Announcing the Final Production of our 2021-2022 Season
Following a triumphant return to live performance in fall 2021 with their "impressive" co-premiere of Death of Ivan Ilych, Thompson Street Opera Company finally brings their rescheduled double bill to audiences. These two 30-minute works both explore the most mystifying frontier in existence: the human mind.
THE KAMIKAZE MIND, by Australian composer Nicole Murphy, adapted from the eponymous novel by Richard James Allen, is about a man who has fallen into a black hole experiencing his final moments as an intimate conversation between three parts of himself. This poignant story of love, regret, and longing for wholeness is delivered through lyrical music and stylized movement, co-created with dancer/choreographer Natalie Elizabeth. Following an intermission is the world premiere of WOULD YOU EAT ME? with music and libretto by Joshua Brown. This absurd-yet-heartwarming comedy follows the protagonist as she tries to make a “simple” recipe by following one of her celebrity-chef mother’s YouTube videos, which quickly devolves into a disaster of hilarious proportions.
At the helm of this production is company Executive & Artistic Director Claire DiVizio, whose affinity for making the philosophical speak to the absurd was last seen in 2019’s run of The Hat//The Man Who Woke Up, which Chicago Classical Review called “fresh-faced…trippy…[and] consistently solid”. Holding the baton is guest conductor Jennifer Huang, making her debut with the company before returning to her post as Assistant Conductor of the Northwestern University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. The small cast (of all company debuts) is packed with talent. Appearing in both works are baritone Samuel James Dewese and soprano Olivia Doig-Skaff; Dewese commands the stage in The Kamikaze Mind as the central figure of “I”, and provides a delicious surprise as “Dish” in Would You Eat Me. Doig-Skaff’s two roles run the gamut of theatrical expression, appearing as the longed-for love and idealized self in Murphy’s work before her show-stopping turn in Brown’s opera as the protagonist’s celebrity-chef mother. Acting as a foil to Doig-Skaff in The Kamikaze Mind is tenor Jonathan Cebreros, whose powerful voice and stage presence carry the joint role of “the other man” and the impulsive, thrill-seeking self. Finally, starring in Would You Eat Me? is Chicago transplant, mezzo-soprano Hailey Cohen, whose loveable and genuine performance as “K” gives the audience no choice but to identify with her.
Making theatrical magic onstage and off are company costume designer Sarah Thompson Johansen, Jeff-Award-winning lighting designer Cat Davis, and stage manager Paige Dirkes-Jacks.
The Kamikaze Mind//Would You Eat Me? plays July 28th, 29th, & 30th at 8:00pm and July 31st at 3:00pm at PrideArts (4139 N Broadway). Tickets are available at www.eventbrite.com for $15-30; contact the company for discount codes.