Death and the Powers
Scenography and Production
The production of Death and the Powers will be at once spectacularly innovative and practically simple. The stage will represent Simon Powers’ house, but this room will gradually reveal itself to be a vast, interconnected, intelligent system—Simon has turned himself into the room, or vice versa. To accomplish this effect, we will design and build an unusual set that will allow the room itself to appear to change its shape, undulating, vibrating, pulsating, or pounding. This “robotic architecture” is being designed the Opera of the Future team at the MIT Media Lab and production designer Alex McDowell (Minority Report, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Watchmen) who will bring his considerable experience in film design and animatronics to the stage for the first time. The System, programmed to create sculptural images, moving patterns, and even human-like gestures and expressions, will show the audience the disparate, fleeting thoughts and memories from Simon’s inner world. Just as Machover’s Valis and Brain Opera completely changed the nature of live, interactive musical performance, we believe that Death and the Powers will launch a new era of opera production.
