PAST SHOWS
Terce: A Practical Breviary
Terce: A Practical Breviary is a radical rethinking of a monastic 9:00 AM mass and an adaptation that reimagines the face of the “Holy Spirit” through the lens of the Divine Feminine. Sung by a community choir of 30-plus caregivers and makers, it is a wild meditation/celebration of the sacred mothers alive in all of […]
January 10 & 11 at 7:30pm, 17*-19, 24-26 30 - Feb 2 at 7pm | January 13, 20, 27, Feb 3 at 9am & 3pm | January 14 & 28, Feb 4 at 3pm | 60 Min
Chornobyldorf
After surviving a series of disasters, the remaining descendants of humanity find themselves in a post-societal world following the death of capitalism, opera, and philosophy. Wandering amongst the ruins of nuclear power plants, abandoned churches, theaters, and galleries, they try to recreate lost civilization through archeological performance-rituals, universal symbols, and signs which are ultimately misinterpreted […]
January 11, 13, 15, 18-20 at 7pm | January 14 & 21 at 2pm | 125 Min
The Promise
“The Promise” is a captivating modern song cycle that explores profound themes of identity, origin, motherhood, and the complexities of human relationships in our modern era. Created by the internationally acclaimed Dutch singer-songwriter Wende in collaboration with the Royal Court Theatre and composed together with renowned English composer Isobel Waller-Bridge, “The Promise” creates a rich […]
January 10, 11, 13 at 9pm | January 13 & 14 at 4pm | 100 min
Angel Island
Between 1910 and 1940, many Chinese immigrants flowed through the immigration station on Angel Island inside San Francisco Bay, facing mass discrimination under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, with few exceptions. With music by acclaimed Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo, Angel Island revisits this chapter of American history with a poignant multimedia experience scored for voices and […]
January 11-13 at 7:30pm | 90 Min
Adoration
Adapted from the original film written and directed by Atom Egoyan, Adoration follows Simon, an orphaned high school student. As part of a dramatic writing exercise, Simon’s teacher encourages him to appropriate details from a historical terrorist attack as an event perpetrated by his parents. When his story goes viral, Simon uses the hysteria within his […]
January 12-13 and 18-20 at 8pm | January 14 at 5pm | 90 Min
Malinxe
Created by Indigenous composers Autumn Chacon (Diné – Navajo/Chicana) and Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache), Malinxe is a contemporary retelling of the myth of La Llorona, or “the weeping woman.” Tracing back to 1550, La Llorona is well-known in American Southwest and Latin American cultures as a vengeful spirit who roams near bodies of water, […]
January 20 at 5:30pm | 30 min
Vodalities, Paradigms of Consciousness for the Human Voice
Vodalities, Paradigms of Consciousness for the Human Voice seeks to illuminate the different modalities of the vocal arts utilized by not only composer and performing artist Shodekeh Talifero, but vocalists all over the world. Composed specifically for Sō Percussion, the two movements focus on the vocal modalities, or “vodalities” of Breath Art, Vocal Percussion, and Beatboxing. […]
January 10-21
Whiteness
A series of chants, rants and songs reflecting the silliness, severity and anxieties of skin color. Performed by a chorus of harmonizing floating heads, Paul Pinto’s funny inner dialogue on self-identification is dizzily designed by Kameron Neal.
Available January 10-21 | 28 min
SWANN
Swann is an digital aria based on the legacy of William Dorsey Swann, a lesser known but crucial historical figure born into slavery in 1860. Swann came to be the first self-identified “queen of drag” in the US. He organized drag balls in Washington, DC in the latter part of the 19th century, and his […]
January 10-21
IN OUR DAUGHTER’S EYES
Told through the perspective of a new father, In Our Daughter’s Eyes shows the journey of the protagonist as he wrestles with truly becoming a man that his daughter would be proud of.
January 5-7, 10*-11 & 13-15
TRADE/MARY MOTORHEAD
A double bill by Emma O’Halloran telling the story of a convicted murderer who invites us to hear her secret history and the life of two men in working-class Dublin, both trapped within their own lives.
