Samuel for HEARTBEAT Opera
Rarely performed in the US, yet shockingly contemporary – Weber’s Der Freischütz, written at the onset of industrialization in Germany, asks us probing questions about our present moment: What is our deal with the devil? Just because we can do something, should we? And do we, like Max, ever forget to ask about the hidden costs for our ‘miraculous solutions’? Heartbeat’s production re-envisions Weber’s Bohemian village as an American small town, complete with a town sheriff, pervasive gun culture, sadistic bullying of the “unmanly” Max, and an Iraq Veteran who brings the stench of war back into his community.
In our radical take on the famous Wolf Canyon scene, the act of casting seven magic bullets opens the door not only to Max’s own repressed demons, but to the horrors of the American cultural unconscious. The sound of the band will devolve and decay into an electronic “sound of evil”, and in a collaboration unprecedented for Heartbeat, Daniel Schlosberg, Will Gardiner, Chloe Treat and I are scoring the scene beat by beat to chronicle Max’s encounter with the face of evil. Sung in German, with newly translated English dialogues, and featuring electronics and a Butoh dancer, Heartbeat’s adaptation will explore the question of how the inheritance of rigid norms of masculinity, combined with gun culture, creates a combustible ground for sudden violence – in a staging that takes our audience on a visceral journey deep into the midnight forest…
CAST
Performing on Even Dates
Derrell Acon // Kaspar
Summer Hassan // Agathe
Ian Koziara // Max
Jana McIntyre // Ännchen
Performing on Odd Dates
Daniel Klein // Kaspar
Katherine Whyte // Agathe
Casey Candebat // Max
Nicole Haslett // Ännchen
Performing on all Dates
Eric Delagrange // Hermit
Quentin Oliver Lee // Kilian/Ottokar
Kevin McGuire // Kuno
Azumi O E // Samiel
Chorus
Philip Bullock, Michael Celentano, Emilia Donato, Cory Gross, Jessica Harika, Claire Leyden, Patrick Lord-Remmert, Anthony McGlaun, and Siobahn Sung
PRODUCTION
Louisa Proske // Director/Adaptor
Chloe Treat // Director
Rick Sordelet // Fight Director
Daniel Schlosberg // Music Direction and New Arrangements
Michaël Attias and Louisa Proske // New English Dialogue
Concertmaster // Jacob Ashworth
Sara Brown // Scenic Design
Beth Goldenberg // Costume Design
Oliver Wason // Lighting Design
Will Gardiner // Electronics
Corinne Gologursky // Props Design
Amanda Quaid // Speech Coach (English Dialogues)
Wolf Canyon scene collaboratively re-composed by Will Gardiner and Daniel Schlosberg