Orpheus in UNDERWORLD

English Program

– – – -UNDER CONSTRUCTION– – – –

About the Performance

Orpheus in UNDERWORLD is a contemporary version of the Orphean myth that fuses opera, dance, extended reality, motion capture and interactive technologies. This world premiere is co-produced by re:Naissance Immersive and contemporary dance company Belle Spirale, and is co-presented as part of CENSORED Opera Festival with Ensemble Nylandia.

Synopsis

UNDERWORLD is a VR ‘game’ — a living archive of diasporic experience that invites players to dissolve the bounds between past and present, self and other, memory and myth. Created by the charismatic Charon, it is a place of expansive possibility.

Our story follows two characters, O and Tim, as they journey through UNDERWORLD in an endeavour to find what they have lost: themselves? each other? a connection to their past? or to their future? 

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.

The performance runs continuously, approx. 70 min. with no intermission.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. We are supported by the province of British Columbia. We’re able to continue developing this project with the support from the National Creation Fund from the National Arts Centre.

Meet the Creative Team and Cast

Debi Wong is a fearless and award-winning XR producer, creative director and multidisciplinary artist who has made a significant impact on the contemporary operatic scene and creative technology sector. She is the Founding Artistic Director of re:Naissance Opera in Vancouver, BC and co-executive producer and co-curator of Signals Creative Technology Expo at The Vancouver International Film Festival. Some of her recent accolades include: Executive Producer of Whipped Cream’s music video experience, The Dark (CIMA Bold Award Winner, SXSW Official XR Experience Selection); Co-creator and Executive Producer of Live From The Underworld (Aurea XR Award, double winner in creativity and innovation), and she recently opened TED 2023 conference singing as The Solar Ambassador in K Allado McDowell’s new AI opera, Song Of The Ambassadors. Wong was recently named one of the world’s 100 most influential experiential designers by XP Land’s XLIST.

Luke Hathaway is a trans and queer poet/librettist/performer. He has collaborated with composers Colin Labadie, Benton Roark, Zachary Wadsworth, and James Rolfe, as well as with DaPoPo Theatre (Halifax), re:naissance opera (Vancouver), THIRTYMINUTES (London and Vancouver), Arkora (Toronto), and Vocalypse (Halifax) to bring his mythopoeic word-worlds to the screen and/or the stage. With Daniel Cabena he is a founding member of ANIMA, a metamorphosing ensemble that creates and commissions new works inspired by early-music sources. Luke’s fourth book of poems, The Affirmations, was released by Biblioasis in 2022, and recognized in The Times, London, as a best book of the year. Luke teaches English and Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s University in Kjipuktuk/Halifax.

Heralded as “an artist with extraordinary things to say” (The Globe and Mail) Nikkei Canadian settler Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野 (they/he) has been singing for nearly 20 years both traditional and contemporary operatic roles including the Queen of the Night Die Zauberflöte and Cio-Cio San Madama Butterfly, among others. Their critically acclaimed operatic-play The Queen In Me recently had a sold-out run at the National Arts Centre, and will come to the west coast in 2025. In their practice Teiya explores the intersections of identity through new creation and reimagining the operatic canon through their works Butterfly Project, Little Mis(s)gender, Dichterliebe: Whose Love? with their collaborator, David Eliakis, and Confluence as curator with musica intima in 2025. In addition to interdisciplinary music/theatre creation and curation, they’re also a consultant voice teacher. Follow his latest endeavor, Project T, exploring voice and transition in real time which launched at the ChamberQUEER Festival in New York: www.teiyakasahara.com and www.projecttdoc.com.

Roark has been a resident artist at the Banff Centre, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Sound Symposium, Avaloch Farm, the Erasmus Foundation, and the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, where he was co-recipient of the Tournon Branley Prize for collaborative work in architecture and music. He has studied at the Konservatorium Winterthur in Switzerland, and he holds degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory and the University of British Columbia, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts. Roark has served as President of Vancouver Pro Musica and Associate Artistic Director of Redshift Music in Vancouver, BC, where he also taught theory and composition from 2015-2019 at the Vancouver Academy of Music. He is currently Co-Artistic Director of Arkora Music and makes his home in Toronto, ON.

Brian Topp is Vancouver, BC based composer, XR artist, and interactive audio designer. He is also the co-founder of Chroma Mixed Media, a digital arts collective that focuses on collaborative interactive works that span many artistic disciplines.

