world Premiere

La Jetée

Chicago Fringe Opera joins forces with Access Contemporary Music and Lux Cantorum for a full world-premiere concert performance of Seth Boustead and J. Robert Lennon’s chamber opera adaptation of the cult 1962 science fiction film La Jetée, later remade by Terry Gilliam as 12 Monkeys.

Cast

The Man
Samuel James Dewese

Samuel James Dewese

The Man

Baritone Samuel James Dewese continues to forge a path as a unique and evocative vocal artist. Returning to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024-25 season, he appears as Diego Rivera in Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World/Illick. Additional operatic highlights include Sam/ Trouble in Tahiti, Father/Hansel and Gretel, Astrophel/The Arcadians, and Marcello/La Bohème. In concert, Samuel has been a soloist at Portsmouth Cathedral (UK), Highgate Choral Society, and the Illinois Wind Symphony. Dedicated to the future of vocal music, Samuel’s world and US

premiere credits include The Perfect Opera (Edinburgh Fringe), Would You Eat Me? (Thompson Street Opera Company), La Jetée (Chicago Fringe Opera) and the title character in John Henry (Tête à Tête, London). Samuel is a transracial adoptee, and the 2024-25 season includes the debut of From Cradle to Stage, a concert celebrating The Cradle, the Evanston, IL adoption agency that connected Samuel and his family. Samuel is an alumnus of the Royal College of Music, London and the Florentine Opera apprentice program, and has been honored in competition byJames Toland Vocal Arts, the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the Hariclea Darclée Competition, and the Luminarts Foundation.

The Woman
Brennan Martinez

Brennan Martinez

The Woman

Brennan Martinez has been described as “a mezzo-soprano to be watched” (Opera Lively) and sings with “power, authority, and a most intriguing color to her wide-ranging voice” (Classical Voice of North Carolina).

Recent performances include roles and events with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Cedar Rapids Opera, Piedmont Opera, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, the Glimmerglass Festival, and the Bay View Music Festival. She was also a member of the closing night ensemble of Kristin Chenoweth: My Love Letter to Broadway at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre in New York City.

She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and was a Fletcher Fellow at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University.

First Experimenter
Isaac Frishman

Isaac Frishman

First Experimenter

Tenor Isaac Frishman has been praised for his “quick-witted stage antics” and a voice described as “truly sweet and graceful” (Broadway World). Traditional operatic highlights include Count Almaviva in Barber of Seville, Prince Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Tonio in La fille du Regiment, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. Isaac has performed all over the country but most notably, made his main-stage debuts at Lincoln Center, San Francisco Opera, and the Spoleto Festival, Kentucky Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera. Equally adept on the concert stage, Mr. Frishman has sang as the tenor soloist in performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s cantata BWV 131, and the Monteverdi Vespers.
Second Experimenter
Dorian McCall

Dorian McCall

Second Experimenter

Baritone Dorian McCall, a compelling singing actor with an ample and copiously colored legato, has been recognized for his magnetic stage personality and emphatic musicality in both buffo and serious roles.

Covers

The Woman
Ruth Ginelle Heald

Ruth Ginelle Heald

The Woman

Mezzo-soprano Ruth Ginelle Heald is equally at home singing opera, musical theater, pop, and jazz styles. Stage credits include Mrs. Soames (Rorem’s Our Town), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Rose (Secret Garden), Arlen Specter (Dunphy’s Gonzales Cantata), She (Purcell’s King Arthur), and the title role in Carmen. Ruth has performed with Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Chorus, Florentine Opera Chorus, Chicago Choral Artists, Portland Symphonic Choir, and Willamette Master Chorus. Her endeavors as a “singing drummer” have taken her around the world, including tours in Spain, Ireland, England, and China. She enjoys providing drums and vocals for Goldfoot, her Portland-based funk-rock band. Ruth currently resides in Chicago with her husband, Elijah, and their two cats, Furnando and Nutmeg.

The Man
Timothy Bostwick

Timothy Bostwick

The Man

Timothy Bostwick is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in Performance and Literature with a cognate in Musicology. His dissertation, The Nightingale’s Voice: Exploring Jenny Lind as a Proto-feminist, explores the famed singer as an example of a woman that transcended societal norms in Victorian England.  In addition, Mr. Bostwick has been awarded the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship.

Additionally, as an avid performer, Mr. Bostwick, baritone, has been applauded as an “impressive and impactful voice” in Hansel und Gretel and described in his role as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia as “Pure comic joy.”  Recently, he returned to his alma mater, Drake University, to perform the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff and the titular role in Gianni Schicchi at Eastern Illinois University. Having lived in New York City, he performed roles including Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and Schaunard in La Boheme with Amore Opera and Germont in La Traviata. Once back in the Midwest, he has continued to perform including Chucho in Lucrezia (Bolcom), Father in Hansel and Gretel and recently debuted the role of Saul in the new opera, The Psalm of Silence. This summer he will make his debut at Opera Quad Cities as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly* and at Landlocked Opera as Sherlock Holmes in A Certain Madness.

