'lost_connection'
A distributed mini-opera about how technology fails us (performed Thursday, 7 April 2022)

Envisioned by Juanita Marchand Knight and co-created with the RISE team and the Concordia Laptop Orchestra (CLOrk), this mini-opera performance took place in four locations around Montreal (Concordia's 4th space and three apartments), enacting technological crises in four time periods:
Act 1: Lost Formats/Lost Art (1980s-1990s)
Act 2: Y2K and the end of everything as we thought we knew it (2000)
Act 3: the social network and the afterlife (2020s)
Act 4: Lost connection and posthumanism (2040s)

Credits:

Prelude 1: 'The Devil and Emily Dickinson'
(sung by The Devil)

Text by Emily Dickinson; 
Music: J. Marchand Knight, Nicole Ross, and Richard McLeish
lead 
vocals: Nicole Ross
backing vocals: J. Marchand Knight 
bass: Richard McLeish  

ACT 1: Lost Formats/Lost Art (the 1980s-1990s)

James Healey, host
Malte Lenader, text and vocals
Alana DeVito
Ben Molina
Sako Ghanaghounian
Charlie Harding
Theo Boehm
Connor Cook
Oonagh Fitzgerald, text
--------------

Prelude 2 'I Watered it in Fears'
(sung by the Internet)

Text by William Blake
music: Richard McLeish and Natalie Charles 
vocals: Natalie Charles; 
bass: Richard McLeish

ACT 2 
Y2K and the end of everything as we thought we knew it (2000)

Landon Kerouac, host
Jack White
Robert Thomson
Ben Rowland
Lilou Hugand
Maddy Schmidt
Valentina Plata
Liam Kennedy-MacDonald
Oonagh Fitzgerald, text
--------------

Prelude 3 'You Must Click Accept'
(sung by The Surveillant)
Created by Sheena Bernett

ACT 3 The social network and the afterlife (2020s)

J. Marchand Knight,  creation, electronics, voices
Sisi Chen, electronic improv
Joshua Lebrun, electronic improv
Emmanuel Racine, electronic improv
--------------

Prelude 4 'Don't you know who I am?'
(sung by the Gods)
Text, excerpts from Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods
Music and vocals: Cynthia Kinnunen

ACT 4 lost connection and posthumanism (2040s)

Theo Hughes, ambient track
Computer programming by:   
Theo Hughes, Ines Mouline, Devin Ashley,Sarah Harris, Guilien Skorny, Eldad Tsabary
Text by: Oonagh Fitzgerald, J. Marchand Knight, and Eldad Tsabary
--------------

Shadowy dances by: 
Oonagh Fitzgerald
Danielle Garrison

SSHRC credit
Le PARC credit
Concordia Music Department credit

lost connection – An Opera By RISE And CLOrk About How Technology Fails Us

Why do we dream? 
Concept by Valentina Plata
A collectively-improvised, intersensory opera that enacts a lucid dream state.
Created by RISE (Reflective Iterative Scenario Enactments) and
CLOrk (Concordia Laptop Orchestra)
Performed at Concordia University, LePARC (Performing arts research cluster) of the Milieux Institute, March 17th 2022

Singers (human and not), masked dancers, community musicians, costumed actors, chaos (f)actors, laptopists, sound sculpturers (physical and metaphysical), brain imagers, painters, object handers, dream journal reciters, deep dreamers, live coders, shape shifters, speaking masks on the walls, and happy campers enacted this lucid dream state in a collectively-improvised performance. Audience joined as dreamers, a precipitators, a participators, passer-bys, bystander,  bywanderers, spectators, and unexpectators. This performance triggered the "unsupervised imagination"of the dreams universe.

Voice:
Juanita Marchand Knight
Kate Markle
Malte Leander
Natalie Charles
Teresa Marie Connors

vocal creations (entrance):
Cynthia Kinnunen, choir direction

Sonic Dream Ensemble (Community choir, Guelph):
Sheena Bernett

Concordia Laptop Orchestra:
Alana DeVito, Ben Molina, Ben Rowland, Charlie Harding, Devin Ashley, Emmanuel Racine, Guilien Skorny, Ines Mouline, Jacob Wynia, James Healey, Josh Lebrun, Juju Tieman, Landon Kerouac, Liam Kennedy MacDonald, Lilou Hugand, Maddy Schmidt, Malte Leander, Robert Thomson, Sarah Harris, Sako Ghanaghounian, Sisi Chen, Theo Boehm, Theo Hughes, Valentina Plata, Eldad Tsabary

Director:
Eldad Tsabary

Dance:
Danielle Garrison
Oonagh Fitzgerald
Zoe Thornton 

Theatrics:
Maddy Schmidt, Painting
Gabrielle Anna Houle, Tarot
Eugenio de la Vega, Typewriter
Valentina Plata, Movement
Pat McMaster, Sitting / Projection
Landon Kerouac, Sound sculpture

Visuals:
Antoine Bellemare
Charli Morachnick
Eldad Tsabary
Pat McMaster
Valentina Plata

Set design:
Everyone & everything.

Of special note:
Danielle Garrison, fabric
Oonagh Firzgerald, 
- Jeanne B'Arc birch bark installation
- masks, props, costumes and makeup
  
Libretto
(excerpts from dream journals):
Cynthia Kinnunen
Danielle Garrison
Eldad Tsabary
Juanita Marchand Knight
Libby Tsabary
Oonagh Fitzgerald
Valentina Plata

Documentation:
Connor Cook, director
Matthew Sagar, camera
Nael Spiro Meza, camera
Catherine Reynolds, photography
Eldad Tsabary, video edit & mix

Tech:
Everyone & everything.
Of special note:
James Healey
Jacob Wynia
Malte Leander
Pat McMaster
2.4 GHz traffic 

RISE:
Anoush Moazzeni
Antoine Bellemare
Cynthia Kinnunen
Danielle Garrison
Deanna Yerichuk
Donna Hewitt
Juanita Marchand
Malte Leander
Oonagh Fitzgerald
Patrick Leroux
Ricardo Dal Farra
Sabine Bergler
Sheena Bernett
Valentina Plata
Eldad Tsabary, director

Thanks:
Performing Arts Research Cluster (Le PARC)
Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology
Department of Music, Concordia University
Everyone & everything

This creation was made possible by support from
Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
(sshrc/crsh)

Why Do We Dream A Lucid Dream Opera By RISE And CLOrk

Official SoundCloud account of the RISE Opera funded by SHHRC—Social Studies and Humanities Research Council in Montreal, QC, Canada