Name: In the Penal Colony
Start: 2016-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2016-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Lillstreet Art Center

Organization

Conductor

Catherine O’Shaughnessy

Stage director

George Cederquist

Singer

Tenor

Zachary Vanderburg

Visitor

Bass-baritone

Matthan Ring Black

The officer

Spoken

Matt Katzenmeier

Condemned Man

Silent

Eric Staves

Caretaker

Costume designer

Stephanie Cluggish

Lighting designer

Rebecca Jeffords

Set designer

Dan Stratton

Chicago Fringe Opera

In the Penal Colony

Chicago

United States

Lillstreet Art Center

Painting Studio

In the Penal Colony Glass

Public

Approved

One man's struggle with humanity and morality in the face of capital punishment.
Philip Glass’s harrowing adaptation of Franz Kafka’s short story of the same title returns to Chicago for the first time since the work’s premiere at the Court Theatre in 2000.

With two singers, two actors and a string quintet, Glass’s pocket opera is small in scale and vast in impact. In an unnamed country, a soldier is to be put to death by capital punishment: a machine will tattoo the offender’s crimes on his skin, thus bleeding him to death. When a suspicious human rights inspectors arrives to witness the punishment, the officer in command must convince him of the humanity of the procedure, but with brutal consequences.

Glass’s examination of capital punishment, morality and the darkness of the human spirit is amplified by his iconic score, full of the rhythms and harmonic complexities found in his other works such as Einstein on the Beach and the Qatsi trilogy.

This production is produced in partnership with the Lillstreet Art Center and is performed in the Center’s Painting Studio, continuing Chicago Fringe Opera’s successful run of opera productions in immersive and non-traditional venues.

English

In the Penal Colony by Glass, From (2016/2016), Directed by George Cederquist,, Conductor Catherine O’Shaughnessy, Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, United States

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Programme, About & Synopsis

Reviews

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues