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by Kate Soper

Here Be Sirens, Kate Soper’s groundbreaking opera, reimagines the myth of the Sirens to explore the archetypes society assigns to women—and how those roles are used to divide rather than empower. Told through sharp wit, virtuosic music, and mythic storytelling, and accompanied by a prepared piano which they play themselves, three Sirens search for freedom, sisterhood, and self-discovery while unraveling the patriarchal myths that keep them trapped.

 

The Edge Theater [Off-Broadway]

5451 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640

This venue is fully ADA accessible.

Run Time
1 hr 20 min  /
Tickets
TBA
  /
Cash Bar
Cash Bar

Cast

Peitho

Molly Clementz

Molly Clementz

Peitho

Described by Opera Today as possessing a “wonderfully rich tone, gleaming top notes, and a vibrant lower register,” mezzo-soprano Molly Clementz brings versatility and depth to both classical and contemporary repertoire. She has performed nationally and across Europe, with companies including Pacific Opera Project, Opera Santa Barbara, and Chicago City Opera. A former Mosher Studio Artist, her roles include Mercédès (Carmen), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). In the realm of new music, she has premiered works by Paul Scherer, Joseph Turrin, and Jeremy Gill. Based in Chicago, Molly is a standing company member with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company and the Lira Ensemble, artist-in-residence at Loyola University. She recently appeared as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and will reprise one of her favorite roles, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, this summer with Chicago City Opera.

Phaino

Sarah Thompson Johansen

Sarah Thompson Johansen

Phaino

Sarah Thompson Johansen is a Chicago-based soprano and actor whose work spans opera, theater, and experimental performance. Local/regional performances include work with Thompson Street Opera Company, Skylight Music Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Facility Theatre, and 5th Wave Collective. Recent appearances include The Soul in Rosśa Crean’s The Harbingers and the “Greek Chorus” quartet in Nkeiru Okoye’s We’ve Got Our Eye on You. Passionate about new music and adventurous storytelling, Sarah delights in collaborative, boundary-blurring projects. Apart from performing, she is an aspiring urban agriculturalist and chicken keeper. Sarah is delighted to be making her debut(s) with Chicago Fringe Opera and the Ear Taxi Festival.

Polyxo

Elizabeth Shuman

Elizabeth Shuman

Polyxo

Elizabeth Shuman is excited to join the Chicago Fringe Opera cast of Here Be Sirens as the slightly unhinged Siren Polyxo. She’s that soprano who networks like it’s her job and has a knack for finding herself in new works. Recent gigs include playing Annie in Annie and Joshua, debuting a baroque aria about the Kennedy Expressway at The Green Mill (yes, really), and her favorite role yet—Senator Patrick Leahy in The Gonzales Cantata. Originally from Colby, Kansas (motto: “The Oasis on the Plains,” which worked better before they added giant aluminum palm trees to the truck stop), Elizabeth now lives in Chicago with her kids and a bunch of chickens her kids named after Greek goddesses.

Covers

Peitho
Ashley McKinstry
Phaino
Tessa Newman

Tessa Newman

Phaino

Described by Chicago Theatre Reviews as a “captivating, magnificently multitalented… starlet”, Tessa Newman is a singing actor and AGMA soprano based in Chicago, Illinois. She received her BM from University of North Texas and MM from DePaul University. Musical theatre highlights include Fredrika in the Jeff nominated A Little Night Music (Theo Ubique Cabaret), Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (Theatre on the Hill) and Janet Vandegraf in The Drowsy Chaperone (Westmont Performing Arts). Opera highlights include Lakmé in Lakmé (Chicago Summer Opera), and Lucia in Lucia di Lamermoor (Mediterranean Opera Festival). Upcoming projects include playing Miss Addy in Opera for the Young’s The Elixir of Love, touring at schools all across the Midwest, and Fiametta in Gilbert and Sullivan of Chicago’s The Gondoliers. Tessa also runs her own private voice and acting studio and plays princesses, super heroes, and pop stars with Princess Party Chicago.

Polyxo
Emily Cox

Emily Cox

Polyxo

Emily Cox is a Chicago-based singer and producer performing internationally in opera, operetta, musical theater, cabaret, and new music. Praised as a “gifted singer with an endearing voice,” she has appeared with Chicago Fringe Opera, Main Street Opera, and Chicago Folks Operetta, and toured India as a soloist in 2024 with Fourth Presbyterian Church’s Touring Choir. An advocate for new music, Emily has premiered numerous operas and song cycles, including Imogen, Hindsight, and Written On the Table Where You Starved Me. Also known for her acclaimed cabarets, she leads Cox Productions and serves as Managing Director of /kor/ productions.

