Nathaniel Stookey and Eisa Davis' chamber opera Bulrusher premieres on August 3, 11, and 15 at West Edge Opera, as the company’s first full-length opera commission.
Based on Davis’ Pulitzer-shortlisted play of the same title, Bulrusher is a finely wrought coming-of-age story set in 1950s northern California. The title character is a young multiracial girl raised by a local teacher in an all-white community, after having been abandoned as small child. She is an orphan with a gift for clairvoyance that makes her feel like a stranger even amongst the strange. Bulrusher has never met anyone like herself until a young Black woman from Alabama comes to town. This meeting triggers her political, social, and sexual awakening, changing her life forever. Bulrusher is sure to be a moving operatic experience, combining the “erotic and psychological tension” of Davis’ drama (Theatrely) with Stookey’s “taut and tender” vocal writing (San Francisco Chronicle).
Bulrusher is scored for six principal roles, small chorus and large ensemble, with a cast featuring Shawnette Sulker, Kenneth Kellogg, Rebecca Cuddy, Briana Hunter, Matt Boehler, and Chad Somers; Emily Senturia conducts and NJ Agwuna directs.
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