Project Titles: Navigators
Recipient Organization: Opera Piccola
Lead Artist: Rinde Eckert
Genre and Date Awarded: Performing Arts, April 1997
Dedicated: August 26-September 4, Temescal Art Center, Oakland California
Premiere: September 16-October 9, 1999, Theater of Yugen/Noh Space, San Francisco

Acclaimed composer and performing artist Rinde Eckert collaborated with Opera Piccola to create Navigators, a contemporary folk tale for family audiences. In Eckert’s tale, four space travelers sail into the year 2000 and find themselves on a strange planet. Eating a plant that causes amnesia, they forget who they are and discover false identities before they learn their true ones. According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian (August 25, 1999), “Without knowledge or memory, they embark on a quest for identity, encountering unpredictable Weather Events, the Soul of the Planet, and a Miraculous Oracle.”

The finished piece incorporated spoken text, song, movement, and incidental music. The score, performed by a three-piece band, wove together elements of tango, waltz, gospel, jazz, Korean opera, and hymns. The production was filled with colorful, playful set and costume elements.

After previews at the Temescal Art Center and its premiere at the Noh Space in San Francisco, Navigators became part of Opera Piccola’s repertoire of touring pieces, performed in schools and community centers throughout Northern California.

The Navigators project made it possible for Eckert to create a rare work for other singers and actors to perform and his first piece for multigenerational audiences. “I’ve never done anything with this kind of populist dimension to it,” Eckert wrote, “This gets back to earlier forms of opera, when composers knew who they were writing for.” He continued, “Solving problems in the context of a small arts organization with a diverse community audience, you have to come up with solutions that are drastically more interesting than just what’s happening in your head. A limitation becomes a provocation and a wonderful moment is created.”

Successful on many counts, Navigators’ development took longer than expected, in part due to scheduling problems and in part because of the collaborative, creative process Susannah Wood, director of Opera Piccola elaborated, “Rinde led the collaborators through a highly interactive and invigorating process, engaging all involved in a ‘democracy’ of ideas. In meetings and rehearsals held over a period of 28 months between spring 1997 and summer 1999, the collaborators—and the piece they were working on—continually posed the question’ How shall we proceed?’ as a metaphor for the beginning of the New Millennium.”

Other artists collaborating with Rinde Eckert included choreographer Deborah Vaughn, costume designer Migul Garcia, and set designer Leiko Yamamoto Pech, and Opera Piccola Director Susannah Wood. The cast for the premiere contained Abraham Aviles, Ken Berry, Miguel Garcia, Tracie Van Hook, Songyun Park, Carmen Sosa, Monta Vaca, and Narelle Yeo. The band of performers, which included children, rotated its players from one performance to the next.

Eckert had collaborated as a writer, director, composer, and performer, in different combinations since 1980 with various artists and ensembles, including George Coates Performance Works, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. He previously had worked with Opera Piccola, in 1986 directing Maid as Mistress, 1989 directing La Serva Padrona, a comic opera by Pergolesi, and in 1990, restaging its production of Bastien and Bastinenne, by Mozart.

Opera Piccola is a multiracial troupe of actors, singers, dancers, and designers who present new original operas and operas adapted from world traditions for modern audiences of all ages. While Opera Piccola specializes in creating operas based on folk tales, Navigators was its first piece for which it created an original story, a “folk tale for our times.” The company’s primary artistic purpose is to redefine opera to be accessible for modern audiences as a living art form that includes music, dance, and stories of cultures from around the world. It was the first Bay Area company to commission and present “fusion operas”—pieces that combine jazz, classical, and ethnic music. Founded in 1982 by director, vocal coach, and arts educator Susannah Wood, the company has performed for young audiences, families, and senior citizens in theaters, schools, libraries, senior centers, neighborhood centers, and a wide variety of community gathering places. It also manages an extensive arts education program in Oakland public schools.

Rinde Eckert

Rinde Eckert began making work in 1980 with The New Performance Group (Seattle), an ensemble of musicians interested in exploring the border of music and theater. A series of collaborations he began in 1986 have established a position for him at the intersection of music, theater, and dance, where he is still camped.

