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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:26pt;font-family:'Apple Chancery'">Aleda<span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:115%">or </span><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'American Typewriter Light'">The Flight of
the Suff Birdwomen</span><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:115%"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><i><span style="font-size:16pt;line-height:115%">one-act chamber opera in three scenes<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">Music and libretto by Max Caplan;
commissioned and produced by Musicians of Ma’alwyck, Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz,
Director<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:19px">Auditions will be held in 107 Foy Hall at Siena College on September 11th and 18th from 7 PM to 9 PM. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:19px">Music Direction by Dr. Timothy Reno and Stage Direction by Dr. Krysta Dennis. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:14pt">Audition Requirements</span></b><span style="font-size:14pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Soprano: Please prepare a 20<sup>th</sup> century vocal selection that showcases your higher range and rhythmic abilities, suggestions include Magda’s aria from The Consul and the Saga of Jenny by Kurt Weill. Also prepare the short excerpt from Aleda attached below. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Contralto: Please prepare an English-language selection that showcases your range, particularly lower, and your theatrical/comic skills. Buttercup’s aria from H.M.S. Pinafore is a good example. Also prepare the short excerpt from Aleda attached below.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%">Both: You will be singing with the already cast singers to hear your blend.</p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:14pt">Character descriptions</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFontBold;color:rgb(53,53,53)">Ida Blair</span></b><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> – head of the N.A.W.S.A. publicity committee. Age 42; tall, slim.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)">Elegant, articulate, and refined, but with an iron will and singleness of purpose. Also a businesswoman, her chief concern is to "sell" suffrage by any means possible. The quintessential diplomat.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)">Voice type: Soprano</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFontBold;color:rgb(53,53,53)">Mary Otis Willcox</span></b><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> – leader of the N.A.W.S.A.'s Staten Island branch. Age 54; short, broad.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)">Strong-willed and plain-speaking. Unlike Blair, she never minces words to make her views more palatable, but relies entirely upon the strength of her convictions to promote her cause.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:AppleSystemUIFont;color:rgb(53,53,53)">Voice type: Contralto</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"> <br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Premise</b><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Set in Staten Island in 1916, the opera tells the true story
of a unique women's suffrage demonstration attempted by early female pilot Leda
Richberg-Hornsby and the National American Woman Suffrage Association
(N.A.W.S.A.). Equipped with a bi-plane, a cargo of votes-for-women petitions,
and a huge banner reading "Women want liberty too," the suffragists endeavored
to fly over New York Harbor during a national celebration at the Statue of
Liberty in order to "bomb" President Woodrow Wilson with petitions. The
elaborate plan ended in something of a fiasco as a gale of wind forced a premature
crash-landing in a Staten Island swamp (luckily no one was hurt) – yet the attempt
stands as a testimony to the courage and inventiveness (not to mention dramatic
flare) of these women in their struggle for the right to vote.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Roles<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Leda Richberg-Hornsby – "aviatrix" from Chicago Mezzo-soprano (already
cast)<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ida Blair – N.A.W.S.A. publicity leader Soprano<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mary Otis Willcox – N.A.W.S.A. Staten Island leader Contralto<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A Reporter for the <i>New
York Sun</i> Baritone
(already cast)<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Synopsis<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All action takes place on an airfield at Midland Beach,
Staten Island.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Prologue: The Reporter introduces the story.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in">Scene 1: Leda is
returning, exhilarated, from one of her regular exhibition flights. She carries
a letter that she has just received from the French government – a response to
her request for appointment to the Lafayette Flying Corps (a group of American
pilots fighting in the French Air Force during WWI). Opening the letter, she is
crushed to learn that the Corps does not accept women. Vowing to give up flying,
she laments bitterly the double-standards that women face.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"> Blair and Willcox arrive opportunely to
enlist Leda's services in the N.A.W.S.A.'s plan to "bomb" President
Wilson. Leda is revitalized at this unexpected chance for action and eagerly
accepts the assignment.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in">Scene 2: The
day of the ceremony. As Leda and the others prepare for the flight, they clash ideologically
with the (male) Reporter, who has been assigned to cover their story. Tensions
rise further as increased winds threaten the mission. At last, scorning the
hazardous conditions, the suffragists choose to take off anyhow. All march off
to a suffrage song, even as celebrations at the Statue of Liberty in the
distance reach a climax of patriotic frenzy.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"> Between scenes, the Reporter relates the
outcome of the flight.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.25in">Scene 3: Some
time later. Leda has decided to leave New York in search of better
opportunities. The Reporter arrives unexpectedly, and, seeing her luggage, assumes
that she is giving up flying. Leda dispels this fear, outlining the many
ambitious aviation projects that she has planned for the future. The Reporter,
forced to admire her tenacity, begrudgingly revises his views on women's suffrage,
and the two sing a duet in praise of perseverance.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Music</b><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The musical style is postmodern classical infused with
elements of “period” idioms (e.g., ragtime, marches, music hall songs). Scoring
will be for a chamber ensemble of about 8 players (flute/piccolo, clarinet/saxophone,
trumpet, violin, cello, guitar, percussion, and keyboard). Total duration, 30-40
min. Music Director is Dr. Timothy Reno.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Production</b><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The opera will be acted out with vocal parts memorized. Set design
will be minimal, but there will be full costuming and a substantial video
projection component. Stage Director is Dr. Krysta Dennis.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Timeframe<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The performances are scheduled for June 8-10, 2017. Rehearsals
will begin around February for singers with piano and will be scheduled for
weekends. Blocking rehearsals will start in May. Rehearsals with orchestra will
begin around May 30<sup>th</sup> and will require daytime availability. There
will be a preview at Siena College June 5<sup>th</sup> or 6<sup>th</sup>.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There will also be a performance of excerpts from the opera
(about fifteen minutes' worth) on November 17<sup>th</sup> as part of this
year's Researching New York conference (hosted by the University at Albany,
SUNY). This will require weekend availability in the weeks leading up the
conference.<span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
</div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Dr. Krysta Dennis<div>Through the Grapevine Performed Wine Tastings</div><div>Lecturer, Siena College</div><div><a href="mailto:kdennis@siena.edu" target="_blank">kdennis@siena.edu</a> </div><div><a href="mailto:krysta.dennis@gmail.com" target="_blank">krysta.dennis@gmail.com</a></div><div>518.669.2636</div></div></div>
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