EMBEDDED, the Edgar Allan Poe opera written by Deborah Brevoort, will be produced by the Ft. Worth Opera in their 2016 season. The production is timely as Goddard College rolls out its new focus on libretto writing.
EMBEDDED is part of the Poe Project, a double-bill comprised of two one-act operas, that was commissioned by American Lyric Theater in honor of the Poe Centennial in 2009.The results are two chilling works for the opera stage.
ALT began the project by posing the question, “What might Poe write if he were alive today?” Since Poe is the mastermind of terror, Brevoort and Soluri started with the subject of fear, by asking themselves what they were afraid of, and what could they write that would scare contemporary Americans who have seen it all.
For Deborah, the answer was simple. ” I live I New Jersey and commute to New York City twice a day through the Lincoln Tunnel, which is a prime target for terrorists, ” she said.   “I also live with the anxiety and fear of being a “woman of a certain age” in a field that is male dominated and youth obsessed.”
With these fears in mind, Brevoort and Soluri decided to explore terrorism, sexism and ageism. They took the Poe classic, Cask of the Amontillado, and set it in the world of broadcast journalism during the age of terrorism. Embedded tells the story of Sylvia Malow, an aging anchor on a national news show who is tossed aside because of her age. She tries to save her career by embedding herself as a journalist in a terrorist cell that is planning a new attack on New York City.
Here’s the announcement in the Dallas Daily News:
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/fort-worth-opera-announce-2016-festival.html/