A Company Update: Driving Out of the Storm with Transgressive Theatre-Opera
As we hold our collective breath, hoping that the most violent times of the COVID-19 pandemic are behind us, TT-O would like to express our gratitude to our donors, board, directors, artistic associates, artists, and especially our audience. With your support behind us, we refused to give in to the very real threat of crippling despair. Instead, we pushed ahead with our scheduled season and used technology to mount our digital season with shows and added programming that we spoke to current events and our mission.
During our 2020/21 digital season, we produced a new adaptation of Beauty's Truth - a Handel opera with a fantasy feel and trills galore, Light In The Piazza - our first full musical and Le Nozze di Figaro - a Mozart for Millenials adaptation by resident Music Director Sarah Jenks. All were enthusiastically received by our audiences near and far.
Hope Heard 'Round The World: Echoes of Healing From Every Continent, another brainchild of Sarah Jenks, acknowledged the health crisis, and Genevie Thiers gifted us a benefit performance of her comic masterpiece, Anna Russell: A Visitation. TT-O is also very proud to have produced a public reading of the new play, The Clinic, by playwright Will Brumley, in association with Acting Out.
We are delighted to share our intention to return to live performance in the summer and fall of 2022. We will monitor current events and conditions within our arts community and hope to safely bring you Poulenc’s, La Voix Humaine (starring Mary Govertsen) in a double bill with Puccini’s Suor Angelica. In 2022, we continue to acknowledge women in opera with another all-treble voices event.
We ask that you all continue to stay with TT-O as we find our footing in these challenging times. For next season, prepare for more MUSIC THAT IS AS SPOKEN AS IT IS SUNG and SPOKEN TEXT SO EVOCATIVE AND LYRICAL THAT IT SINGS.
During our 2020/21 digital season, we produced a new adaptation of Beauty's Truth - a Handel opera with a fantasy feel and trills galore, Light In The Piazza - our first full musical and Le Nozze di Figaro - a Mozart for Millenials adaptation by resident Music Director Sarah Jenks. All were enthusiastically received by our audiences near and far.
Hope Heard 'Round The World: Echoes of Healing From Every Continent, another brainchild of Sarah Jenks, acknowledged the health crisis, and Genevie Thiers gifted us a benefit performance of her comic masterpiece, Anna Russell: A Visitation. TT-O is also very proud to have produced a public reading of the new play, The Clinic, by playwright Will Brumley, in association with Acting Out.
We are delighted to share our intention to return to live performance in the summer and fall of 2022. We will monitor current events and conditions within our arts community and hope to safely bring you Poulenc’s, La Voix Humaine (starring Mary Govertsen) in a double bill with Puccini’s Suor Angelica. In 2022, we continue to acknowledge women in opera with another all-treble voices event.
We ask that you all continue to stay with TT-O as we find our footing in these challenging times. For next season, prepare for more MUSIC THAT IS AS SPOKEN AS IT IS SUNG and SPOKEN TEXT SO EVOCATIVE AND LYRICAL THAT IT SINGS.
#BeTransgressive
Join Our Movement.
MUSIC THAT IS AS SPOKEN AS IT IS SUNG. SPOKEN TEXT SO EVOCATIVE AND LYRICAL THAT IT SINGS.
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These are the tools for the type of storytelling that drives The Mission of Transgressive Theatre-Opera, as envisioned and executed by artists from multiple disciplines. As the line between opera and musical theatre continues to blur, a new lyric theatre is emerging, unhampered by labels and preconceived notions of ownership. Transgressive Theatre-Opera is excited to be part of the change.
With this construct as our guide, we will continue to sing stories that highlight the personal and social journeys of women and the LGBTQ community, presenting new adaptations, re-examining and even shredding chestnuts of the repertoire to point up injustices and inequities, using cross-gender casting to uncover misogyny, and casting LGBTQ+ performers in roles with which they intimately identify, thereby allowing them to curate their own stories. Our Board and Artistic Associates are made up entirely of women and those who are queer-identifying, and we believe this leadership stands us in good stead to continue to realize our goals. |
The History of TT-O
In 43 performances, TT-O entertained over 670 audience members in 5 different venues in Evanston, on Chicago’s Northside, and in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. TT-O has awarded 163 singer/actor contracts, 16 instrumentalist contracts, and 7 production staff contracts. (Figures through September 2019)
TT-O has given the Midwest premiere of Beeson’s Hello Out There, the Chicago premiere of Wargo’s Seduction Of A Lady, and perhaps the US premiere of Sullivan’s A Masque at Kenilworth in its entirety, while presenting the first staging of the cantata.
The theme concerts The Maligned Mezzo, The Lieder, Chanson, and Hungarian Songs of Franz Lehar, The Best Of The Worst: After the Carpet Quarrel, and Letters of Love and Subterfuge were singular events produced by TT-O, and given in venues across the greater-Chicago area.
TT-O has given the Midwest premiere of Beeson’s Hello Out There, the Chicago premiere of Wargo’s Seduction Of A Lady, and perhaps the US premiere of Sullivan’s A Masque at Kenilworth in its entirety, while presenting the first staging of the cantata.
The theme concerts The Maligned Mezzo, The Lieder, Chanson, and Hungarian Songs of Franz Lehar, The Best Of The Worst: After the Carpet Quarrel, and Letters of Love and Subterfuge were singular events produced by TT-O, and given in venues across the greater-Chicago area.
Meet The OPERAtives
Our OPERAtives (get it?) are committed to ensuring that Transgressive produces high quality performances in Chicago that uphold our mission and serve our community.
AARON ASHTON
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SARAH
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PAUL
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TIMOTHY
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Artistic Associates
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Denise Knowlton
Paul W. Thompson |
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Board of Directors
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Aaron Hunt
John Burton Kelli Stickland Norm Cratty |