Since the roles Rinde plays in the development of these works vary widely from piece to piece (writer, composer, performer, and director, in different combinations), a chronology of his artistic career best represents his accomplishments.

Chronology of Works

• was are/will be, writes and performers, premiere at Japan American Theater, Los Angeles (1985)
• Slow Fire, writes and performs one-act version, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles (1985)
• No Say, creates this first as a duet with Byron Brown, New Performance Gallery, San Francisco, California (1986)
• Isthmus, solo written for Sarah Shelton Mann, New Performance Gallery, San Francisco, California (1986)
• Slight of Hands, composes and directs this duet for Byron Brown and Sarah Shelton Mann, New Performance Gallery, San Francisco, California (19886)
• EVOL, writes the musical score for evening-length dance by Contraband, Theater Artaud, San Francisco, California (1986)
• Slow Fire, completes the first two-act version, American Music Theater (1986)
• Nomad Mad, writes and performs with Ruth Zaporah, also composes and designs the sound and musical score, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1897)
• Not for Real, writes and directs for Leonard Pitt, also designs the sound score, Life on the Water Theater, San Francisco, California (1987)
• Shelf Life, collaboration with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, writes and performs the text, Theater Artaud, San Francisco, California (1987)
• Shorebirds Atlantic, writes text and music for this duet with Margaret Jenkins, choreography by Jenkins, Kalang Theater, Singapore (1987)
• Shoot the Moving Things, radio musical, writes and performs for PKFK in Los Angeles, California (1987)
• No Say, develops this earlier work for an installation at CalArts with sculptor Rory Nakata, Valencia, California (1987)
• Invisible Wars, writes the music for this dance by Contraband, Theater Artaud, San Francisco, California (1987)
• Slow Fire, completes the final two-act revision of the piece, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, Iowa (1988)
• Grace Floats, writes text and music and directs for Deborah Slater, New Performance Gallery, San Francisco, California (1988)
• Dry Land Divine, solo piece he writes and performs, Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley (1988)
• and so they, writes and performs short duet with Margaret Jenkins, Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley (1988)
• Steps Midway, composes the music for solo by Margaret Jenkins, Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley (1988)
• Power Failure, writes the libretto and performs this two-act opera with music by Paul Dresher, American Music Theater Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1989)
• Shorebirds Atlantic, adapts for “Alive from Off Center,” PBS-TV (1989)
• No Say, revises this early work as a solo performance, premieres at Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1989)
• Fanfare, creates and performs with Chad Naharin for “Serious Fun” at Lincoln Center (1989)
• Secret House, writes the text and performs with Oberlin Dance Company, Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley (1990)
• Woman Window Square, composes the score and writes the text for the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Crannart Center, Urbana, Illinois (1990)
• Pioneer, writes and performs in collaboration with Terry Allen, Jo Harvey Allen, John Duykers, and Paul Dresher, Spoletto Festival, Charlotte, North Carolina (1990)
• Considering the Stained Glass Hands, writes and directs for “Diverse Works” in Baltimore, Maryland (1990)
• La Serva Padrona, directs opera by Pergolesi for Opera Piccola (1990)
• Finding My Way Home, composes an album of songs which form the basis for his new musical group, The Complete Strangers, Lee Townsend, producer (1991)
• The Complete Strangers, band debuts in San Francisco and New York (1991)
• The Gardening of Thomas D, finishes writing and composing this work for himself and Ellie Klopp, co-directs with Melissa Weaver, University of Iowa, Walker Art Center, and On the Boards (1992)
