, by Tiago Finato

We begin with a great story for Hallow's Eve - Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden. You can watch the original New York City Opera production here, directed by Rhoda Levine. 

Our first contributing artist is stage director Sarah Meyers, a staff director at the Metropolitan Opera in New York since 2006, who is also finishing a doctorate at Columbia. Here she tells a great story about our dear old Lizzie.

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Sea Fog and Shadow Sister

A meditation on space in Lizzie Borden 

by Sarah Meyers

Lizzie Borden is an exploration of evil, but that evil is not Lizzie’s alone. Rather the opera explores the corrosive, oppressive, persistent evil of the Borden household, of a family turned inside out by repression, secrets, and betrayal. Darkness permeates their world, and oozes into life through cruelty after petty cruelty.

Much like a Shakespearean play, the opera transfers the psychological agitation and turmoil onto the environment. The spirit of dead mother Evangeline hangs on to the house – first literally, in the portrait upon the wall, then figuratively, as Lizzie becomes a double of her mother. The house watches, shadows pursue, the fog rolls in malevolent and heavy from the sea. The garden is rife with pests and bugs. 

Hatred and resentment have made the space itself sick, and sickening. The walls – Lizzie repeats, over and over again – the walls.  It reminds me of a gothic fiction story I read many years ago, The Yellow Wallpaper, in which the winding patterns of vines in a woman’s bedroom drive her mad. But is it her insanity that in fact transforms the space, or does the room really have its own dark intentions? That story, like Lizzie Borden, suggests the possibility that both are true. As madness develops, yes, it transforms the space around us. But perhaps more frightening is the idea that space itself can become sinister, and that the inanimate – charged perhaps by our own hatred and fear – can come to life with its own dark purpose. The haunted house.

I’m currently at work on a dissertation at Columbia about exactly this type of space in contemporary performance – spaces which defy logic, which articulate a very specific form of anxiety. I’ve been studying how theatrical performance can get under our skin and inhabit our subconscious. So naturally, I would love to direct Lizzie Borden. It would be an ideal opportunity to explore the terrifying potential of theatrical space. Without doing a full design process, it is of course hard to say what that would entail, but I know what the key elements would be. 

The house would have to be dangerous. Edges like blades, dark corners, angles. The fog – perhaps we could find a way to control its movement to make it interactive. I’d love for it to literally lick at Lizzie when she stands by the window. And perhaps most important, the use of light and dark. The shadows of the opera intrigue me – I’d love to literally bring those shadows to life, to give them increasing autonomy as Lizzie hurtles towards her murderous acts. In the end, only the shadows keep her company…

Learn more about Sarah Meyers's work at www.sarahinameyers.com

National Opera Week Features Opera Think Tank: Idea Power from Women

We at OPERA THINK TANK have been very busy connecting with dozens of outstanding women opera directors at every level, all over the world, and the enthusiasm for an online forum to connect and converse has been overwhelming. 

We eagerly await celebrating so much of this talent and insight at our online forum during Opera America's National Opera Week. 

If you're interested in being a part of this online forum, please hit the blue JOIN THIS SITE button to follow this blog. 

If you're a professional woman opera director and have not yet received an invitation to post, please email us at operathinktank@gmail.com.

We will be discussing the list below of American operas. What interests you about these pieces? What are the challenges? What would help them gain more momentum as part of the world's opera repertoire? Many artists will be posting about specific titles, and their ideas or questions about the work.

We are collecting content now and will be posting daily during National Opera Week, October 24th through November 2nd. Positive comments, questions, and conversations are encouraged.

The operas we will use as conversation points are listed below. This list was generated by Opera America as part of the Director Designer Showcase of this past fall, though this online forum will have nothing to do with that program, and its deadline has passed. The list serves simply as a conversation starter, however some artists may have submitted a showcase application and may choose to share their team's work. 

A Streetcar Named Desire (Previn/Littell)

Candide (Bernstein/Wilbur)

Four Saints in Three Acts (Thompson/Stein)

Glory Denied (Cipullo)

Il Postino (Catán)

Lizzie Borden (Beeson/Elmslie)

Of Mice and Men (Floyd)

The Cradle Will Rock (Blitzstein)

Three Decembers (Heggie/Scheer)

Vanessa (Barber/Menotti)

We're looking forward to some fascinating insights and conversations!

Opera Think Tank 2.0

We're back! And wow, what a different world we have now. New York City Opera is gone, San Diego Opera barely survived shuttering, and the Met just mud-slung its way through some interminable union negotiations. Some say we're dragging behind in every way, if you read the comments here. Meanwhile there is a growing number of young leaders in opera and new work being made everywhere you look.

