Title: Both Eyes Open: A Chamber Opera on the Japanese American WWII Incarceration
Both Eyes Open
Presented by New Performance Traditions
Music by Max Giteck Duykers
Libretto by Philip Kan Gotanda
Featuring Suchan Kim, Zen Wu 吳肇文, and John Kun Park; Eco Ensemble with percussionist Joel Davel; UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, conductor David Milnes
With support from a Mellon Project Grant from the Division of Arts & Humanities Dean’s Office
“Both Eyes Open recasts the incarceration of Japanese Americans to show us disturbing truths about America then and America now. In this exciting, experimental opera we mash up the lyrical with the raucous; an ambitious aesthetic with vaudevillian low brow humor. We hope you enjoy the ride: a fresh, new work that reframes the WWII Incarceration of Japanese Americans to resonate with the timely issue of anti-Asian and anti-immigrant hatred.” – Philip Kan Gotanda
Playwright David Henry Hwang says: “Powerful yet nuanced, complex and deeply human, Both Eyes Open touches the spirit as it exposes the psychic wounds which history can leave on a community. Duykers’ thrilling and wonderfully enjoyable score evokes the past in order to speak to our world today. He and Gotanda have created a stunning new opera which will make audiences think and uplift their hearts.”
OperaWire says: “Both Eyes Open demonstrates the strength of opera as an art form and its contemporary relevance. The audience gets crushed by history throughout Duykers’ and Gotanda’s opera. It hurts to think about it, and it is challenging not to feel ashamed. It is unusual to hear nothing at all when a show ends. So it was in the Flea Theater. Until the cast took their bows to resounding applause, it appeared like few in the crowd knew how to react.”
Additional support from the UC Berkeley Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee, a Mellon Project Grant from the Division of Arts & Humanities Dean’s Office, Cal Performances, UC Berkeley Department of Music, UC Berkeley Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Townsend Center for the Humanities, and the California Civil Liberties Program.
For more information, visit beo-opera.com