The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) is sponsoring a campus production of Both Eyes Open, a new chamber opera co-created by acclaimed playwright and professor Philip Kan Gotanda. New Performance Traditions will present the opera at Zellerbach Playhouse on February 15 and 16, 2025. University collaborators on the production include choreographer and dance lecturer Iu-Hui Chua; the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, directed by Associate Professor Wei Chang; and the Eco Ensemble, conducted by Professor David Milnes. Tickets are now on sale for $15–30 at tickets.berkeley.edu
Both Eyes Open tells a haunting love story and tale of perseverance about a Japanese American farmer and his wife who are incarcerated in an American concentration camp during the hysteria of World War II. With a libretto by Gotanda, music by Max Duykers, and direction by Melissa Weaver, the opera combines contemporary music and singing, interactive audio and video, and narrative-based movement.
“[Our opera] mashes up the lyrical with the raucous; an ambitious aesthetic with vaudevillian lowbrow humor," said Gotanda. “It reframes the incarceration of Japanese Americans to resonate with the timely issue of anti-Asian and anti-immigrant hatred.”
“The score moves from soaring bel canto singing, driving choral textures, contemporary and complex grooves, deep sutra chanting, and haunting electroacoustic sounds,” said Duykers. “The psychological landscape is painted through sonic accumulation, building to the tense and wondrous climax.”
Additional UC Berkeley sponsors for Both Eyes Open include the Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee; the Division of Arts & Humanities Dean's Office through a Mellon Foundation Project Grant; Cal Performances; the Department of Music; the Center for Japanese Studies; and the Townsend Center for the Humanities.
To learn more about Both Eyes Open, visit beo-opera.com
