Beginning on May 2, the Curtis Opera Theatre presented the final opera production of the 2018-19 season: a double bill of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea, and Empty the House, composed by Curtis alumnus and Opera Philadelphia composer in residence Rene Orth. Explore photos from the production, presented in collaboration with Opera Philadelphia, below.
Photos: William M. Brown Photography
Riders to the Sea takes place against the beautiful, but deadly, backdrop of the North Atlantic.
As the production opens, the audience watches as Emily Damasco (L) and Tiffany Townsend (R) are transformed with age makeup and costuming for their roles as Maurya and Brenda, the mother figures in Riders to the Sea and Empty the House.Riders to the Sea tells the story of Maurya (Emily Damasco), a mother who has seen most of the men in her family die in accidents in the turbulent sea around Ireland’s Aran Islands. Her last remaining son, Bartley (Patrick Wilhelm) departs for a trip.Rocked by Michael’s death, Maurya predicts that by the end of the day, she will have no sons left. Her daughters Cathleen (Olivia Smith) and Nora (Sage DeAgro-Ruopp) comfort her, but chide her for sending Bartley off without a blessing.Rocked by Michael’s death, Maurya predicts that by the end of the day, she will have no sons left. Her daughters Cathleen (Olivia Smith) and Nora (Sage DeAgro-Ruopp) comfort her, but chide her for sending Bartley off without a blessing.Riders to the Sea closes with the tragedy that Maurya predicted. Her last son, Bartley, has been discovered dead after being thrown from his horse into the sea while riding along a trail above the shore.Riders to the Sea closes with the tragedy that Maurya predicted. Her last son, Bartley, has been discovered dead after being thrown from his horse into the sea while riding along a trail above the shore.As Riders to the Sea ends, Empty the House opens without pause. Faith (Sophia Hunt) has returned as an adult to her childhood home, to help her mother pack up the house to move.Faith and her mother Brenda (Tiffany Townsend) are not on good terms, their interactions ranging from openly hostile to a silent truce over meals.Faith reminisces with her brother, Paul (Dennis Chmelensky). Faith tells Paul that she hates her mother, while Paul encourages her to forgive Brenda.While packing, Faith locks Brenda in the house’s basement, a sort of revenge for Brenda leaving Faith in the basement as a small child.Brenda attempts to explain that as a poor single mother working two jobs, she couldn’t afford childcare and had only been trying to keep Faith safe.Faith continues to confront Brenda about her childhood, revealing to the audience that Brenda rejected Paul when he came out as gay many years ago. Paul has since passed away from AIDS.Faith shares a flashback with an imagined younger version of herself.As Faith prepares to leave, Paul reappears. He again asks Faith to forgive Brenda, but Faith leaves for the airport.Paul, now revealed to the audience as a ghost, comforts Brenda.
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