Why is "normal" good?

November 20, 2019

Pilgrimage

October 21, 2019

The Locusts Are Coming!

September 11, 2019

Please reload

Recent Posts

A Textbook Project (really, it’s not as dull as you imagine!)

April 20, 2014

Wyoming is the State that Keeps on Giving (at least when it comes to censorship)

May 15, 2014

1/2
Please reload

Featured Posts

The Locusts Are Coming!

September 11, 2019

 

 

 

 

The locusts are coming!!!  Well, at least Locust: The Opera (an environmental murder mystery with music by Anne Guzzo, libretto by Jeff Lockwood, and set/costumes by Ashley Carlisle) is coming to Laramie.  And bringing an opera to the high plains of Wyoming raises some eyebrows and questions. 

 

 

            Laramie—really?  Well, yes.  For centuries opera was the performance art of the people, rather than the wealthy elites.  The nobility was often satirized, resulting in some wonderfully uncomfortable sociopolitical tensions (not that I’d ever engage in subversive ventures to challenge those in power).  Only in the mid-20th century did opera become the purview of affluent audiences.  Laramie is short on aristocrats but filled with real people (I suppose that an audience at the Met has real people, too, but we’re not expecting many tuxedos beyond the orchestra).

           Can the public really enjoy opera?  Locust was written to engage first-timers, as well as appeal to aficionados.  We were committed to making this accessible—not facile or simplistic—by telling a good story in under an hour with the lyrics projected for the audience during the performance.  The opera features memorable music and audience immersion (people create the sounds of arriving swarms and rainstorms).  Our previous experiences suggest that diverse people derive various meanings—kids might see a Disney Princess Locust, while adults confront questions of human values and our future as a species.

            An opera in the community’s Civic Center?  Absolutely!  The Gryphon Theatre is historic, graceful, and central to the town.  Sure, the university has lovely performing spaces, but having an opera on campus sends a message: This is not for the commoners.  Our passion is to bring beautiful art to the community, to our friends and neighbors—as well as our academic colleagues.  If art is to flourish in our town, state, nation, and world, we must engage our publics (there is not some single, monolithic “public” but all sorts of people with various experiences). 

            And so, Locust: The Opera will be performed on Saturday, October 5th, at 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:00 for drinks and socializing).  We’re featuring the Colorado Chamber Orchestra along with UW musicians, and three of the absolute finest operatic voices to be found in the Rocky Mountain region.  Go to the Gryphon’s calendar (https://www.gryphontheatre.org/calendar/), scroll down to October 5th, and click on “Tickets” to be part of the swarm that descends on Laramie that evening.

Tags:

opera

History

Wyoming

nature

Please reload

1981 America

History

Mystery

Research

Riley

Romance

San Francisco

Travel

Wyoming

art

books

censorship

citizen science

collaboration

creative writing

free speech

harvey hix

nature

noir

opera

philosophy

reading

religion

reviews

science

six words

teaching

ucross

writing process

wyoming politics

Please reload

Search By Tags

November 2019 (1)

October 2019 (1)

September 2019 (1)

August 2019 (1)

July 2019 (1)

June 2019 (1)

May 2019 (1)

April 2019 (1)

March 2019 (1)

February 2019 (1)

January 2019 (1)

Please reload

Archive
  • Home

  • Meet

  • Read

  • Blog

  • Contact

  • More

    JEFFREY A. LOCKWOOD