Campbell Vertesi

Here it is! The post I've been waiting to - um, post!!  May I present the Lucrezia Project!

Next month, CCM is producing The Lucrezia Project - a sort of modified version of Respighi's opera Lucrezia.  I know next to nothing about the way the show itself is being modified- my involvement is with a novel way to approach thematic development in an opera. And this is an opera about Honor Killing.  Go on, read the wikipedia link.  It will help make this whole thing make sense.

 You see traditionally, the director does days of painstaking research in developing a serious, deep theme for their presentation of an opera.  They analyze characters, they break down scenes into their subtle implications - in short, they wrack their brains over this stuff.  Then they try to impart this theme to their acting singers, who skimp on the studying, and try to fake their way through a character that somehow (hopefully) supports the director's concept.  Finally, the audience arrives, and is perplexed at what the hell is going on in the first place, and why on earth did they use such odd lighting??  Theatre sure is funny!

This is the natural life cycle for an opera with a concept.  But perhaps not The Lucrezia Project.  The idea behind this production is to let the audience in on the development and thematic issues right from the start, using the internet.  I built a website that incorporates directors' blogs with discussion forums, and areas for the public to watch the performers grow their characters.  On this site, people can discuss the moral implications of Honor Killing - especially in the context of the modern world, as Eastern and Western civilization collide and intermingle.  How do you take the right to dictate another culture's morality?  Is the growing monoculture of our increasingly globalized world a Good thing?  What can or should be done for girls who seek asylum from their own families? (see, I told you to read the Wikipedia link.  Now go back and do it)

All of this will go on in a public forum - along with cast comments, directors' notes, and the whole playbuilding process around this incredibly contentious issue (dammit! Read the friggin' Wikipedia link already!).  The whole project culminates in a podcast/videocast of the production, and a series of interviews with the artists about their experience in the project.  Of ccourse the show is open to the public as well, and UC students get in free.

Can you say "badass"?  Can you say "New Media"?  Finally, you can have an audience that really understands the directoral vision.  Finally, a crowd that knows your character as well as you do!  At last, the audience will know more and have thought more about the theme than they did in the 5 minutes between reading the program notes and the curtain call.  This has the potential to take the thinking in theatre into a virtual discussion - and vice versa.

The down side - this project is limited to participation from UC students only.  Outsiders (we call you guys "normies") can spectate, but not post.  Feel free to write on your own blogs I guess, and submit the link on the contact page.  Your thoughts will likely be included in the discussion. At least post a link in MY comments.

Oh, and the shameless plug - I designed the site!  This is the exciting project I've been doing at work for the last month, and it's finally in production.  My supervisor Ellen Davis and I have worked on the Lucrezia Project tirelessly for weeks, and we really hope this participatory theatre concept takes off.  I did the visual design though. :)

So head on over and take a look!  I don't know if the forums or all of the content is up quite yet, but I'm not waiting any longer.  This time tomorrow I'll be posting from California, and I should have all sorts of other, interesting stuff to write about!