January 7 & 13 at 7:30pm, January 8* & 14 at 4pm, January 10-11 at 7pm
MƆɹNIŊ
[MORNING//MOURNING]
An experimental opera inhabits a world in which all humans have disappeared from Earth. An ensemble of five vocalist/multi-instrumentalists witness and guide the audience through the changes on Earth as forests grow back, new species evolve, and the human-made world erodes away.
January 6, 9-14, 17 - 21 at 7:30pm and January 7 at 5pm, and January 22 at 2pm
MARCHITA
After an international tour across the globe, Silvana Estrada summons a new passage for her debut album Marchita in a ritual of melodies that burst from tradition, loss, and love. You will not want to miss this intimate performance by this rising star of the international folk music scene!
January 12-14* at 6pm and 9:30pm
THE ALL SING
“HERE LIES JOY”
In an exuberant cri de coeur, PROTOTYPE will celebrate its 10th anniversary season by bringing communities together through what we know best – the voice. Originally commissioned in direct response to the forced isolation of the pandemic, The All Sing is an ode to song and human connection that brings hundreds of people together in a vibrant tapestry of sound, poetic justice, and hope.
January 8th @ 2pm
NOTE TO A FRIEND
A stunning and haunting monodrama addressing our eternal human fascinations with death, love, family and suicide.
January 12* & 14* at 7:30pm | January 15th at 3pm
UNDINE
A mermaid addicted to plastic disrupts the thoroughly boring lives of a burnt-out female plumber and her neighbour, a lonely philosopher. Can they still ignore the repressed longings that the mermaid has aroused?
Streaming on demand Jan 5 - 15th 2023 | Live Screening followed by Artist conversation January 9th at 6pm
UNDINE (Live Screening)
A mermaid addicted to plastic disrupts the thoroughly boring lives of a burnt-out female plumber and her neighbour, a lonely philosopher. Can they still ignore the repressed longings that the mermaid has aroused?
Live Screening followed by Artist conversation | January 9th at 6pm
Dinner with PROTOTYPE Artists
Take your PROTOTYPE 2023 experience to the next level. Join us in celebration of coming back together, connect to fellow PROTO enthusiasts, learn more about the festival, and meet some of the incredible artists involved in this year’s shows through our special events.
In Our Daughter's Eyes Dinner on January 10 at 6pm
Times3
(Times x Times x Times)
Such strange times call for a new time signature. Is there still time to sit in the center of a city and hear the tide of traffic? To listen for a heartbeat? Composer Pamela Z and theatre artist Geoff Sobelle collaborate on a site-specific sonic journey through Times Square – past, present and imagined… In this work of sound and space, the listener is brought into a realm where the city and score come together and fall apart and come together again.
Extended through February 1, 2022, available for download | Access from home or Times Square
MODULATION
As our society continues in a form of suspended animation, we look to art to open new avenues of thought, imagination, wonder, and reckoning. MODULATION is a digital, self-guided exploration of the times created by thirteen of the most provocative and diverse voices in the contemporary music idiom. Traveling through themes of ISOLATION, IDENTITY, and FEAR, with the connection of BREATH, an electrifying auditory and visual journey of new creations awaits.
Extended and streaming through June 30
Ocean Body
Ocean Body immerses its audience in a landscape of sculpture, multiple video diptychs, and sound utilizing parallel imagery and music to examine the efficacy of interracial coalitions and the sometimes tenuous connection of friendship. A layered invitation to commune even as we crave autonomy, even as we are stuck in fear.
Jan 9-16
The Murder of Halit Yozgat
21-year-old Halit Yozgat was assassinated in broad daylight, in his family’s internet cafe on April 6, 2006 in Kassel, Germany. Five witnesses were present in the 77 square metre space when Halit was shot twice in the head. With his unconventional combination of sound art, electronic music, and dark metal, Frost brings a performance in which a sound nobody heard irrevocably ties all of those present together.
Launches January 10 at 12pm ET | Available to stream January 10-16
The Planet – A Lament
A destroyed community struggles in the aftermath of a devastating tsunami. With an alchemical mix of striking cinematics, haunting song, wild dance, and ancient ritual, Nugroho’s The Planet – A Lament imparts a moving story of creation set against the backdrop of environmental disaster.
