Antiology is just around the corner! To find out more, we spoke with composer John Glover, librettist Kelley Rourke, and baritone Andrew Wilkowske, to discuss where the idea for this one-of-a-kind operatic hootenanny came from.
Andrew Wilkowske: John, Kelley, and I all met at Glimmerglass Opera: I was an apprentice, John was an intern, and Kelley is the dramaturg and supertitle supervisor. One of the places we used to hang out at was a restaurant called “The Rose and Kettle” in Cooperstown. Front of house was run by Dana Spiotta, the author of Eat the Document. Doing Young Artists Programs, you work from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM, you're rehearsing four different shows, and you're exhausted. So, at the end of the day, we’d go and have beer and food at this place which, in the middle of nowhere, was a pretty amazing restaurant. A lot of times, Dana would be working, and I got to be friends with her, but I had no idea she was an author. By the end of the summer, people were saying, “Have you read Dana's book? Have you read Dana's book?”, and I was like, “Dana wrote a book?!” So, I bought her book and read it and couldn't put it down. The characters were so vibrant and relatable. Music plays a huge part in the book, and that got me hooked into it really quickly. Fast forward a few years later: John and Kelley and I have worked on a couple projects together, we get to talking, and they were saying they want to turn Eat the Document into an opera, and I thought “Oh my gosh, please let me be a part of that!”
John Glover: Dana writes in such a way where the characters all articulate so beautifully both their interior emotional states and their observations of the world around them. That made Kelley and I think that Eat the Document could become a really special work of music theater/opera. Any story where the characters have the opportunity to break open and share a deep interior
emotional world: that is the perfect situation for music
and singing to enter the frame.
One of the things Dana does so brilliantly in the book is to juxtapose the 1970s activist idealism with its polar opposite, the comfort and malaise of the 1990s in America. She puts them right up against each other and lets observations come to the surface. I think we’re living in a moment now where we're trying to figure out how to be active and dedicated citizens: what’s the most productive way to do that?; what’s the best way to demand the best for our country?; to demand the best for society? Dana’s work shows us many attempts at answering these questions. She makes a lot of connections without necessarily being didactic about what the answer is. She’s looking at that pendulum swing between hyper-idealistic activism and complete disengagement and what each can lead to. For those reasons, this novel speaks really strongly to questions that we’re wrestling with now, both socially and politically. What could make a better night in a theater (or a bookstore) than that?
It goes without saying that beginning to explore this world with Kelley and Andy, with the support and fearlessness of Jill Anna Ponasik, is a dream. The best of friends who are also the best of artists.
emotional world: that is the perfect situation for music
and singing to enter the frame.
One of the things Dana does so brilliantly in the book is to juxtapose the 1970s activist idealism with its polar opposite, the comfort and malaise of the 1990s in America. She puts them right up against each other and lets observations come to the surface. I think we’re living in a moment now where we're trying to figure out how to be active and dedicated citizens: what’s the most productive way to do that?; what’s the best way to demand the best for our country?; to demand the best for society? Dana’s work shows us many attempts at answering these questions. She makes a lot of connections without necessarily being didactic about what the answer is. She’s looking at that pendulum swing between hyper-idealistic activism and complete disengagement and what each can lead to. For those reasons, this novel speaks really strongly to questions that we’re wrestling with now, both socially and politically. What could make a better night in a theater (or a bookstore) than that?
It goes without saying that beginning to explore this world with Kelley and Andy, with the support and fearlessness of Jill Anna Ponasik, is a dream. The best of friends who are also the best of artists.
Kelley Rourke: From the first read, I was just so gripped by the characters and their journeys – the way they think, the way they speak, the way they engage. Each of them is grappling with how to respond to what is happening in the world. I think Dana does an amazing job of showing you the ways in which every potential response is problematic – but also laudable – in its own way.
John and I have been wanting to make an opera out of Eat the Document for a long time. Besides our excitement about the writing, the characters, and the ideas, it seems to us ideally suited for the stage, with its “ensemble” cast of characters on intersecting individual journeys. When I re-read the book last year, I was floored by how timely it felt, and I got excited about it all over again.
The evening we have planned is a kind of live “concept album” if you will – specifically, we’ll be developing some material for a character named Nash, who is one of the central figures in the book. We’ll also explore – in a band headed by Andy – some of the music that plays a part in the story. And we are absolutely thrilled to have Dana with us – she will help us introduce a couple of other key characters by reading excerpts of the book.
John and I have been wanting to make an opera out of Eat the Document for a long time. Besides our excitement about the writing, the characters, and the ideas, it seems to us ideally suited for the stage, with its “ensemble” cast of characters on intersecting individual journeys. When I re-read the book last year, I was floored by how timely it felt, and I got excited about it all over again.
The evening we have planned is a kind of live “concept album” if you will – specifically, we’ll be developing some material for a character named Nash, who is one of the central figures in the book. We’ll also explore – in a band headed by Andy – some of the music that plays a part in the story. And we are absolutely thrilled to have Dana with us – she will help us introduce a couple of other key characters by reading excerpts of the book.
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