[Cwgrad-announcements] Fwd: Casting for a Jazz Opera in Poems Concert Reading at ALOUD

[Ching-In Chen]

pls forward to anyone you think might be right & interested.

*----*

*EMBERS: A jazz opera in poems*

Composer: David Ornette Cherry

Libretto: Terry Wolverton

Directed by Rose Marcario**

*EMBERS *includes thirty-two poems; fifteen are songs, and an additional ten
are spoken over a musical track.  The final seven are spoken without
accompaniment.

*CASTING NOTICE FOR A CONCERT READING, JANUARY 21, 2009
*at the aloud series, Central library, 630 West Fifth Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90071**

*Auditions:*

Friday, November 14, 2008, 2-7 p.m. at (TBD)

*Call Backs:*

Friday, November 21, 2008, 2-7 p.m. at (TBD)**

*T**hree rehearsals: *

Saturday, December 13, 2008, 2-6 p.m. at the Village,
1125 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Saturday, January 10, 2009, 2-7 p.m. at the Village,
1125 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 4-6 p.m. at the Central Library,
630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
(run-through and tech prior to that evening's performance)

* *

*Casting**:*
CALCUTTA is deceased; died at age 52, but is ageless now.  She's an
angel.  She's
African-American, a former prostitute who knew Marie from those days.  She
wants to help Marie get out of Purgatory and is willing to break the rules
to accomplish this.  CONTRALTO OR MEZZO-SOPRANO

*BRYN* is a white female boxer whose made a reputation for herself as
Blazin' Bryn.  At age 43, she's being pressured to retire, but she refuses.
Fighting is all she knows.  Currently living in Los Angeles, she hails from
Detroit.  Though she's cut all ties to her past and to her family, she does
credit her harsh upbringing with honing her fighting spirit, her ability to
take and give punishment.  NOT A SINGING ROLE BUT MUST FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH
DELIVERING POETRY.

*MARIE* is Bryn's grandmother (mother of Bryn's stepfather).  After a brutal
life that included teenage prostitution and decades in and out of mental
hospitals, she died at age 77.  Her soul is languishing in Purgatory; the
only possibility of release is to find someone to pray for her.
MEZZO-SOPRANO

*LUCIA *is Bryn's sometime girlfriend.  She's ten years younger than Bryn,
comes from a Catholic background.  She adores Bryn but hates the toll boxing
is taking on her.  SOPRANO

*Costumes may come from the performers' personal wardrobes; if not, the
production will provide whatever's needed.*

*A $100 honorarium will be paid to each performer.*

* *

*Contact Terry Wolverton consulther at aol.com*
*

*

*EMBERS*

*a jazz opera in poems*

*libretto by Terry Wolverton*

*score by David Ornette Cherry*

* *

*EMBERS* is a new, original experimental opera about forgiveness and
redemption.  Drawing from influences as diverse as classical Greek drama,
contemporary performance art and spoken word, the story follows three women
intertwined by destiny and their link to the blasted, feisty city of
Detroit.

            CALCUTTA is an angel now, but once she was a prostitute on the
streets of Detroit.  She finds her old friend MARIE, whom she once mentored
as a lady of the night, stuck in Purgatory, unable to free her soul.  MARIE
asks, "How come you're an angel and I'm locked up in here?" and CALCUTTA
tells her, "'Cuz I never felt guilty 'bout what I did."

            MARIE's circumstance is becoming dire, because thirty years is
the maximum time one can spend in Purgatory, and any unredeemed souls will
go to Hell for eternity.  CALCUTTA beseeches MARIE, "Isn't there anyone who
can pray for you?"

            Her husbands and her sons are dead.  Her grandchildren would
never do it.  Then she remembers the stepdaughter of her oldest son.  She'd
always seen BRENDA as a kindred spirit.  CALCUTTA pledges to find the girl
and convince her to offer the necessary prayers to save her grandmother.

            CALCUTTA finds the granddaughter, only to learn she has changed
her name to BRYN and has become a professional boxer.  BRYN wants nothing to
do with her past, her family, or God.  She dismisses MARIE as "crazy."  BRYN,
past forty, is primarily concerned with the diminution of her fighting
powers.  She's focused on her next fight—a make-it-or-break-it match against
a much younger contender.