Artistic Team

Music Director
Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Music Director

Catherine O’Shaughnessy is a rising orchestral and opera conductor in the United States and abroad. Avidly committed to Chicago’s dynamic musical scene, she is currently the music director of Chicago Fringe Opera, the assistant conductor of Opera Festival of Chicago, and has appeared conducting productions at Chicago Opera Theater and DePaul University. In 2020, she helped produce Fringe’s contribution to the Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales From a Safe Distance—winner of the “Best Collaboration” award from 360° of Opera. A semi-finalist in the 2016 Spazio Musica International Conducting Competition, Catherine made her New York debut conducting Antonio Salieri’s La Cifra with the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. She has also music directed Pyramus and Thisbe in Freiberg (Mittelsächsisches Theater) and conducted Don Giovanni and La Traviata in Orvieto (Teatro Mancinelli). In 2013 she conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra at a sold-out performance in Tchaikovsky Hall.

Stage Director
Katherine Coyl

Katherine Coyl

Stage Director

Katherine (Kat) Coyl is a professional intimacy and fight director based out of Chicago. Her work includes multiple world premieres in both opera and dance. Her most recent work includes Lenora (Intimacy and Fight Director) at Chicago Opera Theater, Breaking the Wave (Assistant Director and Intimacy Coordinator) at Detroit Opera; The Nose (Intimacy and Fight Director) at Chicago Opera Theater; Carmen (Intimacy and Act 4 Intimate Violence Choreography) at Des Moines Metro Opera; Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley (Intimacy Director) at South Chicago Dance Theatre; The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turning (Intimacy and Fight Director) at Chicago Opera Theater; and Athena (Urbanite Theatre). Kat also serves as adjunct faculty at DePaul University and CCPA at Roosevelt.

Costumer Designer
Madeleine Shows

Madeleine Shows

Costumer Designer

Madeleine (she/her) is a costume designer and technician whose recent credits include Infernal and Prick at Proboscis (costume design), At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen at The Story (assistant design), and Circus Quixote and Iraq, but Funny at Lookingglass Theatre Company (crafts and stitching). She is a lay-medievalist and an expert in the esoteric. Hire her to design your cult’s ceremonial robes.

Prop Designer
Annaleigh Stone

Annaleigh Stone

Prop Designer

Annaleigh Stone is a prop designer and performer specializing in the DIY theater and comedy scenes. From recreating the Power Rangers cockpit to building cardboard toilets, no budget is too small for the bounds of her creativity. Credits include prop and production designer for The Onion, “The Lizzie McGuire Movie the Play” with Derek Begrudgingly Presents, “Little Orphan Boy” at The Annoyance, and “Fantasy Quest!” with Laketown Productions, “Merry We” with Split Lip Theater, as well as company member with Split Lip Theater.

Stage Manager
Jo Chalhoub

Jo Chalhoub

Stage Manager

Jo Chalhoub (They/Them) is a proud Lebanese-American, Queer, Milwaukee native that has lived and worked in the Chicago area since 2021. They hold a minor in Theatre Arts from UW-Milwaukee and have worked on- and off-stage on over 80 productions in Wisconsin and Illinois.  Favorite credits include Assassins (Four Seasons Theatre), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Music Theatre of Madison), and serving as the stage manager for The Shedd Aquarium.  Jo also has significant arts administration experience, serving as co-deputy of Forward Theater’s Advisory Company and as the former Company Manager of Steppenwolf.  This is Jo’s third production with CFO, previously serving as the stage manager for Fizz & Ginger and Hindsight.

Dates

Sat
May 2, 2026
Date
Sat, May 2, 2026
Time
2:30pm
TBA
Sun
May 3, 2026
Date
Sun, May 3, 2026
Time
2:30pm
TBA
Tue
May 5, 2026
Date
Tue, May 5, 2026
Time
7:30pm
TBA
Thu
May 7, 2026
Date
Thu, May 7, 2026
Time
7:30pm
TBA
Sat
May 9, 2026
Date
Sat, May 9, 2026
Time
2:30pm
TBA
Supported by The CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture, the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Chicago Fringe Opera is member of Opera America, the nation's advocacy organization for the art form of opera.

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