Waking the Witch • Oct 19th, 2024 • 7:30pm

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DC-composer Ashi Day's Waking the Witch is a one-act (~75 min.), immersive chamber opera for solo countertenor and Pierrot ensemble that explores human vulnerability to absurd beliefs as well as the danger of mixing authority and religion with black-and-white thinking, fear of those with less power, and conspiracy theories. The audience assumes the role of an accused witch, physically surrounded with a single-minded interrogator and animal familiars of questionable reality (played by the treble instruments of the Pierrot ensemble). The libretto is derived from the words of both historical witchfinders and modern-day leaders and movements with eerily similar messaging. Listeners must consider how we might navigate the seemingly impossible logic of power lost in moral panic, while remembering the dangerous reality that these things did, and in many ways still do, happen.

Our partner nonprofit for this event will be The News Literacy Project. Founded in 2008, The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan nonprofit building a national movement to ensure that all students are skilled in news literacy before high school graduation, giving them the knowledge and ability to participate in civic society as well-informed, critical thinkers. NLP is the country’s leading provider of news literacy education and works with educators in all 50 states.

The creative team for this performance will include countertenor Min Sang Kim, the sextet Balance Campaign, and director Lee Cromwell.