Launches January 10 at 12pm ET | Available to stream January 10-16
Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists
Conjuring an ethereal and visceral world of cyclic metamorphosis, Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists tracks the stages of sleep and pairs them with the life cycle of Lepidopterae (butterflies and moths), lulling the audience into a cocoon where the borders between dreams and reality are blurred.
Launches January 10 at 12pm ET | Available to stream January 10-16
Exclusive MODULATION Launch Event
Ever wonder what it takes to make a large scale, interactive, digital world premiere opera? Now is your chance to find out! Join us for the opening night of MODULATION and the 2021 PROTOTYPE Festival with this exclusive behind the scenes event. Enjoy MODULATION like never before with an expanded artistic experience, the premiere of […]
January 8th following the 8pm premiere of MODULATION
Ellen West
Inspired by one of the earliest cases of existential analysis, ELLEN WEST is a remarkable new opera that explores the emotional, psychological, and physical challenges of a woman struggling with perceptions of her body, her relationship with food, and the world closing in around her. PC: Maria Baranova
January 14*, 15, 17 & 18 at 8pm | January 19 at 3pm
Blood Moon
A poetic, opera-theatre piece for three characters who reckon with the past on the night of a full moon. It is a meditation on the end of life, the nature of joy, regret, and whether atonement is possible. PC: Maria Baranova
January 9, 12, 15–17 at 7:30pm | January 11 at 2pm
Magdalene
A meditation on transformation and desire scored by the collective voices of fourteen women. The opera invites the audience into the interior life of a woman seeking to heal the split between the sacred and the sexual. Mary Magdalene becomes the mask she wears, a reminder that our voices are never alone, but always echoed by a chorus of women from history. PC: Maria Baranova
January 11, 13, 15, 17 at 7:30pm | January 12 at 4pm | January 16 at 6:30pm
Iron & Coal
Leading a 200-person ensemble, composer Jeremy Schonfeld searches for answers and meaning in his relationship with his father, an Auschwitz survivor, following his death. This multi-media concert celebrates the indomitable spirit of our ancestors and the legacy we carry with us. PC: Maria Baranova
January 10, 11 at 8pm
Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro
Set in a graveyard filled with cries of mourning and the poignant music of South African Isicathamiya singers, CION vividly elicits emotions associated with death. Physically charged and visually striking, the work draws inspiration from Zakes Mda’s novel CION and Ravel’s BOLÉRO. PC: John Hogg
January 15 at 7:30pm | January 16-18 at 8pm | January 18 at 2pm
REV. 23
Lauded as an “an endlessly unfolding chain of highly controlled polystylism” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Julian Wachner’s REV. 23 is an exploration of an “unpublished” new chapter of the Book of Revelation. With an audacious libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs, this new striking production by director James Darrah takes us on a fantastical journey through the myths of our collective unconscious.
January 17 & 18 at 8pm | January 18 at 3pm
p r i s m
p r i s m is a haunting, kaleidoscopic new work of opera-theatre by Ellen Reid & Roxie Perkins that traverses the elasticity of reality through the eyes of an ill girl. Photo credit: Maria Baranova.
January 6, 7, 9-12 at 7:30PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 10
4.48 Psychosis
Straight from the Royal Opera’s sold out run comes the US premiere of a hard-hitting work of opera-theatre. This adaptation of the astonishing final play by Sarah Kane explores a search for love and happiness amidst a struggle with clinical depression and psychosis. Philip Venables’ acclaimed operatic adaptation brings new resonance to the last creative utterances of one of the most courageous British writers of her generation. Photo credit: Paula Court.
January 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, & 12 at 8PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 11
ThisTree
ThisTree weaves autobiographical storytelling, 8 mm home movies, and Coloff’s signature blend of blues, rock and non-traditional cello playing and singing, supported by an all-female band, to investigate the vantage point of being the last branch on the family tree. Photo credit: Paula Lobo.
January 6 at 4PM | 7, 8, & 10–12 at 7:30PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 6
The Infinite Hotel
The Infinite Hotel invites its audience to step inside an elaborate movie making machine. The piece follows five strangers unknowingly co-composing music together over space and time, exploring themes of human interrelatedness and artistic visibility in a profoundly technological culture. Photo credit: Will O’Hare.
January 5 & 12 at 5PM and 9PM | January 7-11 at 7:30PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 11
Pancho Villa From A Safe Distance
A bilingual cross-border opera about Pancho Villa, the enigmatic general, legendary bandit, and hero of the Mexican Revolution. The piece provides a timely lens into the relationships and overlaps between the communities of Mexico, the United States, and the borderlands. Photo credit: Alex Marks.
January 5, 7, 8 at 7:30PM | January 6 at 2PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 7
Train With No Midnight
Singer and writer Joseph Keckler and an intimate musical ensemble lead the audience through a series of vignettes, each like a stop on a late-night train. The text dances between comedy, commentary and communion with a score of smoky pop songs, propulsive invocations, and leaps into the operatic realm. Photo credit: Paula Lobo.
January 5, 7, 8, & 10–12 at 9:30PM | January 6 & 13 at 6PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 7
Stinney: An American Execution
Based on the uncontested execution of a fourteen year old black boy in South Carolina in 1944, Stinney: An American Execution examines the small-town fear that exists through racial and social divides and their terrifying consequences. Artwork by William Roller.
January 12 at 5PM | January 13 at 3PM
Mila, Great Sorcerer
In this timeless tale, melding western and Eastern sounds, Mila wields black magic vengeance with fatal consequences. His journey to self-acceptance and spiritual transformation has provided guidance to Tibet for a thousand years. Photo credit: Paula Court.
January 12 & 13 at 1PM | Post-show conversation on Jan 12
The Little Death: Vol. 1
One night only tribute to Matt Marks featuring his music-theatre work, The Little Death: Vol. 1. Photo credit: Maria Baranova.
January 8 at 8:30pm
of time and place
Trinity presents a concert of premieres that embody specific times and places in 19th- 21st century America, embracing forgotten histories, and exploring what has been lost for the sake of ‘progress.’ Works by David T. Little and Ellen Reid. Image by Nalena Kumar.
January 8 at 6PM
PROTOTYPE: Out of Bounds
PROTOTYPE presents its third iteration of Out of Bounds, a platform for new vocal performance pieces taking place in unlikely locations throughout New York. Original image by Michael Grimm.
January 7 at 4pm and 7pm | Free Admission
Festival Soirée
“PROTOTYPE…has gained major recognition as a collection of “can’t-miss” events” (Classical Music Communications). Join the party at the Festival’s annual Soirée — an unforgettable evening celebrating the artists who’ve led us over six groundbreaking years. Throw back a glass, mingle with the talent, and join us for an intimate evening on the Hudson River at […]
January 9 at 6:30PM
Fellow Travelers
Fellow Travelers is an extraordinary personal journey through the intriguing, gut-wrenching world of the 1950s American witch-hunts, its deceits and betrayals, and the often-overlooked “Lavender Scare.”
January 12 & 13, 2018
Acquanetta
In Acquanetta, the spirit of 1940s horror movies is turned inside out in a bravura, one-act deconstruction of the genre that explores how vision relates to identity.
January 9-13, 2018
The Echo Drift
Convicted murderer Walker Loats must choose between serving her time in solitary and taking a shortcut to rig the game in her favor. The Echo Drift explores the freewheeling nature of the mind when it is robbed of external stimuli.
January 10, 12 – 13, 18 – 20, 2018
Black Inscription
With three veteran creators drawing on the most powerful aspects of rock, classical, and pop music, Black Inscription is a multimedia contemporary song cycle that plunges into the earth’s final frontier and exposes our ever-changing grasp of it.
January 11-13 and 17-20, 2018
IYOV
An extraordinary Ukrainian opera named for the Hebrew word for Job, IYOV blends an emotional journey, the birth of a new sound, and the endless possibilities of the human voice.
