The first performances of "Seeds Under Nuclear Winter: An Earth Opera," in its entirety, takes place this summer and early fall in New York State's beautiful Hudson Valley.
Confirmed performance dates are
August 27 & 28 at the Widow Jane Mine Theater, Rosendale, NY
September 23, 24, 25 at the Byrdcliff Theater, Woodstock, NY
"Seeds Under Nuclear Winter: An Earth Opera" shows stories of rebirth in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere. The theme centers on “finding light and beauty in the darkest times, and remembering how connected we all are to each other,” says Elizabeth Clark, composer/producer/performer of this immersive theater/performance art.
Using world and modern sacred music, “Seeds Under Nuclear Winter” offers sounds and visions of otherworldly realms that unfold in a non-linear and timeless path similar to the way we dream. Ms. Clark's 'Earth Opera' combines an immersive experience from many creative disciplines including music, performance art, and movement, as well as experiments with light and audience interaction.
The 'Earth Opera' includes an ensemble of 25 incredibly diverse Hudson Valley musicians, dancers, choreographers, actors, visual and performance artists. Elizabeth orchestrated the Earth Opera's score for a world music 'pit' orchestra of harps, piano, ethereal choral voices, Native American/Andean flutes and traditional instruments, Indonesian gamelan, chamber strings, droning harmoniums, hammered dulcimer, French horn, wind chimes, and frame drums.
Over 500 people came to the two 2021 performances of excerpts from “Seeds Under Nuclear Winter: An Earth Opera” at Rosendale, NY’s Widow Jane Mine Theater. Ms. Clark describes that venue like “an earth womb.” Audiences praised: ”So beautiful, and healing" and “Sacred moments of pain and hope for the light....a celebration of our universal humanity. You took us on a journey."
Elizabeth Clark is a composer, harpist, pianist, vocalist, poet, performing artist, and humanitarian, native to the Hudson Valley region. Her ever-evolving sacred and world music project is called “Mamalama” and manifests itself with interdisciplinary art forms in performance. “I see my exploration of music as a form of sung prayer and a way of healing,” she says.
She has performed a variety of solo and group performances and special presentations at many theaters, festivals, retreat centers, listening rooms, and sanctuaries throughout the Northeast including The Omega Institute, Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Kripalu Center for Yoga, Deep Listening Space Dream Festival, Bearsville Theater, The Colony, Levon Helm Studios (with Elizabeth Mitchell and Friends), at the United Nations, and others. She has spent many years offering live harp/vocal music at the bedside for those on hospice care. Elizabeth is also a composer/songwriter with the Hudson Valley non-profit organization Sagearts, collaborating on many original, life-reflective songs with local elders. Her work is part of the 2022 documentary PBS Special “We Remember: Songs of Survivors.”
August 27 & 28 at the Widow Jane Mine Theater, 668 Route 213, Rosendale, NY, 3 pm, 845-658-9900 CenturyHouse.org
September 23, 24, 25 at the Byrdcliffe Theater, 34 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY 845-679-2079 WoodstockGuild.org