• Do the Day Over, second album with The Complete Strangers (1992)
• Awed Behavior, writes libretto and directs two-person opera with music by Paul Dresher (1993)
• The Gates/Faraway Near, conceives and writes with Michael Palmer in collaboration with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and The Paul Dresher Ensemble (1993)
• Burning Bright, sings major role in premiere of opera by Frank Lewin, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1993)
• Burning Dreams, sings major role in premiere of opera by Gina Leishman, San Diego Repertory Theater (1994)
• The Gardening of Thomas D, performs French translation on tour in France, (1994)
• The Evolution of the Joke, composes the score and performs this short dance piece choreographed by Ellie Klopp and premiered at The Sunset Center, Carmel, California (1994)
• The Finsterwald Diary, composes chamber music piece for New Performance Group (now The Sonora Ensemble) (1994)
• The Idiot Variations, writes, composes, and performs this evening length solo ‘garage’ opera, co-production of Hancher Auditorium, On The Boards, P.S. 122, and the University of California, Los Angeles); performs Czech translation in at Divadio Archa, Prague (1995)
• Four Songs Lost in a Wall, writes, composes, and performs this radio opera, commissioned by New Radio and Performance (1995)
• Five or Six Dances, composes for the Sonora Ensemble, premiere at Cornish College of the Arts, Washington (1996)
• The Idiot Variations, performs new Czech translation at Archa Theater, Prague (1996)
• Final Hour, installation/performance for Rudolfinum museum in Prague (1996)
• Seduction, conceives, writes, and co-directs this two-person piece for Leonard Pitt and Ruth Zaporah (1997)
• Hair Blood and Vinyl, conceives, directs, and co-writes this five-person piece for the Juggernaut Theater. Premieres at the New York Fringe Festival (1997)
• Story In Story Out. Releases third solo CD; two narrative suites, music and text (for Intuition) (1997)
• Romeo Sierra Tango, writes and performs this solo piece based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, commissioned by New York Shakespeare Festival, premieres The Public Theater, New York, New York (1998)
• Ravenshead, writes libretto and performs this one-man two-act opera with Steve Mackey, premieres Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania (1998)
• Breathe Normally, writes text for multimedia dance theater work by the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, premieres Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois (1999)
• Navigators, conceives, writes, composes and directs children’s opera for Opera Piccola, Oakland, California, premieres Temescal Art Center, Oakland, California (1999)
• A Tale We Told the Queen on the Fourth Day of our Journey to the East, writing and directing new work with students at the University of Iowa as an Artist in Residence, premieres University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (1999)
• And God Created Great Wales, solo opera-theater work based on Moby Dick, commissioned by The Foundry Theater, New York, New York (2000)
• The Global Vocal Meeting, represents the West in a concert featuring singers from different parts of the globe. Tours Germany and Sweden (2000)
• An Idiot Divine, performs two earlier works (Dry Land Divine and The Idiot Variations) together at The Culture Project, New York (2001)
• And God Created Great Whales, remounts piece at The Culture Project, New York (2001)
• Highway Ulysses, writes, composes and performs this large work for American Repertory Theater. Based on Homer’s Odyssey, the work involves 8 actors, a chorus, and a combo of musicians. Premieres 2003.
• And God Created Great Whales, London premiere, The Barbican Theater (2003)
• Dream House, writes libretto in collaboration with Steve Mackey, and sings the solo in this 48 minute ‘oratorio.’ Scored for symphony orchestra, soloist, solo chorus, and guitar ensemble. Premieres in Amsterdam with the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra and Synergy Vocals (2003)
• American Theater Magazine, publishes the text of Highway Ulysses in the September 2003 issue.