“A dance artist, creator, and producer, I have danced with Ballet BC for 14 years and subsequently have been a guest artist and Artist in Residence. Now independent, I hold the position of Artist in Residence at Vancouver’s Chutzpah! Festival and am a Creative Hub member at Presentation House Theatre. My creations have been supported by Dance Victoria, Ballet BC, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Presentation House Theatre, New Works, Vernon Performing Arts Centre, The Gordon Smith Foundation, Dancing on the Edge, InFrinGing Festival, and Shadbolt Centre. As a freelancer, I am currently dancing with Re:Naissance Opera, zoe | juniper, and Wen Wei Dance.”

Keagan is a Studio 58 Graduate. Living with a love of and passion for lighting. As a Gender-Fluid, Non-Binary, Autistic designer they love working with the masculine, feminine and other aspects of themselves to add to the creative and collaborative process. As a designer they paint the performers and their environments with light, working to build an atmosphere that pulls the audience in. Recent design credits include: Midsummer Night’s Dream (Trinity Western), Kill the Ripper (Geekenders & Affair of Honor), Circus Gala (Circus3), Crisis on Planet Z ( Monster Theatre), Six of One (Studio 58), Neverland Night Circus (Geekenders), Trans Scripts (Zee Zee & Frank Theatre), Alice in Glitterland (Geekenders), Four Play (Studio 58), and Alma (East Van Opera). They love playing with the emotions of lights, and how lighting effects the tone and reality of what is being poured on stage. Playing with the psychology of lighting and colour theory.

Bob is a 3D Artist and Educator who loves to take on interesting and diverse projects whenever he can. He’s worked on children’s books for Disney, Helicopter and Coast Guard training simulators, AAA video games, big budget television shows and films, and more. He is currently an instructor and Program Head at BCIT in the 3D Modeling Art and Animation program and loves that he gets to work with, and be inspired by, the newest batch of 3D artists entering the industry.

African-American bass-baritone Brandon Thornhill is a well-rounded and diverse musician, performer and professional voice actor. He performed the roles of the Sergeant in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Flora’s servant in La Traviata with Vancouver Opera. He has also performed principal roles in Burnaby Lyric Opera’s productions of La Bohème and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He performed the role of Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Fighting Chance Production’s concert production of the musical Ragtime. Brandon co-created/produced Ebony Roots with Sound The Alarm Music Theatre which is a project that celebrates black musicians and the history of African American/Canadian music. Brandon has voiced ads for MLB, the Toronto Raptors, Google and DoorDash among others. He received his Master’s degree in opera at the University of British Columbia and his Bachelor’s degree in music at the University of North Florida. In addition to his voice over work, Brandon performs at retirement residences across the Lower Mainland.

Well-versed in a variety of musical styles, Jen Lewin is a Vancouver-based keyboard player and singer who began her professional career in 2001. A thoughtful, intuitive musician, Jen’s superpower lies in her ability to connect with the folks onstage and off, bringing a sense of camaraderie, playfulness, and joy to every performance no matter the genre or venue. Besides her solo/duo/trio work as a frontperson, you may have heard Jen playing keyboards with the fabulous Nearly Neil and the Solitary Band or with her 8-piece all-star passion project Deep Cutzzz, among others.

Maria Zarrillo is a queer, non-binary, Vancouver-based Arts Manager with a background in producing, stage management, mentorship, advocacy, and research. They have worked with a variety of companies and communities in these capacities both locally and nationally. In addition to their freelance career, Maria was the Managing Producer at the frank theatre and is currently the Interim Managing Director with Rumble. Maria is a graduate of Studio 58’s production program, the University of Winnipeg with a major in Theatre & Film and a minor in Human Rights, and they are wrapping up a Master of Arts in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University.

Anna (she/her) is a stage manager and administrator currently working and living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaɬ Nations. Anna’s recent credits include ‘Lumbar 5, Thoracic 12’ (rEvolver Festival), ‘Sunrise Betties’ (ITSAZOO Productions), ‘The Narrow Bridge’ (Pomerantz Collective), ‘Peace Country’ (RIce&Beans Theatre), Symbiotic, Harvest Moon & Cardinal Point Cabarets (Rumble Theatre), Tremors Festival (Rumble Theatre), ‘Angels Bone’ (Sound The Alarm), Vancouver Fringe and Bard on The Beach. Anna began her career in the UK as an audio technician on the multiple award winning musical ‘TImpson: The Musical!’ (Gigglemug Theatre) at Edinburgh Fringe.

Neelesh Nair is a technical artist and director specializing in motion capture. He has worked at the cutting edge of several industries including video games, VFX, virtual production, VR, AR, live XR productions, and medical technology. Using technoligies like Unreal Engine, projection mapping, LED volumes and motion capture he crafts virtual worlds and immersive experiences. He is always striving to push the boundaries of digital and live production.