January 15-16 and 18-20, 2018
Secrets
Secrets conveys anonymous testimonies from audiences concerning life, love, and death. The sung, whispered, or projected passages will be recognizable for the ‘authors’ of the secrets, while transcending the individual experience with their deeply human, universal dimension.
January 13 & 14, 2018
Stranger Love
Stranger Love is a love story and the story of love, unfolding to the rhythm of the seasons. Set against the ever-expanding universe, the opera unfolds on vast time-scale in a grand celebration of life itself.
January 16 & 17, 2018
Out of Bounds 2018
PROTOTYPE’s second iteration of Out of Bounds, a series of short, free performances of new works in public spaces.
January 11, 14, 18, 19, 2018
anatomy theater
Darkly humorous, anatomy theater follows the progression of an English murderess from her confession to execution, to denouncement, and finally to dissection, including an anatomy lesson for curious onlookers.
January 7, 8, and 10-14, 2017
Breaking the Waves
Breaking the Waves tells the story of Bess, a religious woman, whose marital vows are tested when her husband is paralyzed in an offshore oil rig accident. As this psychological drama unfolds, Bess’s unrelenting selflessness escalates towards a devastating finale.
January 6, 7 & 9, 2017
Mata Hari
Mata Hari is a hybrid opera-theatre piece inspired by the legendary and controversial female mystic dancer Mata Hari, who was executed for espionage during World War One.
January 5-8 and 11-14, 2017
Silent Voices
A multi-media stage work by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus celebrating the power of youth to inspire change and give voice to the marginalized and silenced. With commissioned music by Sahba Aminikia, Jeff Beal, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Shara Nova, Toshi Reagon, & DJ Spooky
January 14 & 15, 2017
Funeral Doom Spiritual
Drawing on themes of apocalypse, end times, and rapture found in Negro Spirituals, this new music-theatre work exhumes legacies of racial violence while longing for the forthcoming destruction of the white supremacy world.
January 13 & 14, 2017
Rev. 23
Rev. 23, the hitherto unpublished last chapter of the Book of Revelation, narrates the battle to recapture Paradise-on-Earth and restore the balance of good and evil. It’s Lucifer v. Archangel Michael. No one is exempt from this battle.
January 14, 2017
Secondary Dominance
A musical assemblage composed by multi-genre artist Sarah Small (creator of The Delirium Constructions) synthesizes genres from Balkan folk to contemporary chamber, industrial, renaissance, rock, rap, and punk in lush Tableaux and synchronized movement.
January 6, 7, and 11-14, 2017
Out of Bounds 2017
A series of short, free performances of new works in public spaces.
January 5-7, 9, 11 & 12, 2017
Angel’s Bone
Angel’s Bone follows the plight of two angels whose nostalgia for earthly delights has, mysteriously, brought them back to our world. This world premiere work of opera-theatre explores the dark effects and motivations behind modern-day slavery and the trafficking industry.
Jan 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, & 17, 2016
Dog Days
Dog Days is a work of contemporary opera-theatre that investigates the psychology of a working class American family pitted against a not-so-distant-future wartime scenario. Dog Days explores the ultimate struggle of humanity—stuck between nature’s indifference and society’s barely restrained brutality.
January 9-11, 2016
The Good Swimmer
Part requiem, part lifesaving drill, The Good Swimmer is a new music-theatre piece set entirely on a surf beach. The piece translates the kinship relationships of a Greek tragedy to a family of lifeguards during the early days of the Vietnam War.
January 7–10 & 12–17, 2016
The Last Hotel
A woman meets a couple in a hotel parking lot. All three are nervous. They have come to seal a pact. Walsh’s fifth American Premiere at St. Ann’s, The Last Hotel reunites the creators of Misterman (with Cillian Murphy) and arrives after engagements at the Royal Opera House, Edinburgh International and Dublin Theatre Festivals.
January 8-10, 12, 15-17, 2016
Saga
Sága is a theatrical song cycle, which deals with “homecoming” as its main theme. Sága tells stories about the soul and goes in search of their love for the land, a home, and the world in which they live. The songs emanate from the continuous search for ideal geographical and spiritual surroundings.
