Lyric Opera: CHICAGO VOICES
Community Created Performances
Animateur, 2016-2017
Community Created Performances are original music theater works created and performed by community groups using a core element of opera: storytelling through song. Participating groups throughout Chicago, regardless of background or experience, create and develop these original works which are driven by the participants and supported by Lyric Opera professional artists and staff.
Collectively, we asked, “what is the untold story of this community?” Over 16 weeks, we created, rehearsed, and performed original works based in the participants’ real-life experiences. In the first year, I worked with members of Tellin’ Tales Theatre to create FREEDOM: Out of Order, which has evolved into a new musical project called Always Greener. The second year, I partnered with older adults from the North Center Senior Center in the Irving Park neighborhood to create Off Our Rockers, a piece about finding new beginnings later in life.
