NOV 25 | Future Mythologies

NOV 25, 2023 at The Annex; Performance at 7:30pm.

In tribute to this year’s festival theme, Future Mythologies is a celebratory showcase for the new works in development that aspire to redefine the future of storytelling, and become the myths of tomorrow. Through performance excerpts and facilitated discussions between artists and audiences, this event unveils the captivating evolution of three groundbreaking new works: “Eurydice Fragments,” “CHINATOWN,” and “Inferno”.

Eurydice Fragments: re:Naissance Opera’s AUREA award winning team gathers once more to fuse opera, dance, extended reality, and emerging technology in this contemporary version of the Orphean myth. Through an immersive exploration of our digital and carbon existences, the performance dissolves the binaries we are bound to from birth until death, and strums the threads between heaven and hell, male and female, maker and muse, performer and audience.

Inferno: After the first workshop presentation at IndieFest 2022, Inferno returns to blend hip-hop, rap, beat boxing, sampling, R&B, and contemporary opera in celebration of IBPOC voices. Inspired by Dante’s Inferno, this feminist, anti-establishment, and anti-colonial allegory pairs opera’s emotional richness with hip-hop’s text driven, poetic aesthetics, this musical fusion will culminate in an illustration of paradise for IBPOC people and communities.

CHINATOWN: Chinatown is a new opera in development by Madeleine Thien (librettist), Alice Ping Yee Ho (composer), Paul Yee (Translator / librettist) and Marjorie Chan (Dramaturg). The opera, set in Vancouver’s Chinatown, follows the story of two men and the legacies they strive to create for their families in the midst of the Chinese Immigration Act and anti-asian racism. In this presentation, the creative team will share insight into their collaborative process and share text excerpts from their newly created second act to this much-anticipated opera.