Chamber-opera adaptation of Willa Cather’s PAUL’S CASE kicks off 2014 Prototype festival
PROTOTYPE: OPERA/THEATRE/NOW
Multiple venues
January 8-19, $15-$25
Proto Packs: $75 for five shows, $90 for seven
866-811-4111
www.prototypefestival.org
Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now, a festival of classical and postclassical musical-theater and chamber-opera works from around the world, returns for its second year, consisting of seven performances in five venues from January 8 to 19. Presented by Beth Morrison Projects and HERE, Prototype gets under way with the New York premiere of Paul’s Case (HERE, January 8-13), composer Gregory Spears and playwright Kathryn Walat’s chamber-opera adaptation of Willa Cather’s short story. Husband and wife Lauren Worsham and Kyle Jarrow’s Sky-Pony (HERE, January 10-13) investigates the four humors of Ancient Greek medicine, the Melancholic, the Sanguine, the Phlegmatic, and the Choleric, in a multimedia performance over four nights. In Thumbprints (Baruch Performing Arts Center, January 10-18), composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz follow a Pakistani woman’s fight for justice in the aftermath of a so-called honor crime. Composer Jonathan Berger and librettist Dan O’Brien’s Visitations (Roulette, January 11-13) consists of a pair of haunting one-act chamber operas, Theotokia, involving a man taunted by the mother of God, and The War Reporter, based on the real-life experience of journalist Paul Watson. In Du Yun’s multigenre Angel’s Bone (Trinity Church, January 12-15), a couple tries to turn a horrific situation to their advantage. In Have a Good Day! (HERE, January 15-19), composer Lina Lapelytė, librettist Vaiva Grainytė, and director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė go inside the minds of mall cashiers. And New York-born, Moscow-raised musician Elizaveta will give a special one-night-only performance at Joe’s Pub on January 17. There will also be a series of talkbacks following specific performances, and Prototype, Coil, Under the Radar, and American Realness have joined forces to present free live concerts every night from January 9 to 19 in the Lounge at the Public Theater, including Invincible, Christeene, Ethan Lipton, Heather Christian & the Arbonauts, Sky-Pony, Timur and the Dime Museum, the Middle Church Jerriesse Johnson Gospel Choir, M.A.K.U. Sound System, DJ Acidophilus, and Nick Hallett, Space Palace, and Woahmone DJs.