Adapted from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novella of the same name, composer Rudolf Rojahn’s dark comedy is re-imagined in a stylized new production by director Copeland Woodruff, two-time winner of the National Opera Association Best Production Award.

A traveling carnival side show, using Bunraku puppets, tells the story of a scientist whose experiments of implanting human glands into the bodies of animals prove overly successful. After luring a dog into his apartment and performing a successful transplant the scientist, his assistant and the housekeeper have their hands full with their test subject. The grandeur of the scientific achievement is overshadowed by the misery of living with the half-dog/half-woman whose varied appetites and manipulations prove disastrous for all.

Ensemble:
Brian Church as Doctor
Patrick Massey as Assistant
Glorivy Arroyo as Housekeeper
Aliana de la Guardia as Dog/Police
Kent O’Doherty, Suitor/Saxophone
Mike Williams, Percussion
Gabriela Diaz, Viola
Javier R. Caballero, Cello
Sean George as Carnival Barker

Closing Night VIP Reception

After the final performance please join us at the Sheraton Boston (Dalton Street) for a celebration of the closing of the first production of Guerilla Opera’s 2010-2011 season with the cast, crew, and ensemble of Heart of a Dog.

$65.00 admission. Click on the button below to RSVP!

Loose, Wet, Perforated, inspired by medieval morality plays, is a fable which tells of two characters that compete with each other, undergoing various tests called “ordeals” to rise in rank in their Guild system. One starts in a privileged position and descends into isolation and despair. The other begins in a lowly fashion and rises by way of ruthlessness and violence.

Ensemble:

Aliana de la Guardia* as Loose
Brian Church as Wet
Matthew Truss as Perforated
Thea Lobo as Assorted Characters
Mike Williams*, Percussion
Kent O’Doherty*, Saxophone
Rane Moore, Clarinets

* Indicates Guerilla Opera Core-Members

Inspired by text drawn from public record, composer Curtis K. Hughes recounts his experience watching the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate.

“When watching the US Vice Presidential debate in 2008, I was struck by the extraordinary musical contrasts between the voices of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, as well as the convergence of two such fascinating life stories, both containing tragic, heroic, and comic elements. The audience for my opera ‘Say it ain’t so, Joe’ will experience a surreal and fractured vision of that remarkable encounter, as well as brief glimpses of other contemporaneous events and political figures, with some fantastical digressions.”

- Composer Curtis K. Hughes