Awards

• Best New Theater Performance (for Not for Real) Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, San Francisco (1987)
• Best Text and Music Score, (for Shelf Life) Isadora Duncan Award, San Francisco (1988)
• Best Solo Performance, (for Slow Fire) Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, San Francisco, California (1988)
• Best Production, (for Not for Real) Academy of Theater Artists and Friends, Chicago, Illinois (1988)
• Best Text and Music Score, (for Dry Land Divine), Isadora Duncan Award (1989)
• Arts and Letters, The Esquire Register (1989)
• Drama Desk Award Nomination for Sound Design (Therese Raquin) (1998)
• Drama Desk Award Nomination (And God Created Great Whales) (2000)
• Obie Award, (And God Created Great Whales) (2000)
• Eliot Norton Award for Best Production by a Large Resident Company (Highway Ulysses) (2003)

Susannah Wood

Susannah Wood’s primary work since 1989 has been as a stage director and writer collaborator, adapting works and creating new shows for Opera Piccola. She has trained and performed in as an actress, singer, and dancer since she was six years old, and, since 1970, has taught voice, acting, and dance classes to children and adults both privately and in schools and colleges.

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Stage Direction and Choral Conducting

• Stage Director, Chac, the Rain Spirit, Hansel & Gretel, Into the Eye of Magic, The Stolen Aroma, The Global Village, Solstice Celebrations, Help! It’s Christmas, Opera Piccola, Oakland, California
• Assistant Director to Rinde Eckert, Bastien and Bastienne (1989), Maid as Mistress, Opera Piccola Commedia production (1986)
• Children’s Theater Stage Director, Native American Project, Neopit, Wisconsin; The Camp Club, Buck Hills Falls, Pennsylvania
• Conducting, Rockridge United Methodist Church Choir; Grace Institute Choir; The Seasons Choir, all in Oakland and Berkeley, California (1985-1996)

Writer, Stage Director, Collaborator

• Collaboration with Shahrnush Parsipur, author, and Scott Hill, composer, script and music for original theater work, “The Guests; a Tale of Iran” (2003)
• Stage Director, “A Terrorist Comedy,” by Steve Koppman, The Fringe of Marin (2003).
• Collaboration with Melissa Wong Renati, breast cancer survivor, on script for “What/Do,” a one-act play commissioned by SF Breast Cancer Action (2000).
• Writer, “The House of Understanding,” a play for young audiences about conflict resolution, commissioned by the East Bay Agency for Children (2001).
• Collaboration with Jacqueline McCauley and Madelyn Pyeatt, script for original theater piece about disabilities to tour East Bay Schools and libraries (1996-97)
• Collaboration with Richard Talavera, Chac, original opera based on Mayan folktale, Opera Piccola (1995)
• Collaboration with Michael Garcia on script for Solstice Celebrations, Opera Piccola’s touring holiday program for libraries (1994)
• Adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol set in 1990s corporate America, Help! It’s Christmas, commissioned by Chevron (1994)
• Collaborated with Michael Garcia, adaptation of George Wolfe’s The Colored Museum for high school students (1993)
• Collaborated with Beverly Jarrett, script for The Stolen Aroma, original opera based on an African folktale, Opera Piccola ((1993)
• Collaborated with Merrill Collins, script for The Global Village, original musical for Opera Piccola’s touring program (1992)
• Collaborated with Carolyn Lau, script for Into the Eye of Magic!, an original opera based on a Chinese folk tale, commissioned by Opera Piccola (1991)
• Adaptation of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel for Opera Piccola tours (1989)
• Translated and adapted dialogue for Bastien and Bastienne (Mozart) and Maid as Mistress (Pergolesi), Opera Piccola tours (1983-86)
• Scriptwriter, A Victorian Christmas, touring holiday program, Opera Piccola (1987)
• Adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milkwood, The University of Chicago (1972)

Professional Experience

• Artistic Director and General Manager, Opera Piccola (1982-present)
• Management Intern, Oakland Youth Chorus, (1987-88)
• Enrollment and Scheduling Coordinator, Derby Street Daycare (1984-85)
• Publicity, Music Series, North Congregational Church (1979-82)
• Reporter, editor, Chicago City News (1968-72)

Performance

• Operatic roles with Opera Piccola, San Francisco Lamplighters, Berkeley Opera Outreach, Voices S/F, San Lorenzo Community Opera, Inspiration Point Summer Music Festival (1975-96)
• Theater Roles with Chicago Repertory Company, Chicago Free Theater, University of Chicago Radio Theater, Proposition Satirical Revue (Boston) (1969-72)
• Concerts with Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, Oakland Chamber Orchestra, Old First Concerts, San Francisco Legion of Honor, Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Talent Bank, San Francisco Early Music Society, South Bay Chamber Orchestra, University of Chicago Collegium, Music of the Baroque (Chicago). AGMA member, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus (1969-1990)

Teaching

• Opera Piccola workshop in schools (1987-96)
• Susannah’s Voice Studio, Oakland (1989-present)
• Kinder Music, Oakland (1984-85)
• Pre-school Music, Orinda Community Center (1972)
• Chorus Class, Colombia College Center for New Music (1972)
• Dance for Singers, Chicago (1970-72)

Artist-in-Residence (all with Opera Piccola)

