Blurring the Borders Between Broadway and Beethoven--an interview with Transgressive Theatre Opera
2017 has been an exciting year for Chicago opera-goers. The Windy City may be known nationally as the home of the Lyric Opera, but locally it stands for something quite different: an incubator for new and aspiring artists and companies to thrive, develop and pioneer new works and ideas. Chicago is quickly taking its place on the national scene as a nesting ground for performance companies that actively seek out some of the most innovative works. Many of these 'store front' companies produce high-quality niche productions, such as contemporary works written after the year 2000, or works that require shadow puppetry aspects in their productions. However, there remain a few rare exceptions to this rule-- companies who simply refuse to box themselves into artistic niches, and who seek to meld together creative aspects from multiple disciplines into one ultimate experience for their audiences.
Transgressive Theatre Opera is one such company that actively seeks to change the operatic scene as we know it. Born in 2015, this fledgling company has quickly garnered local attention for their unique melding of operatic standards with other art forms and backgrounds; there is no box or niche large enough to hold this eclectic, exciting company within it. Founder Aaron Hunt is renown among Chicagoland audiences for his 'strong, distinctive' performance style that features 'drop-dead precision'. As a director/producer, Mr. Hunt brings this same precision and personal standard of excellence to TT-O's productions. Everything about Transgressive Theatre Opera reflects the company's self-professed 'fulsome artistic sensibilities', from their high production quality to their usage of outstanding performers from varying disciplines. Even their mission statement (a usually-limpid-but-required assortment of non-confrontational terminology that arts companies paste on everything from their websites to their program notes) reflects this company's fervent desire to push boundaries--'Music that is as spoken as it is sung, spoken text so evocative and lyrical that it sings.'
I sat down with Mr. Hunt to discuss his company's objectives, some raw truths about casting practices in general, and how he personally cultivates audiences and artists alike to assist in his envisioned future for opera.
Please tell us a little about your opera company--who you are, what you do/specialize in, etc.
Transgressive Theatre-Opera looks for rep that is both spoken AND sung, to highlight that the notion that those known as "actors" may be operatically trained (unbeknownst to the performing community) and can really ‘deliver the goods’, while many performers known as opera singers have major acting ‘chops’. When we can mix groups with the same background but different specialties, everyone starts to bring a different game.
In order to find the right rep to showcase this idea that "lyric theatre" shows music theatre and opera colliding, we often look to contemporary pieces. This season we are doing our first standard rep piece, Cosi fan Tutte. But we will take an entirely spoken-sung look at the piece. There will be dialogue.
Chicago houses several large opera companies, and a multitude of smaller 'store front' opera companies. What do you believe defines Transgressive Theatre Opera from the other companies in the region?
Transgressive Theatre Opera defines itself by hiring artists whose careers have had varying focuses and throwing all of them into a mix. We choose rep that encourages all of our artists to grow, and to openly share that growth with the audience. Choosing the right rep for this equation is difficult but inspiring.
Many singers are concerned that operatic audiences are disappearing; please tell us a little about your audiences. What demographic tends to attend your performances? What demographic are you actively campaigning for? Do you find that, within the region, you have a strong following?
We're a new company, so we are still searching to define our ‘main’ audience, but . We would like to invite and maintain an audience that is open to seeing our productions in the manner they might any other theatrical outing. One month they might go to The Goodman Theatre to see a new play, the next month they might come to a TT-O production. We strive to really mix all genres and audiences, so that they garner an appreciation of opera as they would any other 'normal' art form.
In your opinion, what does the future of opera look like? What role does Transgressive Opera Theatre hope to play in the advancement of opera as an overall art form, and how will you ensure it happens?
Opera is going to move toward a much-greater sense of intimacy with the audience. It has to move people as film can; in a way, opera needs to become film. The singing technique is going to have to change. America prided itself on presenting the biggest, darkest operatic voices in the world in the 60s and 70s; the future of opera will be performed by lighter voices that come across to new audiences as much more "natural." TT-O is putting our performers ‘in the laps’ of the audience more and more. They could quite literally reach out and touch us! We are hoping to use this sense of intimacy to truly emote the pieces we choose.
'Accessibility' is a key buzzword within the classical music communities these days--everyone seems to want to be practicing it! How does Transgressive practice accessibility?
Transgressive Theatre Opera wants to speak specifically to the city's (Chicago’s) immigrants and descendants that come from countries with rich cultural backgrounds, but who might feel ‘left out’ of the larger national operatic-scene. Many of these nationalities and minorities don't feel ‘invited’, either in terms of rep choices, targeted audiences or ad campaigns. We want to find them and sing for them. We want to openly and warmly invite them to share in our art form. We're starting an initiative to fulfill this mission this season.
If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the way the opera industry functions, what would it be?
Gobs and gobs of federal funding!!
Where do you see your company in five years? What are some of the major goals you'd like to achieve in this time frame, both artistically and financially?
Opera companies need funding more so than ever. If we (the opera companies and producers) don't find a way to obtain more grants and funding, we won’t be able to survive. If we (TT-O) cannot find a way to obtain more funding, I will eventually have to close the company-- no company can last forever on the kindness of a handful of benefactors. We need to seek out new sources of funding and new ways to obtain it.
What was a production from your past seasons that you were particularly excited about or proud of? What do you believe this production helped your company to achieve?
This past year, TT-O produced an evening of three one-act pieces about Anton Chekhov. The shape of the evening really worked: the first piece’s libretto was taken from the most popular translation of one of Chekhov’s plays, the second piece acted as a "reading" of excerpts from Chekhov's love letters to his wife (complete with her responses), and the third piece drew it’s material from one of Chekhov's short stories. We were able to cast some of Chicago's finest singing-actors to present it, and the entire production was a rousing success! It reflected the core of TT-O’s mission: to bring together beautiful singing with inspired acting.
