Prototype: Opera | Theatre | NOW 2024

January 10 – 21, 2024

Following is the official press release:

(New York, NY) – July 12, 2022 – The 10th Anniversary PROTOTYPE: Opera | Theatre | Now season will resume January 5 – 15, 2023 after it was postponed due to the ongoing pandemic. Three of the original pieces scheduled for the 2022 festival were subsequently presented as standalone shows which includes Taylor Mac’s        e Hang from January 20 – March 6, 2022, produced by HERE;

Huang Ruo’s Book of Mountains & Seas from March 15 – 20, 2022, produced by Beth Morrison Projects; Grace Galu and Baba Israel’s Cannabis: A Viper Vaudeville from July 14 – 31, 2022 produced by HERE.

The works that will be presented during the festival’s tenth anniversary now include the double bill presentation of Trade/Mary Motorhead by Emma O’Halloran, mɔsːnɪŋ by Gelsey Bell, In Our Daughter’s Eyes by Du Yun, e All Sing: Here Lies Joy by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). The international works in this year’s festival include Marchita by Silvana Estrada, note to a friend by David Lang, commissioned by Japan Society (and co-produced by Japan Society and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan), and animated opera Undine by Stefanie Janssen & Michaël Brijs.

The PROTOTYPE Festival continues its 10th anniversary with its founding directors Kristin Marting and Beth Morrison; former co-director Jecca Barry continues as a co-curator this season.

Opening PROTOTYPE’s 10th Anniversary Season is In Our Daughter’s Eyes on January 5 which reunites Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun,  and multidisciplinary librettist & director Michael Joseph McQuilken in this one man opera about a father who goes on a journey to become the man his daughter would be proud of. On January 6 is the world premiere of mɔsːnɪŋ (pronounced as “mourning”/ “morning”) by composer/writer Gelsey Bell which explores the legacy of an Earth devoid of humans. The double-bill world premiere of Emma O’Halloran’s Trade/Mary Motorhead opens on January 7.

Mary Motorhead portrays a convicted murderer pushed to the edge by circumstance, now finding the road back to herself. TRADE is the story of a rent boy and his closeted client in working-class Dublin, both trapped within their own lives. e All Sing – “Here Lies Joy” has its world premiere in Times Square on January 8, and is produced by PROTOTYPE. The music is composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), the librettist and creative director is Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and is conducted by Damien Sneed.

Marchita is a world premiere by Silvana Estrada with music arranged by Roberto Verástegui, music direction by Laura Itandehui, choreography by Clara

Pampyn, and the vocals of Ka’y Ha’ Quartet opening January 12. Also opening January 12 is note to a friend, a promotional partnership with PROTOTYPE, and co-produced by the Japan Society and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. The animated opera Undine by Stefanie Janssen & Michaël Brijs can be streamed digitally through the run of the festival. Undine is about a mermaid who is addicted to hard plastic, and a lonely wife and philosopher who become seduced by her.

There will be one in-person conversation for each show.