• California Arts Council Artists in Schools
• Oakland Artists in Libraries Program
• Oakland Technical High school (1994-present)
• Bret Harte Jr. High School (1996-97)
• Far West Alternative (1997)
• Oakland Arts in Education Program
• Fremont High School (1993-present)
• Kaiser Elementary School (1994-96)
• Havenscourt Jr. High School (1997)
• Claremont Middle School (1995-97)

Leiko Yamamoto Pech

Professional Experience

• Assistant to the Curator, Committee for the Dellums Portrait (1995-present)
• Celebration Team, Rockridge UMC, responsible for concept, design, execution, and management of arts events involving church congregation and neighborhood groups (1991-present)
• Floral Designer, J.S. Towata Flowers, Oakland, California (1995)
• Floral Designer, self-employed, Oakland, California (1994-present)
• Consultant and designer for thematic events (1994-present)
• Coordinator, large neighborhood block parties, Oakland, California (1991, 1995, 1996)
• Image Consultant, self-employed, Oakland, California (1988-present)
• Resident Artist, Social and Public Art Center, Venice, California (1978-79)

Summary Experience

• Responsible for research concept, design, organization, construction, and installation of both small and large thematic stage sets since 1991
• Recruited, trained, supervised volunteers for stage set construction and installation
• Collaborated with visual artists, dancers, musicians, poets, children, and senior citizens on performance art pieces and art events

Miguel Garcia

Costume and Make-up Design

• * The Guests, costume design, Opera Piccola
• Play without a Title, Garcia Lorca, costume design, Theater 11th Street
• Chrysalis, costume design, New Performance Gallery, San Francisco, California
• Chac, the Rain Spirit, costume design, Opera Piccola, Oakland, California
• The Stolen Aroma, costume design, Opera Piccola
• SF Touring Productions, costume design
• Purple Reign, costume design, Julian Theater, San Francisco, California
• Homey Con Bolsas, costume design
• Theater Performance Network, costumes, make-up
• Beckham Dance Theater, make-up

Performance

• Welcome to Esta Noche, one-man show, San Francisco Touring Production
• Underground Cabaret, actor, singer, dancer, San Francisco Touring Production
• Homey Con Bolsas (adaptation of Ionesco’s Man with Bags), Homey, La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, California
• Purple Reign, (stage adaptation of movie Purple Rain), Melancholia, Julian Theater, San Francisco, California
• Chac, the Rain Spirit, Chac, Dancer, Opera Piccola, Laney College Theater, Oakland, California
• The Stolen Aroma, Aroma, Opera Piccola, Laney College Theater, Oakland, California
• Into the Eye of Magic!, Watermelon King, Opera Piccola, Julia Morgan Theater, Berkeley, California
• La Serva Padrona, Vespone, Tornado, Opera Piccola Touring Production
• Solstice Celebrations, Darkness, Tourist, Opera Piccola Touring Production
• Le Grande Cirque, Ringmaster, Three one-acts: “The March,” “The News Item,” “Los Dos Caras Del Patroncito,” La Peña Cultural Center
• Show-Biz, Mr. Biz, Theater Performance Network
• Ninny & the Professor, Professor, Theater Performance Network
• Taming of the Shrew, Grumio, Drama Studio of London
• The Rehearsal, Prince Petty Man, Westend Stage
• Cyrano de Bergerac, Bourgeois, Musician Bertrandou, Westend Stage

Directing, Choreography, Playwrighting

• Welcome to Esta Noche, Playwright, Choreographer, San Francisco Touring
• Underground Cabaret, Playwright, Choreographer, San Francisco Touring
• Homey Con Bolsas, Adaptor, Co-director
• Solstice Celebrations, Co-director, Collaborator, Opera Piccola
• Yo Soy?, Choreographer, Shotwell Studios, San Francisco
• He/She in the Land of Color & Sex, Choreographer
• Show-Biz, Playwright
• Ninny & The Professor, Playwright

Television and Video

• Subliminal Sferics, Musician, Dancer, Director, Leonard Pitt Studios
• Drama Therapy in Action, Actor, South African Television
• Coming of Age, Co-director, Opera Piccola

Teaching Experience

• Artist-in-residence, Opera Piccola