Noam Shapiro, Haydee Zelideth, and Santiago Orjuela-Laverde present their concept for The Little Prince at Opera Conference 2019
Artists :
Noam Shapiro, director
Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, scenic designer
Haydee Zelideth, costume designer
Tamrin Goldberg, choreographer
Yana Birÿkova, projections designer
Reza Behjat, lighting designer
Associated Artists
Allen Moyer, mentor
Julia Discenza, videographer
Kelvin Pater, model builder
Chaesong Kim, Elizabeth Hepp, Luisa Muhr, Marie Paspe, Meghan Glogower, Taylor Mackenzie Smith, Thomas Moore and Tyler Morrisette, featured dancers
After being forced to seek shelter in the desert, a traveler encounters a “Little Prince” with a strange history. The two become unlikely friends as they both try to make their way back home.
Our production of Rachel Portman and Nicholas Wright’s The Little Prince reimagines Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s story as a modern migration story. As a group of migrants waits at the U.S. border, a father calms all the children by recasting their dangerous journey as the intergalactic travels of the Little Prince, transforming their interactions with smugglers, officers and aid workers into encounters with strange grownups and resplendent beasts in a world without borders. Modeled after the Public Theater's Public Works initiative, this bilingual production incorporates both professional singers and community members to radically expand civic engagement in opera. We aim to engage with populations that might not normally attend opera, while simultaneously calling attention to today’s “Little Princes,” migrant children who remain caught between homes left behind and hoped-for refuge.
This production was selected as one of four winners of the 2019 Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase and was presented at Opera America’s National Opera Conference in San Francisco on June 13, 2019. Nearly 40 applicant teams of directors and designers each created a production concept for an opera chosen from a curated repertoire list. Submissions included visions for staging, scenery, props, costumes, and required personnel. From 2019-2021, our designs were featured in a sixth-month rotating exhibition at OPERA America's National Opera Center in New York.