Gilberto

Oakland. 1951. The Korean War looms large over the newly drafted young men of America. Gilberto, 21, left New Mexico for California six years ago and has never looked back. Resourceful and charming, he makes a life but not a living teaching dance lessons at Sweet's Ballroom in Oakland until he is drafted into the U.S. Army Infantry and shipped overseas to fight in the Korean War. Gilberto is proud to be called to serve his country but struggles to maintain his identity amidst the violence and cruelty of war. Tomorrow, we fight. Esta noche, we dance mambo.

Composer: Nicolas Lell Benavides
Librettist: Marella Martin Koch
Pianist: You Zhao
Director: Ryan McRee
Gilberto (baritone): David Castillo
Campbell (tenor): Fatu Su’esu’e
Alysse (soprano): Vincentia Geraldine
Elena (soprano): Sherley-Ann Belleus
Linda (soprano): Emily Thebaut
Bartender (mezzo-soprano): Meagan Martin

The Girlfriend

Video game designer Cybil and her best friend, Tony start a gaming company with fellow designers Olivia and Melody. Fed up with the portrayal of women in video games and the ways in which female gamers are often sidelined and bullied, they develop a groundbreaking idea to turn old sexist tropes on their heads.

Composer: Celka Ojakanga
Librettist: Amy Punt
Pianist: Luis Reyes 
Director: Sarah Hahm
Cybil (mezzo-soprano): Maria Dominique Lopez (5/9) Gloria Palermo (4/29, 4/12)
Melody (soprano): Sherley-Ann Belleus
Olivia (soprano): Emily Thebaut
Tony (baritone): David Castillo

Séance

At a dinner party in the early 20th century, Mr. More, a man with a scientific interest in the afterlife, invites his sister and her new husband to take part in a ritual to call on the dead. What begins as a form of after-dinner entertainment becomes eerie when the spirits of the dead respond in unexpected and disturbing ways. The Séance takes place in an era when Spiritualism was in vogue and the wealthy enjoyed innocent experimentation with the occult, and imagines what would happen if the truly voiceless dead answered their call.

Composer: Timothy Peterson
Librettist:  Sara Fetherolf 
Pianist: Timothy Peterson
Director: Victoria Pearlman 
Mr. More (baritone): Kyle Chase
Mrs. Foster (soprano): Vincentia Geraldine
Mr. Foster (tenor): Fatu Su’esu’e
Medium (mezzo-soprano): Maria Dominique Lopez (5/9) Gloria Palermo (4/29, 4/12)
Voice of the Dead (soprano): Graycen Gardner