January 9 & 10, 2016
Bombay Rickey
Bombay Rickey is a five-piece, Brooklyn-based band that plays both covers and original music that borrow equally from the worlds of surf rock, cumbia, spaghetti Westerns, and Bollywood, balanced out with a “little” coloratura soprano. Their new work explores the life of Peruvian singer Yma Sumac.
January 8, 9 and 15, 16, 2016
La Reina
La Reina is an electro-acoustic opera with text in Spanish and English. Drawing its narrative from the drug trade in Mexico and the United States, the opera is inspired by some of the most vivid real-life players in this increasingly violent war from the past and present.
January 17, 2016
The Scarlet Ibis
Inspired by the 1960 short story by James Hurst, The Scarlet Ibis is a new American opera that explores the pain and wonder of childhood. With music by composer Stefan Weisman, libretto by David Cote and direction by Mallory Catlett, the piece fuses singers, puppets and nimble, multimedia stagecraft to evoke a primal, dreamlike landscape where two brothers struggle over the meaning of normal.
January 8-11, 13-14, 16-17, 2015
Kansas City Choir Boy
Kansas City Choir Boy is a theatricalized concept album about explosive young love tested by cruel fate, told in a series of mysterious flashbacks. Kansas City Choir Boy is epic and romantic, a love-story for the music-video age and a love-child of the 24-hour news cycle that feeds on the stories of the anonymous “missing.”
January 8-12, and 14-17, 2015
Toxic Psalms
Vocal theatre company Carmina Slovenica, world renowned for its unconventional choral storytelling with superb singing, drama, and movement, brings its unique “choregie” concept to New York City for Toxic Psalms. Led by internationally acclaimed conductor Karmina Šilec, the troupe creates a highly theatrical and visceral experience through vocal music that is both unexpected and provocative.
January 8-11, 2015
Sunken Cathedral
TED fellow, Korean-American composer, and sonic surrealist Bora Yoon, fuses voice, electronics, and instruments from various cultures and centuries with evocative video design to create Sunken Cathedral, a multimedia performance tracing a musical and archetypal journey through the subconscious.
January 14-17, 2015
Winter’s Child
On the eve of her fifteenth birthday, Child is visited by the ghosts of her three older sisters. She is forced to confront her family’s past, her hunger for a future, and a bargain her Mama made long before her birth. Set in a Southern gothic landscape, Winter’s Child is a world of rough earth, quiet prayer, and a mother’s fight to change her youngest daughter’s fate.
January 13 & 14, 2015
Aging Magician
A workshop presentation of a new music-theatre work, Aging Magician is a composite of sonic and visual elements that paints an allegory on time, youth, and the peculiar magic of ordinary life, and, perhaps, the ordinary magic of a peculiar life.
January 11 & 13, 2015
Thumbprint
An illiterate woman is gang-raped as retribution for an ‘honor crime’ her brother allegedly committed. She doesn’t surrender. She becomes the first woman in Pakistan to bring her attackers to justice. Her name is Mukhtar. With a score influenced by traditional Hindustani and Western classical music, Thumbprint, the contemporary opera-theatre work by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz, follows Mukhtar’s human rights crusade along a road she must walk and pave at the same time. Through acts of courage that astonish even her, Mukhtar is transformed, and so is the world that watches.
January 11-18, 2014
Have A Good Day!
This opera by Lithuanian composer Lina Lapelytė, librettist Vaiva Grainytė and director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė is set around the inner lives of cashiers in a shopping center and looks at everything that lies behind the mechanical ‘Good afternoon. Thank you. Have a good day!’, followed by a smile. The faceless, robot-like shop workers found in everyday life are transformed into striking opera characters; their secret thoughts and biographies are turned into short, personal dramas.
January 15-19, 2014
Paul’s Case
Subsisting in grimy turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh, a misfit high school boy finds an escape. Swept up by dreams of a more glamorous world, his flight and ultimate dissolution are chronicled in Paul’s Case. With music that draws on new and old styles—post-minimal and baroque—composer Gregory Spears and playwright Kathryn Walat’s poignant chamber opera traces Paul’s voyage from his repressive surroundings to New York City’s lavish Waldorf Astoria Hotel. A timeless story with a gripping climax, Paul’s Case reveals one young man’s destructive blend of defiance and fragility.
