OVERVIEW
Title: The Translator
Composer: David Ogborn
Librettist: Leanna Brodie
Commissioned By: Tapestry Opera
Language: English, Pashto
Producer: Tapestry Opera
Roles:
Role | Voice Type | Range ? | Character Description |
---|---|---|---|
Alessandra Jensen | middle-high | Ab3-A5 | A young military interpreter who suffers from post-traumatic stress after witnessing the brutal torture of detainees, age 26 |
Colonel Crane | low | Eb2-E4 | In his 50s, a career military intelligence officer whose philosophy of realpolitik and sense of self-preservation are tempered by a genuine desire to save Alessandra from the consequences of her actions |
Chorus | high | B3-Ab5 | A representation of the American public, magnified into the entire vox populi through live electronics |
Chorus | middle | Bb2-B4 | A representation of the American public, magnified into the entire vox populi through live electronics |
Anchor | silent-spoken | spoken | Video recording of a newsreader on a major cable news network |
SYNOPSIS
MUSIC DESCRIPTION
SCORES FOR PURCHASE
Arias & Excerpts:
Traumatized by her experiences, Alessandra reflects on her work as a translator in an American military prison.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Alessandra | middle-high | Ab3-Eb5 |
Colonel Crane, Alessandra's supervisor, tersely tells her to lose what her perceives as her naive sense of morality: "We are just here to win."
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Crane | low | Eb2-Eb4 |
2003: After leaking torture photos to the internet, American army translator Alessandra Jenson refuses to be hushed up, and live streams her suicide in protest.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Alessandra | middle-high | Ab3-A5 |
Chorus | high | B3-Ab5 |
Chorus | middle | Bb2-B4 |
Crane | low | Eb2-E4 |
Anchor | silent-spoken | Recording |
PREMIERE PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Premiere Production: Opera to Go 2008, February 15, 2008 at Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto ON
Producers: Tapestry Opera
Cast:
Role | Name |
---|---|
Alessandra Jensen | Jessica Lloyd |
Colonel Crane | Calvin Powell |
Chorus | Keith Klassen |
Chorus | Carla Huhtanen |
Role | Name |
---|---|
Music Director | Wayne Strongman |
Director | Tom Diamond |
Production Manager | Robert Daly |
Stage Manager | Isolde Pleasants-Faulkner |
Set & Costume Designer | Julia Tribe |
Lighting Design | Elizabeth Asselstine |
Laptop Performer | David Ogborn |
Video Artist | Jarek Obsadny |
CREATION
QUOTATIONS FROM CREATIVE TEAM
"This is an expanded version of my first-ever libretto, created within the Tapestry LIBLAB. I knew right away that I wanted to tailor each piece to its composer, to find forms and content that would excite them. Asked to adapt a scene from Sophocles’ Antigone (which is one of my very favourite stories), I was partnered with the electronic composer and committed leftist David Ogborn. My first words to him were: “I’m thinking Guantanamo Bay.” His first words to me were: “I love it.” I was inspired by real-life accounts of the second Gulf War, such as one from Bagram Air Base of an interpreter who rebelled against having to interpret during sessions of “enhanced interrogation” of suspected terrorists… which was Dick Cheney’s euphemism for torture. I wanted to focus on the conflict between duty and humanity that was so frequent in that morally bankrupt environment. I wanted to bring in the voice of the people, as the Greeks always did. Also, I am a theatrical translator, and translation in itself always brings in questions of one’s ultimate loyalty. In fact, we have a saying in the profession: “Traduttore, traditore”, to translate is to betray…" - Leanna Brodie
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