            As time runs out for MARIE's salvation, CALCUTTA transports BRYN
back in time to Detroit, circa 1919, to show her the circumstances of
MARIE's life in hopes of awakening BRYN's empathy.  MARIE faced abandonment
as an adolescent, prostitution for survival, ex-communication from the
Catholic Church, and incarceration in a mental institution after she burned
down her own house when she believed her husband unfaithful.

When her attempt to persuade BRYN is unsuccessful, CALCUTTA forces her to
look at her own history and how it has shaped her life.  Still, BRYN will
not yield.  "Fighting is the only thing I know how to do," she insists, "If
I can't fight, I'm dead."

            Then BRYN suggests a deal: If CALCUTTA will help her win this
match, she'll "say a prayer for the old bitch."  Choosing her words
carefully, CALCUTTA agrees to "help win your fight."

            BRYN's match is a disaster.  The younger boxer goes after her
relentlessly and eventually knocks BRYN out.  While she is unconscious, she
revisits the 1967 riots, a time in which people burned down parts of their
own city in their rage and frustration at racism.

            BRYN is badly hurt in the fight, but more, she's despondent.  She
can't imagine how to live any other way.  She contemplates suicide, but
CALCUTTA interrupts.  BRYN blames her for losing the match, claims she'll
never help MARIE now, but CALCUTTA insists she didn't go back on her
word.  "The
fight is for your life."

            She tells BRYN that her fighting spirit comes from MARIE, and
suggests that by opening her heart to save her grandmother, BRYN will in
fact save herself.  Finally, BRYN agrees.

            CALCUTTA brings her to Purgatory, and BRYN offers a prayer for
her grandmother.  It's enough; MARIE is released from Purgatory.  The two
embrace.

            The piece closes with a coda, an anthem for Detroit, "a city
dismantling itself."
*
*

*EMBERS* takes place in three distinct locations and time periods:

• a gym/boxing arena in present day Los Angeles;

• Purgatory, a timeless realm which also doubles as the mental hospital;

• historical Detroit (1919-1970).

At times one or more of these environments will predominate—on some
occasions action will take place in more than one simultaneously.  Characters
may address one another from one environment to another.  The piece is
performed without intermission.



*Characters**:*
CALCUTTA is deceased; died at age 52, but is ageless now.  She's
African-American, a former prostitute. She's an angel now in hot pants and
lamé.

*BRYN, *43, is a white female boxer whose made a reputation for herself as
Blazin' Bryn.

*MARIE, *white and also deceased, is ravaged by a brutal life that included
teenage prostitution and decades in and out of mental hospitals. She died at
age 77.

*LUCIA *is Bryn's sometime girlfriend.  She's 33, and Latina.

*THE CUSTOMER* — 40s, white, 12-year-old Marie's first prostitution client.

*The BARTENDER *— Thirties, white, he marries 14-year-old pregnant Marie out
of pity; he feels bitter and ill-used after she leaves him.

*RICHARD *— White, Marie's second child; his father is the bartender.  She
abandons him when she leaves his father.  We see him at age 10.

*ARTHUR* — White, Marie's oldest son and Bryn's stepfather.  We see him at
age 10.

*ADOLPH *—White, Marie's second husband.  He gave up a promising future to
be with her, and over time it wears on him.  We see him in his early 20s and
late 50s.

*DANCERS/RIOTERS:*

*            RIOTER *— African-American man in his early twenties

            *ARSONIST* — African-American man in his mid-twenties

            *SNIPER* — African-American man in his thirties

            *NATIONAL GUARD* — White man in his late twenties

*RECORDED VOICES:*

*ANNOUNCER #1*— White man in his 40s

*ANNOUNCER #2 *— White man in his 50s

*POLICE DISPATCHER* — African-American woman in her 40s



*EMBERS *includes thirty-two poems; fifteen are songs, and an additional ten
are spoken over a musical track.  The final seven are spoken without
accompaniment.**



-- 
~~~~~
Ching-In Chen
THE HEART'S TRAFFIC (Arktoi Books/Red Hen Press forthcoming 2009)
www.redhen.org/arktoi.asp
www.chinginchen.com
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