January 8-13, 2014
Visitations: “Theotokia” and “The War Reporter”
Gradual and insidious, auditory hallucinations warp minds with “loud thoughts,” that often deceive, derange, and force sufferers into a world of crippling paranoia. Visitations, the New York premiere of the double-bill, semi-staged multi-media concert of one-act chamber operas by composer Jonathan Berger and librettist Dan O’Brien unravels the phenomenon. In Theotokia, penetrate the consciousness of a man who, assailed by hallucinatory voices, is taunted and seduced by the mother of God. Uncover the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning combat journalist Paul Watson in The War Reporter, where he seeks to stifle the haunting voice of an American soldier whose corpse he photographed in the streets of Mogadishu.
January 11-13, 2014
Angel’s Bone
Angel’s Bone follows the plight of two fallen angels whose nostalgia for earthly delights finds them far from heaven. They are found battered and bruised by a man and his wife, known only as Mr. and Mrs. X.E., who have longed for a better life than their modest middle-class status and bring them into their home and set out to nurse them back to health: they bathe them, wash the dirt from their nails … then lock them in the root cellar and decide that this is their chance to be wealthy and legendary. The story is told through Royce Vavrek’s riveting libretto and Du Yun’s eclectic music: part chamber music, theatre, pop music, opera, cabaret, and involving visual arts and noise, forming a harmonious and moving piece.
January 12 & 15, 2014
Sky-Pony
Sky-Pony is all about exploring (and pushing) the boundary between rock concert and theatrical event. All of its members have backgrounds in both music and performance, and the band reflects these joint obsessions — often combining them with cheekily philosophical lyrics. We believe that in this age of home theaters and instantly-downloadable entertainment, live art can and should provide an experience that’s uniquely engrossing and surprising. That’s what we endeavor to serve up. We can guarantee a rocking good time — and we’ll do our very best to blow your mind.
January 10-13, 2014
Sumeida’s Song
The World Premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s opera Sumeida’s Song on the HERE Main Stage for PROTOTYPE will be the first Arab-American opera to be fully produced on an American stage. Based on the classic play by the well-regarded playwright Tawfiq El-Hakim, the opera follows the return of a young man to his Egyptian peasant village in an attempt to break its never-ending cycle of violence.
January 9-11, 13-15, 2013
Soldier Songs
PROTOTYPE’s New York Premiere of Soldier Songs is an evening-length multimedia event from composer David T. Little co-presented by PACE Presents at the MIchael Schimmel Center. Soldier Songs combines elements of theater, opera, rock-infused concert music, and animation to explore the perceptions versus the realities of a soldier, the exploration of loss and exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of expressing the truth of war.
January 11-13 & 16-18, 2013
Bluebeard
33 1/3 Collective’s Bluebeard was first viewed by PROTOTYPE producers at Operadagen Rotterdam. As PROTOTYPE’s first International work, Bluebeard (Zwolle, Netherlands), will make its North American Premiere in a co-presentation with 3LD Art & Technology Center. The basics of a classical theatrical setup are shifted with virtual, multilayered, and enigmatic spaces visualized with a mysterious soundtrack.
January 10-13, 2013
Timur and the Dime Museum
The dark glam opera band Timur and the Dime Museum presents a galactic multimedia show for the first time on the East Coast in HERE’s intimate Dorothy B. Williams Theatre. Fusing avant-garde, pop & vaudeville sounds, Timur and the Dime Museum creates a rich amalgam of sensibilities with Bjork fierceness, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins theatricality.
January 10-12, 2013
Aging Magician
Paola Prestini specializes in works that transcend disciplinary boundaries. In Aging Magician, presented as a work in progress at PROTOTYPE, Julian Crouch, Paola Prestini and Rinde Eckert create an integrated tale spun from musings on life and death, failed and imagined loves, and attempts at greatness. Through these discoveries an aging magician is placed on the boat ride of his life.
January 15-16, 2013