In the eight years I've been in NYC, however, it seems like opportunities have dwindled for singers to actually develop and perform here in the city. Meanwhile I find myself in amazing theatre spaces set up by actors and comedians - artists who work at their craft to a point that they can perform any where, any time - places like the PIT and Magnet and spaces that not only have a great theatre spaces, but great bars where people can hang out and have a good time on a Friday night. Why don't these spaces exist for opera?

The PIT, or People's Improv Theatre, has great spaces for performing and hanging out

There was recently a great article picking apart the many ways that the Met makes going to the theatre unnecessarily cumbersome and difficult. It's a theatre house stuck in a century-old tradition of entertainment. But hey, let's not pick on the Met - they are the nation's largest performing arts organization. I just wish there was more middle ground, especially in New York, where you might trip over a singer, a director, or a designer every three feet.

So I decided to do something about it and launched OPERA THINK TANK this summer. We've only just begun, but we have a packed schedule for the fall in an amazing new theatre space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The stunning staff of Triskelion in front of their new free-standing theatre building!

So here's how it all works, at least for now:

OPERA THINK TANK's goal is to get an ensemble of singers making theatre together on a regular basis, creating regular performance opportunities that singers can join whenever they are available.

Led by director/choreographer Heidi Lauren Duke and guest coach/conductor Carmine Aufiero, the THINK TANK also includes includes guest coaches, directors, and designers.


The flexible session schedule includes private coaching, ensemble work on skills and dramaturgy, and public presentations. No new music to learn - all a singer needs to prepare is her current rep - either her 5 audition arias or other arias/duets that a singer wants to brush up or get in front of an audience. We will use principals of improv comedy, theatre composition, and reinterpreting the classics to create a vocabulary and process we can use again and again to create engaging opera theatre.

Throughout the 2014-15 season, singers may join ongoing weekly sessions whenever they are available. Performances will be monthly and will be cast from new singers that have attended at least 3 sessions total, and singers who are already part of the roster but have attended at least one session in the current month.

So experienced singers could work with us a bit, then leave town, come back for two weeks (or six months), and perform in quality shows in NYC with limited rehearsal time. Younger or less experienced artists can come every week and continuously work on their skills and craft, performing as they wish. Meanwhile singers can invite their friends and fans to see them perform in a gorgeous space in a fun neighborhood with amazing views of Manhattan.

Sunset earlier this year at East River Park, an easy walk from Triskelion

So save the dates for our Saturday night fall shows - come have dinner before at Adelina's, Jimmy's, Calexico, or just come wander around this booming neighborhood:

Saturdays at 10pm

October 18th, November 15th, and December 13th

Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street, Williamsburg / Greenpoint, Brooklyn

And donate here to Triskelion's valiant efforts to provide a home for so many artists!

Airline Tix for Opera? (Thanks, Hugh Jackman!)

The New York Times just reported about rather 'interesting' pricing strategies, helping to keep the lights shining brightly down on the Great White Way.

Turns out, theater owners and producers can look at past sales figures and predict exactly how much people will pay for certain seats. Some seats get discounted at first, but when reviews come in or some sections sell out, prices skyrocket. In effect, it's pricing performance seats similarly to airline fares.

Imagine how that pricing has influenced the way we buy airline tickets (or at least, the way I do!): I try to buy early, compare the possibilities, scanning my computer screen hungrily, until the moment I find the perfect date, price, and location and BAM! I review the itinerary with lusty caution...hit the PURCHASE button with apprehension-soaked courage, and the blessed confirmation screen finally arrives as I shudder with relief and gratitude. Ahhh...that's better.

If only buying opera tickets carried so much DRAMA!

Because of course, just as airlines are now catering to the profitable customer, so should performing arts organizations. There will always be the discount shoppers like me, but considering the number of deep-pocketed Puccini fans, opera companies could stand to make some serious dough if they get with the program.

How much will you pay for the best seat in the house?

The other pricing strategy that goes along with this: the affluent customer wants things that are expensive.  In fact, I think our current economy is unique in this trend: cheap things are getting cheaper and more disposable, and expensive things are getting more costly and more lasting -- there is little in between. Does opera want to be the former or the latter? It's a tricky question, and the answer is that it just has to pick one and not stay in the middle. (Brilliant example: seeing the Met Live is expensive and extravagant and time-consuming; Met HD is cheap and disposable, and people buy both because they are getting the extreme on the pendulum, and those extremes are what sell.)

But let's follow-through with the fact that the affluent customer wants things that are expensive...in another life I worked in the copyediting department of a major entertainment company that shall remain nameless.  Needless to say they ran both the most famous circus in the world, and also the most famous ice skating show in the world. On their ads for the circus, they sold the show as a fun but casual event for the family.  They had tiered pricing. They listed the cheapest prices first and then went up from there.  On the contrary, for the ice show, they were marketing it more like a ballet or a Broadway show -- an epic, fancy, family event, so they listed the most expensive seats first. And guess what? The most expensive ones were the first to sell -- always. And remember...the two different productions were sold by the same company, so they reaped the profits from both extremes, just like the Met!

