Strange Trace

On a Home Shopping Network style program for fringe political beliefs, four presenters attempt to sell remedies and solutions to popular conspiracy theories.

Strange Trace presents a micro-opera by composer Greg Nahabedian. Emails From Gary uses transcriptions of the actual emails and phone calls exchanged between the composer and a former boss as they tried to quit an honestly dangerous working situation. Our presentation ends with a dramatic reading of actual Yelp reviews of the business in question.

A standalone animated excerpt from the "Mother Goose" opera by Felix Jarrar

Polish folktale about love and community

Two snakes fight over a hot dog

Three people look for each other in a graveyard

Differing viewpoints are presented on the impending opening of the big box store, "Flo Mart."

The employees of The Missing Piece, a custom puzzle company, meet for a virtual happy hour to blow off steam and discuss ways to deal with the unexpected "puzzle boom." But nothing goes according to plan, including a visit from the company's CEO, as they find themselves trapped in the Zoom call and one by one meet a disastrous fate.

An operatic adaptation of the David and Goliath story. In this telling, Goliath is a cowardly pawn in a bigger machine.

An operatic interpretation of reality show reunions

See You Today presents six conversations removed from their surrounding contexts. In each scene, the performer has an exchange that begins with the same words—“I didn’t think that I’d see you today.” For a conversation partner, there is only the subtitles, which converse with the performer back and forth. From the mundane to the erotic, See You Today finds meaning in the process of conversing, rather than in the narrative context that surrounds it.

A standalone excerpt from the "Mother Goose" opera by Felix Jarrar

A standalone excerpt from the "Mother Goose" opera by Felix Jarrar

Creation myth about the invention of theremin

Conversational interruptions dance through realms of abstraction