“Journey North Opera Company’s been in hibernation for a long time. Not since 2015 has the company produced in the Twin Cities, back when it was still called Twin Cities Fringe Opera. If JNOC’s renewed vigor is any indication, more organizations should take a multi-year nap.”
- by Basil Considine - Twin Cities Arts Reader
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“Britten's 'Lucretia' opera successfully tweaked for #MeToo movement. Journey North Opera scores a hit as company relaunches.”
- by Terry Blain - Star Tribune
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“This is a powerful and symbolically rich production by the whole creative team and cast at Journey North Opera.”
by Callie Cooper - schmopera.com
“It’s in your face—from beginning to end. And it rightly disturbs, disrupts, and challenges one’s comfort zones.”
- by Mark Anthony - Opera Review
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Performance Notes
Journey North Opera honorably presents Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.
For nearly 2,500 years, the story of Lucretia has taken many forms. Depicted in art, literature and in Britten’s opera in 1946, there have been countless interpretations, each delivering the harsh realities of this story in their present day.
As the title indicates, The Rape of Lucretia contains scenes of violence and sexual assault. It is the mission of JNOC to deliver relevant and engaging expressions of opera and deliver our production with sensitivity.
The majority of depictions of this story have been depicted through the lens of men, and this version is not exempt, containing themes which we intend to both challenge and explore for modern context: patriarchy and toxic masculinity; hetero- and cis-normative narratives of love, sex and marriage; consent and the withdrawal of consent; women’s sexuality and the Madonna-Whore Complex…etc. Our aim is and will be to delve deeply into the characters’ complexities to find not the two-dimensional tropes to which this narration can easily fall prey, but to seek out those nuances and particulars that make this story both unique and universal in its humanity.
In considering whether you will attend this production, please know that the creative team, as you may suspect about every room into which you may ever walk, contains survivors of sexual assault. And, while most operas contain thematic sexual violence, The Rape of Lucretia provides us the unique opportunity to see it with clear eyes and confront it directly. We want our stories to be told, heard, and felt. As with every aspect of combating sexual violence, it is crucial that we have a full and robust team of not only women but men to carry this weight together. Please boldly step forward with us.
Stage Director - Amanda Carlson
Principal Conductor - Brian Dowdy
Rehearsal & Performance Pianist - Jared Miller
Stage Manager - Stacie Cooper
Intimacy & Violence Choreographer - Mason Tyer
Costume Designer - Stacey Palmer
Set Designer - Brittany Pooladian
Lighting Designer - Meredith McDowell
Producer - Colleen Meier
Cast List:
Male Chorus - Wesley Frye
Female Chorus - Amy Wolf
Collatinus - Joel Mathias
Junius - Joe Allen
Tarquinius - Sullivan Ojala Helmbolt
Lucretia - Briana Moynihan
Bianca - Christina Christensen
Lucia - Carole Schultz
Aerialist - Jolie Meshbesher
Minnsky Theatre, NE Minneapolis, MN
Friday, September 6, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 7, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 8, 2019, 2:00 p.m.