I see that you personally have a strong background in performance. What drew you away from the stage and into the role of to arts administration/producing? Can you tell us a little about your personal pathway to where you are now?
I have always been a ‘diverse’ performer. I’ve directed, conducted, choreographed--whatever paid the bills (luckily, I never bothered to learn plumbing)! These ‘extra skills’ were always secondary to my performing, although they did give me a sense of artistic satisfaction. In my younger days, I would sometimes resent helping my younger, more "beautiful" colleagues and artists find their way into a character whom I could feel in my soul, but whom I would never be paid to perform in a production because of my ‘look’. Thankfully, I've aged out of that envy! Now I can freely offer what I know and have learned.
I've spent quite some time serving on ‘the other side of the table’ in Chicago, and I've found that within the smaller companies there is often no production staff. Instead, the director is expected to be THAT (as in, ALL of the production staff in one) sometimes instead of simply being the director. This is where my ‘extra skills’ have really given me a ‘leg up’. I don't enjoy doing it all myself, but if I do it FOR myself and my productions (because honestly, in the end I'm going to have to do it all, anyway!), there are fewer arguments to wade through and more time to devote to the productions themselves. There are still some arguments, just fewer. *laughs*
Many of our readers are professional singers, and are curious about your company. Please tell us a little about the singers Transgressive Opera Theatre tends to engage. What is the ideal artist that your company would like to feature, and how do you go about finding them?
I cast in a way that would have made myself furious when I was engaged as a younger performer-- I cast people I know. I cast people I like to work with, but IF and only IF their voices are right for the roles. I also am extremely careful to seek out repertoire that will fit the people I want to cast, vocally and acting-wise. I know SO many talented people and singers within Chicago; but I find that, as a director and producer, I want to surround myself with those artists with whom I have a ‘shared artistic language’. Does that mean I actively seek to hire "new" people sometimes? Of course! Because I might choose to do a particular opera for a particular singer in a particular way, I often will need to seek out new talent. There are usually other roles in the production for which I have no one who would be ‘right’ for them, vocally and/or dramatically. TT-O had our first round of formal auditions this year, but they were held in a ‘callback’ fashion. We called in singers whom my musical director and I knew in some professional capacity, and whom I thought might be ‘right’ for specific roles.
In my opinion, auditions are crap---they're like competitions. There are some people who can win a competition in a flash, but they can't stay the course; they're sprinters, not marathon runners. So how do I weed out the sprinters? I work for other companies. I watch how all the performers interact with each other. I observe how they take direction, how many times they show up to rehearsal hung over, and yes, what they write on their social media. And I use that information to guide my casting decisions.
For a professional performer, every day is your audition. Step outside your door, and you're at an audition. I'll be watching you like a hawk, every minute---THAT'S how I audition for TT-O. Want to put yourself at my door (TT-O is pretty cool, you should!!)?? Write to me, VERY professionally, and ask me to coffee. Sure, give me a link to your website, because if I don't know you and you don't have a website, I do NOT believe you're a serious performer. And if you don't have recordings on your website—well, then I have officially stopped liking coffee! I want to hear your version of ‘Let The Bright Seraphim’, and I want to know what our energy will be like together. It’s sort of like speed dating, but without the dating. Maybe that's how I should have an "open" audition--everyone sits in a circle, and we talk to each other one-on-one for five minutes at a time, no actual singing required.
This won't be a popular response. I’m aware of that. However, I believe this is the "real" response, the response that reflects what most storefront opera companies actually DO, even if they formally hold ‘open’ auditions. It is SO expensive, this art form of ours. How does a company justify throwing much-needed production money into the laps of a group of unknown singers, with little rehearsal time (according to "theatrical" terms, basically NO rehearsal)? You can't build a solid ensemble that way. You have to ensure ahead of time that your singers will work at a certain level before you can start building anything.
What about the "big houses?" I promise you, they operate much the same way—they are always watching. If someone isn't a good colleague, no matter their talent level, they're not going be hired back. If they’re an "okay" talent, but a joy to work with, I bet I’ll see them tread the Lyric Opera’s stage again and again.
Right now, TT-O is trying to build audiences, and our audiences will be looking for ‘movie quality’ productions. Movies can take the time to capture fifty takes of a single glance, whereas there will only be one per TT-O performance. I believe the fastest and safest way to ensure that we will give our new audiences the same sense of excitement that they get when experiencing film is to feed them the ‘special energy’; this energy is only obtained when a coterie of the performers onstage have worked together before, trust each other in a way gleaned from mutual experience, and TRUST the director. Believe me, if something doesn't work, I'll take the fall. And if it DOES work---well, then the performers did it.
But I wander from the point...
...what was my point again? Anyone want on this soapbox? *laughs* What is one piece of advice you would give to singers preparing for auditions this season?
Choosing your audition material is SO important. We at TT-O expect one aria that demonstrates a character that you feel is ‘right’ for your voice and FOR YOU. It’s best if it’s from a piece that we are doing in our season, but we are really looking for an aria in English that you can act so hard, it will knot my stomach. We also expect two monologues. I'm not one of those directors who doesn't want to be influenced by your interpretation of a character from the season. I want to see if you can MAKE CHOICES. Do SOMETHING onstage, anything-- maybe do something I HATE, but make a choice. And be prepared to talk after you sing. The singers I hire all ending up talking at some point, whether it be onstage or during the process.
Information on Transgressive Theatre Opera and their upcoming productions can be located here: http://www.transgressivetheatre-opera.org
Transgressive Theatre Opera's Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/transgressivetheatreopera/
Information on Aaron Hunt can be found here: http://www.aaronhunttheatre.com/