Workshops
Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands
Conceived and directed by
Kathleen Cramer and O-Lan Jones
Sets and Costumes designed by Snezana Petrovic
A couple near the end of their lives, victims of Identity Theft at the deepest levels, attempt to reclaim their story by means of reliving critical events that come magically alive as songs, dances and rituals "indigenous" to those turning points...
Some of the artists that have written pieces specifically for this project:
Librettists: Sissy Boyd, Joe Chaikin, Chiwan Choi, Gilbert Girion, Erik Ehn, Julie Hebert, Merle Kessler, Quincy Long, Lynn Manning, Ruth Margraff, Leon Martell, Marlane Meyer, Ken Roht, Octavio, Stolis, John Steppling, Caridad Svich, Sharon Yablon, Guy Zimmerman
Composers: John Ballinger, J. Raoul Brody, Eric Culver, Beth Custer, Jeff Fairbanks, Bart Hopkin, Penka Kouneva, Richard Mariott, David O, George Sarah
The Woman in the Wall
Words — Kathleen Cramer
Music — O-Lan Jones
This opera springs from the Medieval practice of the Anchorites - people who volunteered to be bricked into a room alone for all their natural lives with one window on the church and one window on the world. They would become oracles for miles around, advisors to everyone from the local peasants to the King. Over the course of seven days, which cover many years, we follow the Woman in the Wall on her inward journey, we track her doubts and fears and watch how her understanding develops as she opens and transforms the peoples' questions into the Seven Virtues who light her way.