Mr. Bostwick also has a busy recital schedule, next year he will return to Drake University to perform a Clara Schumann recital to celebrate her life and contributions to music.* Previously, he has performed Wolf’s Italienishes Liederbuch and his American Art Song recital, Songs of Democracy. Other roles include: Alfio in Cavallerìa Rusticana, Barone di Trombonok in Il Viaggio a Reims, Top in The Tender Land, Marullo in Rigoletto, and the title roles in Gianni Schicchi and Le Nozze di Figaro. He returned to Des Moines as Escamillo in Carmen to the Opera Project Des Moines and as Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Sugar Creek Opera.

In addition, Mr. Bostwick holds degrees from Drake University and The Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College.

Second Experimenter
Joseph Ryan

Joseph Ryan

Second Experimenter

Joseph Ryan graduated from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with a Masters in Vocal  Performance. He participated in young artist programs with Sarasota Opera, Central City Opera, and the  Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy. Most recently he sang Conte Almaviva and Papageno with Lyric Opera  Studio of Weimar’s production of Le nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte, respectively, in Weimar  Germany; Basilio in Natchez Festival of Music’s May 2017 production of Il barbiere di Siviglia; and  Dandini in Winter Opera St. Louis’ January 2017 production of La Cenerentola. In 2016, Mr. Ryan covered the role of Pizarro in Fidelio with Sarasota Opera, sang Doctor Engel in Orlando Light Opera’s  The Student Prince, and performed Guglielmo in Le Villi with South Florida Lyric Opera. Other recent credits include the Mandarin in Turandot (St. Petersburg Opera, 2015); Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro,  King Dodon (cover) in The Golden Cockerel, and Rodrigue (cover) in Don Carlos (Sarasota Opera, 2015);  German Soldier #3 in Silent Night (Cincinnati Opera, 2014); Morales in Carmen (Opera Tampa, 2014);  and the Sacristan in Tosca (Natchez Festival of Music, 2014).  

He was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Opera Connecticut American Opera Idol Competition and the 2012  Opera Birmingham Competition, and he won 2nd place in the 2014 American Prize Competition Opera  Division. In his hometown of Cincinnati he performed for eight seasons with the Cincinnati Opera, and in  Florida has also been seen as the Father in Hansel und Gretel (Opera Naples, 2011), Monterone in  Rigoletto (St. Petersburg Opera, 2011), and the baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mozart’s  Requiem (Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, FL 2010 and 2011).

Lux Cantorum Chicago

Conductor
Wilbert O. Watkins
Sopranos
Allison Davidson
Brenda Kenyon
Erika Saltzman
Julie Hill
Marcella Richardson
Altos
Alice Dryden
Amanda Nelson
Beth Fioritto
Heidi Letzmann
Linda Thurston
Tenors
Brandon Michaels
Dan Rogers
Glenn Klaassen
Jen Ostafinski
Basses
Chris Gernand
Dennis Lauritsen
Philip Kendall
Scott Enloe

Palomar Ensemble
Access Contemporary Music

Flute
Tim Hagen
Clarinet
Elizandro Garcia-Montoya
Bass Clarinet
Christie Miller
Trumpet
John Dorhauer
Trombone
Paul von Hoff
Violin I
Henry Zheng
Violin II
Christine Chon
Viola
Traci Newhouse
Cello
Alyson Berger
Bass
Douglas Johnson
Percussion I
Cleo Goldberg
Percussion II
Rebecca McDaniel
Piano
Amy Wurtz

Artistic Team

Composer
Seth Boustead

Seth Boustead

Composer

Seth Boustead is a composer, broadcaster, writer, concert producer, in-demand speaker and visionary with the goal of revolutionizing how and where classical music is performed and how it is perceived by the general public.
As the founder and Executive Director of Access Contemporary Music, Seth has created unique programs like the Sound of Silent Film Festival, the Thirsty Ears Festival, a chain of storefront music schools, and dozens of concerts in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and Mexico City. Seth is the host and creator of the award-winning podcast Relevant Tones and the Concept Lab series in Manhattan.

Librettist
J. Robert Lennon

J. Robert Lennon

Librettist

J. Robert Lennon is the author of nine novels, including Familiar, Broken River, and Subdivision, and the story collections Pieces for the Left Hand, See You in Paradise, and Let Me Think. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

Conductor
Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Conductor

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.

