Pterins: A New Opera Libretto Reading
Date and time
Sat, April 23, 2022
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
Location
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
99 Warren Street
Brookline, MA 02445
About this event: The Pterins libretto reading is part of the development process of a new opera by librettist and poet, Leah Harmon with dramaturgy and direction by Brenda Huggins.
Within the natural world there is a vast and secret information highway of bioluminescence. Both flora and fauna use this to give and receive information. Most of these bioluminescence are invisible to the human eye. While they operate in a myriad of ways they all hold significance to the natural world. Luminescence in fungi attract insects that disperse spores in the bottom of the forest canopy where there is little wind. In the Mycelium network mushrooms use bioluminescence to glow. Fire fly bellies glow. Glowing Squid swim the ocean. Frogs and Lizards glow. Birds Pterin cells glow neon. Birds can see ultraviolet light, around 100-400 nanometers, ( humans only range 390-700) and the birds use it to find glowing ripe berries, identify their eggs and mate. Birds Pterins cells ( pronounced terns) glow neon yellow and fuchsia to each other illuminating the natural world but what appears to us in the normal spectrum of color. It is still a partial mystery as to the ways and reasons that the natural world flouresses. In this opera The Pterins, three 19 year old girls, friends from high school, Ashling, Poppy and Lola drive across America on I-90 from east coast to west coast in 1997. Lola has a mystical sixth sense and can see bioluminescence outside of the usual human spectrum. We find these women half way through their journey somewhere in rural America.
Creative Team
Leah Meryl Harmon (Librettist/Poet)
Leah Meryl Harmon is an educator, singer/songwriter/poet/fiction writer and Librettist. Publications include: Work has appeared in Bellville Park Pages, Bagel Bards, Boston Accent Lit, Nasty Women Boston Art show, the muddy river among others. Honorable mention in glimmer train mag. The Chromatic. Shows include: Presenter/poetry reader/panel host, at Salem Poetry Festival, 2013, 2014, 2017, poetry feature, Poets Theatre, poetry feature, Lizzard Lounge, poetry feature, Black lives matter fundraiser for Fractured Atlas, readings at various clubs and coffee shops in the Boston area, Singer songwriter solo shows at the Burren back room as well as other local clubs and coffee shops. Workshops include: Guerilla Opera libretto writing workshop 2020, 2021.
Brenda L Huggins (Director/Dramaturg)
Brenda L Huggins is a stage director, dramaturg, and designer working in opera and puppetry, and has directed many workshops, premieres and new productions of contemporary opera and theater works; The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret by Leanna Kirchoff (2019), An Embarrassing Position by Dan Shore (2016), 334 Bunnies by Francine Trester (2012) at the Longy School of Music, among others. Brenda served as the Resident Dramaturg with Guerilla Opera in Boston, MA for the 2019-2020 season, supporting the development of new works in the inaugural Emergence Composition Fellowship program and facilitated the inaugural Libretto Writing Lab. She is an M.F.A. candidate in Applied Theatre at Emerson College.
Cast
Susan Bywaters (Bird/Narrator)
Susan Bywaters is a writer and performer based in Boston, MA and New York, NY. Her works often center around memory, history, and modern interactions with the past. Susan began her career as a classically trained soprano, performing works in contemporary and classical styles. These included such roles as the Woman in Sky Macklay’s opera The Surrogate, performed through a workshop at Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, and Hanna in Léhar’s Die Lustige Witwe with Sinfonietta Bel Canto. Also a librettist, Susan’s text [Weight], set by composer Elizabeth Gartman, was featured in Beth Morrison Projects Next Gen Round 1 in May of 2021, where Gartman was selected as a finalist. Her and Gartman’s 30-minute opera It is a Comfort to Know is set to premiere as part of Next Gen Round 2 in June of this year. Susan holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Masters of Arts in Theatre Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jamie Lin (Bea)
Jamie Lin (she/her) is a Taiwanese-American theater artist in greater Boston. Favorite previous roles include: Sulu, Gender-Swapped Star Trek (PMRP), Queenie, Honk! (The Footlight Club), and Horatio, Hamlet (Theatre@First). Additionally, Jamie writes and performs sketch comedy with Friend Club (@heyfriendclub). Both on and offstage, she's passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and noodles.
Will Shapiro (Ashling)
Will is a Boston-based theatre artist and educator with a primary focus in making Shakespeare and other classical works more accessible. Favorite acting credits include: Othello with Evergreen Theatre Collective and the upcoming Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike with Titanic Theatre Company. Will additionally regularly works regularly with the Full Body Cast, Boston’s Rocky Horror Picture Show shadowcast. They are currently working to obtain a BFA in Theatre Education and Performance from Emerson College. Socials: @shakespleens
Surrey Houlker (Lola)
Surrey Houlker (she/her/hers) is a Boston-based theatre-maker with an undeniable love for clam chowder and Kevin Kline. An Emerson College graduate with a BFA in Theatre Education & Performance, Surrey currently works as the Program Coordinator with Young Audiences of Massachusetts and has also worked with American Repertory Theater, ArtsEmerson, The Gamm Theatre, Tiverton Public Schools, and Moses Brown School. Previous acting credits include: ‘Love & Information’, ‘Girl in the Machine’, ‘Twelfth Night’ (Emerson College); ‘Hysteria’ (Neo-Political Cowgirls). As a playwright and an educator, Surrey strives to explore the intricacies of the queer experience through community, honesty, and humor, creating spaces where folks can safely explore and connect. You can catch her newest work, 'for the fish', at the Calderwood this June as a part of Moonbox's Boston New Works Festival!
Andy McCarty (Man/Gas Attendant/Bouncer/Moose)
Andy McCarty is a locally raised actor who has performed on theater stages here in Massachusetts, in Washington, D.C., and in Hollywood, California. Andy took a hiatus from acting to enlist in the active duty U.S. Air Force in 2000, completing two military deployments to Egypt and Qatar. He is the founding director of Northeastern University’s Dolce Center for the Advancement of Veterans and Service members. Andy recently returned to performing and has been studying Advanced Acting for the Camera courses with both Boston Casting, Inc. and CP Casting. He is also the father of three beautiful, young heroines who give the birds something to sing about each and every day.
Keely Ventress (Poppy)
Keely is a student finishing up her last semester at Emerson College. She enjoys doing anything that sparks a little creativity, and is very excited to be apart of this Pterins reading!
Audubon Field Guide
Learn more about the bird species featured in the Pterins libretto by exploring the Audubon Field Guide, including audio recordings of bird calls, and information about their habitats and traits.
