''The Stonewall Operas'', are a series of four mini-

operas Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a li ...

inspired by the 50th anniversary of the 1969

Stonewall Riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

, the spark of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, which had their world premiere in May 2019 at New York University's Shubert Theatre and the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn (also known as Stonewall) is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to th ...

, as part of the June, 2019

Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was a series of LGBTQ events and celebrations in June 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was also the first time WorldPride was held in the United States. Held primarily in the ...

celebrations, and the 2019 New York Opera Fest, a two-month celebration of the art form. The operas capped NYU's "Stonewall at 50", a series of events commemorating the riots and legacy. They are the fourth collaboration between American Opera Projects (AOP), and the Advanced Opera Lab at NYU Tisch School of the Arts' Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program where emerging opera writers create projects on historical New York City locations. Previous projects were produced about Brooklyn's

Fort Greene Park Fort Greene Park is a city-owned and -operated park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The park was originally named after the fort formerly located there, Fort Putnam, itself was named for Rufus Putnam, George Washington's chief of engineers in t ...

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

's feminist piece ''

The Dinner Party ''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by American feminist artist Judy Chicago. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women. Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor of Aquitaine, ...

'', on permanent display at The Brooklyn Museum, and New York City's International House. The operas were performed by professional

opera singers Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

from AOP, directed by students from The New School's College of Performing Arts,

choreographed Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer creates choreographies thr ...

by students from the Dance Department, and designed by students from Tisch's Design Department. The four operas were: * ''Outside'', music by Bryan Blaskie,

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by Seth Christenfeld, directed by Francisco Rivera Rodriguez * ''The Pomada Inn'', music by Brian Cavanagh-Strong, libretto by Ben Bonnema, directed by Sam Helfrich * ''The Community'', music by Kevin Cummines, libretto by Shoshana Greenberg, directed by I-Chen Wang * ''Nightlife'', music by TJ Rubin, libretto by Deepali Gupta, directed by Nina Fry ''Outside'' and ''Nightlife'' are based on the Stonewall Riots themselves, while ''Pomada Inn'' follows two stories in present-day

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and New York City, and ''The Community'' takes place 400 years in the future, in a "

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

2418".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stonewall Operas, The LGBTQ-related operas 2019 operas Operas set in the 20th century Operas set in the United States Operas