Prototype Festival
Trade/Mary Motorhead
January 7–14, 2023
Composed by Emma O'Halloran. Libretto by Mark O'Halloran. Directed by Tom Creed. Music direction by Elaine Kelly. Featuring Naomi O'Connell, Marc Kudisch, Kyle Bielfield, and NOVUS NY.
A powerful double bill by Irish composer Emma O’Halloran.
In the compelling monodrama Mary Motorhead, a convicted murderer invites us to hear her secret history—the disappointments and betrayals that shaped her life—in the hope that it may shine some light upon the darkness of her actions. Mezzo-soprano Naomi Louisa O’Connell stars as the woman pushed to the edge by circumstance, now finding the road back to herself.
Trade is the story of a rent boy and his closeted client in working-class Dublin, both trapped within their own lives. Meeting secretly in a cheap hotel, they wrestle with their own inner demons and their need for each other. Three-time Tony nominee Marc Kudisch star of LA Opera’s Wonderful Town and anatomy theater portrays a family man whose world is crumbling apart, with international recording artist Kyle Bielfield as a young hustler determined to take charge of his future.
Press Quotes
“Some of the most unencumbered, authentic, and joyful music that I have heard in recent years”
– I Care If You Listen
“a real gem…a provocative work that grips the imagination”
– Operawire
“Perhaps the most impressive musical moment of the night was saved for last…a glorious string accompaniment that often felt like waves of music growing and growing to an impossible climax before relaxing into gentle string harmonics.”
– Operawire
Funding
World Premiere production by Beth Morrison Projects and Irish National Opera, in association with Trinity Church Wall Street.
Produced by Beth Morrison Projects in Association with Trinity Wall Street.
Co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, Irish National Opera, Trinity Wall Street, and Nancy & Barry Sanders. Additional production support provided by Virginia B. Toulmin Charitable Foundation, Antonia & Vladimer Kulaev Cultural Heritage Fund, Inc, Elizabeth Greenberg, Culture Ireland, and Charlotte Isaacs.
About Prototype Festival
Prototype is a co-production of Beth Morrison Projects and HERE, two trailblazers in the creation and presentation of contemporary, multi-disciplinary opera-theatre and music-theatre works. The pioneering festival is the only one of its kind in New York City and is a model now emulated around the country – producing and presenting a wide spectrum of works, from intimate black-box experiences to larger chamber opera productions, valuing artistic, curatorial, and producorial risk-taking.