Director
George Cederquist

George Cederquist

Director

George is the Producing Artistic Director of Chicago Fringe Opera, called “the city’s alt-opera company” by the Chicago Tribune. Recent directing credits for the company include LA JETEÉ and CORSAIR, as well as the company’s long-running hit show THE ROSINA PROJECT, a Hip-Hop adaptation of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.
In addition, George has directed new productions and workshops of operas, musicals, and plays with Opera Festival of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Pittsburgh Opera, the Bay View Music Festival and Chicago Folks Operetta.
An inspiring mentor, George is the Producing Artistic Director of Opera and Theatre at North Park University.

Now in its ninth season, George hosts OPERA BOX SCORE [America’s Talk Radio Show About Opera] on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and WNUR 89.3 FM Chicago.

To learn more about George, visit gjcederquist.com. He proudly uses zero social media platforms.

Chorus
Lux Cantorum Chicago
Orchestra
Palomar Ensemble, Access Contemporary Music

On the film: La Jetée

A brief summary.

Chris Marker’s landmark film La Jetée still exerts the same power over its viewer today as it did in 1962.  It is the story of a man haunted by an image from his childhood.  On a peaceful Sunday at the observation deck of a major airport the boy sees a man shot and killed while simultaneously hearing the roar of a plane and the scream of a woman.  A few years later most of the world is destroyed in a horrific war and the few survivors eke out a miserable existence in underground caverns. They are ruled by pseudo-scientists who seek to send someone back in time, ostensibly to avert the catastrophe, and are drawn especially to people with vivid pre-war memories.

The man, now a scarred war veteran, is sent back in time where he encounters the woman from his childhood. She calls him her ghost and wonders if she’s dreaming.  They fall in love and he chooses her over his mission but there are consequences.  Composed almost entirely of still black and white photos taken by Marker himself during post-war Europe under the shadow of the threat of nuclear holocaust, the film is simultaneously a vivid meditation on memory, dreams and time, a moving love story, and a stark metaphor of human existence as a time loop in which we are doomed to commit the same fatal mistakes over and over again.

Libretto

La Jetée
{The Jetty}

An Opera in Four Acts

An airport observation deck

{The Past}

When I was a boy…

…before the war,

on the jetty…

…a woman’s face,

the frozen sun.

When I was a boy…

…clear-skied on a Sunday,

a sudden roar.

Her face crumbled,

a man fell.

An underground

refugee camp

{The Present}

The city crumbled,

blood soaked the rubble.

They ground us down,

forced us underground.

Rage and fire,

annihilation…

…they declared

that

they had won.

Two scientists prepare

an experiment.

{The Present}

Millions dead…

…poisoned air,

rats and dust…

…and yet

they think they won!

The only way…

Space cannot save us…

…summon the Past…

…a loop-hole in time…

…send a man back–

–who remembers.

It can be undone.

Summon the Past.

A sudden roar,

her face crumbled…

…a man fell.

The Experimenters

observe the Man.

{The Present}

His memories are clear

as sun through window glass.

His mind survives

the passage to the Past!

Others come back mad

or not at all.

He is someone

who remembers.

He’s the one, at last,

to undo the city’s fall!

The Experimenters watch

the Man dream.

{The Present}

Pre-war images appear.

Your dreams. We’ve been watching your dreams…

…your memories so pure.

None are purer than yours.

His pre-war memories pull the Man back to the Past.

Picture that day.

The woman’s face…

Concentrate.

…as the man falls…

Remember it now.

…the scream of planes…

Picture that day…

…the sun…

…as the man falls.

The Man’s connection

to the Past is unstable.

He hears voices

from the Past.

The Camp

{The Present}

The Man’s connection with the Past grows stronger.

Can you hear me?

Are you alive?

Let me look into your eyes.

The untainted world.

I saw it… through the haze!

She was there,

her careless face…

…innocent of future days.

The subject is fine.

He hasn’t gone mad!

That world–

My heart–

I cannot bear to see it.

The naïve world.

They cannot know…

…it will be torn apart.

The Camp

{The Present}

The Man falls

into a restless sleep.

{The Present}

His dreams are full of

pictures of the Past.

Images ooze

like confessions.

The silence of peacetime.

Real sun on his face.

Real birds, real graves,

real children.

The Woman remembers

her encounter with the Man.

{The Past}

Who can he be?

He looks at me

as though into a mystery…

…an impersonation

of a memory.

He’s a stranger,

but strangely…

…I recall him

running to me…

…like a dream that’s running through me.

She bears

the mark of history…

…never shattered

by the mark of calamity.

Come to me.

The Camp

{The Present}

What happened?