I still feel that opera is stunted by the albatross of non-profit-bleeding-hearts. Yes -- we can still be accessible, and also exclusive; 'cheap' to some and 'extravagant' to others...we have to provide both products.

Airline travel used to be something reserved for the wealthy, but now the product has changed to offer something for both the well-heeled elite, and also the great unwashed. Or people who can pass for both, like me.

Opera Patron 2.0: Sue, from Brooklyn

On Monday I took advantage of the ecstatic September weather and caught operamission's Figaro performance, which was presented as part of the Bryant Park Fall Festival.

It was idyllic: sparkling sun, cool breezes, amazing food and beverages, and bustling energy surrounding a park with Mozart flowing through the speakers.  As I walked from the south side of the park to the north, tables of lunchers gave way to sunbathers, which gave way to rows of seats in front of the white-tented stage.

At the end of the performance, around two o'clock, I was surprised by the woman near me, who leapt to her feet, clapping, shouting,

BRAVOOOOO! BRAVOOO! THAT WAS AWESOME! 

She admonished her friends, some of whom had fallen to napping in the sunshine: "You missed the best part!  There was a ton of action!  They were really goin' attit!!! (referring to the Figaro Act II Finale Throw Down)

She looked around....

Why aren't more people standing??  That was AWESOME!

I spoke to her afterwards.  I was too shy to ask for a picture, but she looked something like the picture above, except very excited. Her name is Sue and she's from Brooklyn.  She'd seen opera before, but had never subscribed to anything. She liked Mozart, Handel; Beethoven not so much. She was also excited because, at that same moment, her daughter was expecting to give birth to a baby girl by way of c-section.  She gave me a hug and said God Bless.

So I was surprised by her not by her age, but her energy.  She stood up and hollered. She knew she was seeing something special.  And she had a busy life, with babies being born any second -- she had a lot on her mind.

So how we get her into the Hall to hear singers on a regular basis?  I don't know.

But that would be AWESOME.

P.S. the awesome singers from operamission included bass CORY CLINES (Figaro) • soprano SHARIN APOSTOLOU (Susanna) • baritone MICHAEL WEYANDT (Count) • soprano INNA DUKACH (Countess) and countertenor TYLER WAYNE SMITH as Cherubino - led by Jennifer Peterson and directed by Peter Kozma

I Hate Comic Opera. Sometimes.

As an actor, I learned comedy through improv theatre, but fell in love with opera for the epic, the heroic, the transcendent. And I've seen a lot of comic opera that is just not, well...funny.

But I just spent three months submerged in the best Italian buffa ever written. If I've learned anything, it's that even comic opera, even with all its iron-clad notes, timing, and traditional schtick, must have an absolutely ridiculous improvisation to it: the actors have to feel like asking,

"Are people actually watching us have this much fun?" 

and the audience has to feel like asking,

"Am I allowed to have this much fun?" 

Otherwise if it is practiced and cute -- if it only qualifies as 'charming' -- we're only imitating what comedy in the theatre is actually supposed to be.

And the difference between a good joke and a bad shtick is that a joke has to come from something the character would actually do, even in their own absurd logic. Schtick uses a logic outside of the characters - it's something superimposed onto them.

I learned this from a fart joke in Pasquale.  At least a fart is good for something.

This is Glenn Seven Allen, being very funny in a Barber directed by Benjamin Wayne Smith, who is also very funny. Credit to Wildeye Photography, whom I hope got some good laughs.

Sir Falstaff, Reviewed and Relished

Here are the best quotes from the four reviews of Falstaff!

"campy, raucous, sleazy, self-mocking, groovy, tacky, immoderate, compatible with beer and ice cream...All of these adjectives were applicable in the best possible way..."

"Dongkyu Oh [revealed] Falstaff’s true nature -- not merely a clown but an unapologetic embodiment of social vice."

"...the real scene-stealer...was Desiree Maira as Mistress Quickly, sporting impressively evocative facial expressions..." 

"Energy was abundant...Duke justly deserves the dual credits of director and choreographer. Cleverness of movement pervaded...from ostentatious disco to a simple turn of hand or head."

- Boston Music Intelligencer - Second cast opening review 

Now then a different person from the same journal saw a completely different cast but said a lot of the same things:

"...fluid, well-timed"

"...Brooke Larimer as Mistress Quickly was the quintessential contralto-soubrette, Italian-American sexpot...the most convincing physical realization of character...

"solid and entertaining"

- Boston Music Intelligencer - Opening night review 

"Delightful...spirited...funny"

- Boston Pheonix - review   

"...like something Diane Paulus would do..."

"...some of the best 'Shakespearean' acting I've seen all year."

- The Hub Review - review

Bravi tutti!

The wicked wives of Windsor. Photo by J.J. Bates.