EVENT
Mannes Opera Presents: DARK SISTERS
The Venue
Date: January 28th to 29th
Location: Bank Street Theatre
Mannes Opera is thrilled to present Dark Sisters composed by Nico Muhly with a libretto by faculty member Stephen Karam. This semi-staged concert with a full chamber orchestra is directed by Laine Rettmer and conducted by Geoffrey McDonald.
DARK SISTERS follows one woman’s dangerous attempt to escape her life as a member of the FLDS Church (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints), a sect that split from mainstream Mormonism in the early 20th Century largely because of the LDS Church’s renunciation of polygamy. The male founders of the Mormon faith (Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, chief among them) loom large in American history; Dark Sisters puts the women front and center.
The narrative draws inspiration from the flurry of media attention surrounding the two most infamous raids on FLDS compounds (the 1953 raid at Short Creek, AZ and the 2008 raid at the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, TX) as well as the stories of the over 80 wives of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Set against a red-earthed landscape filled with revelations, dark prophets and white temples stretching towards heaven, Dark Sisters charts one woman’s quest for self-discovery in a world where personal identity is forbidden.
Learn more here.
