WHO ARE THESE CHARACTERS?

Over at Experiments in Opera headquarters, we have a special affinity for compelling stories and personalities. Zombies, Nuns, Inventors, Founding Fathers, Skateboarders, Astronauts… These are the characters who inhabit our community’s imagination, and we think they represent a unique perspective on opera. In this spirit, we asked 17 friends and collaborators to imagine new operatic characters that may or may not ever make their way into a bona fide opera. The resulting characters found in these pages are a motley crew of misfits, half-humans and neurotics. How about them operas?

Contributions by Nadia Berenstein | Roddy Bottum | Jason Cady  | Mallory Catlett | Kurt Gottschalk | Daniel Handler | Audrey Hinsdale | Taylor Ho Bynum | Andy Horwitz | Daniel Kushner | Hannah Marie Marcus | Louisa Proske & Michael Attias | Reuben Radding | Megan Schubert | Aaron Siegel Leaha Maria Villarreal | Matthew Welch

Illustrations by Lauren Kolesinskas