I recalled him.

Send him back!

It’s going to kill him!

No, he’s strong!

She recognized him.

We need more!

This is torture!

He can endure it.

Send me back!

Send me back to that

rich and dateless world.

Her voice,

the voice of peace.

Her face,

the face of happiness.

You’re wrong: the memories make me strong.

Remember her face!

Remember her voice!

Return to

a place of happiness.

Concentrate…

…imagine a day…

…the woman’s face…

…a walk in the sun.

…autumn leaves fall.

The Man rejoins

the Woman in the Past.

Images appear

and merge…

…of peace, real children…

…real birds, real graves!

Fabulous materials,

velvet and glass!

A woman’s dress.

My ghost,

where have you come from?

An unreachable country,

a long way from here.

A truth too fantastic

to believe.

This necklace of

cold gleaming metal?

Artifact

of great,

bloody battles.

A truth too fantastic

to believe.

What’s wrong? Something passed through you.

Echoes from

an improbable future.

Fainter now…

…like some

remembered dream!

I can’t hold on.

Promise to remember me.

The Camp

{The Present}

The connection is broken!

He’s weak and exhausted.

The woman distracts him.

She’s his sole motivation.

– A means to an end…

– The promise of love…

…no more, no less!

…in an unruined world.

The Woman is alone.

{The Past}

Is he real or am I mad?

And why do I feel…

…like an animal seen through mirrored glass…

…adored and in danger?

I feel for, and fear,

my vanishing stranger.

The Camp

{The Present}

Quickly, he’s stirring!

Send him back once more.

He’s nearly in focus.

Time is wind.

We are not its masters,

we’re its slaves.

It broke us.

Shouldn’t we

heed its command?

We have no choice–

Time is wind.

The Future awaits.

He thinks that love is real and protects us.

There is no love…

…only fate.

Inject him!

The Man and the Woman

meet again.

{The Past}

I had a dream,

or perhaps a memory…

You ran to me,

then a noise, a calamity.

Follow me…

…put your dreams

behind you!

To the museum,

where Time can’t find you.

They enter a museum of ‘ageless animals’.

{The Past}

The museum is not

the refuge they think it is.

Here, Time can’t find us.

We’re frozen…

…like these

ageless animals…

…in a place

that’s almost real.

Where the only thing real…

…is you.

The couple are watched

by the Experimenters.

{The Present}

This is a catastrophe.

Bring him back!

In love we’ll find–

(The power of memory:

a miraculous singularity.)

In love we’ll find

shelter from Time.

History is nothing

but shadows.

The Future is nothing

but illusion.

The Camp

{The Present}

Asleep, the Man hears

the voices of the Past…

…as the Experimenters debate their next move.

We musn’t let him wake.

Send him to the Future!

How much more

can he take?

The time to act is now.

He’s never had such power!

The Experimenters send

the Man to the Future.

The Future:

The Terminus of Fate

Humans have become

like Gods.

{The Future}

Where have you

come from?

You don’t belong here!

Years ago,

humanity was doomed.

The earth was in ruins.

Scientists,

hiding underground…

…devised a solution…

…and sent me here,

to the terminus of fate…

…for our salvation.

Save yourselves,

honored descendants…

…by sharing

your knowledge!

Primitive one,

your logic amuses us.

Time is not a river’s flow,

with one destination.

Fate determined

our survival.

You are not our hero!

And who are you

to assume we are your children?

What if we

are your enemies

become gods?

Please, I beg of you.

If you refuse…

…

I’ll never see

my love again.

She lives in the Past,

before the war.

That’s where I’ll go when

I complete my mission.

Foolish one,

you fill us with pity.

Take this power.

Use it well.

But remember:

fate disdains desire.

No consequence obeys your mortal wish.

Fate is your master!

The Man returns

to the Present…

…bringing a gift

of great power.

The Camp.

{The Present}

Now, at last,

I see

they have no use for me.

What I know

will seal my fate.

My knowledge

condemns me.

My god, it’s here!

The power, at last!

We’ll crush them–

–destroy them!

Your work here is done.

The battle is won.

What I know

will seal my fate.

But you must understand…

…the power you’ve seen

must never be known.

We’re banishing you

to the Future.

Take pity on me

and send me back…

…to the jetty, the woman’s face, the frozen sun.

I choose the Past:

clear-skied Sunday,

sudden roar.

Her face crumples,

a man will fall.

Consequence:

no escape from the acts of men!

Every shadow

men cast is indelible.

Those who step into

the stream

can’t escape.

Soon they sink

beneath the surface.

The Man is shot dead.

{The Past}

This was my dream.

I should

have known.

Farewell,

my ghost.

Tickets
Thank You

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