ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
DRIFT is a story of migration and climate change exploring the forces that drive families from their homes into the uncertain refuge of new lands. Esmerelda’s memory has been damaged in a country teetering on the brink of civil war. Braiding an intimate narrative between Esmeralda and her childhood friend, James, DRIFT opens in the glacial landscape of a post-war period scarred by ecological disaster. Swinging between the domestic and the surreal, the second act will return to the terminal green of the characters’ youths as they navigate in a toxic-laden panorama of swamplands and power plants. Touching on themes of motherhood, exile, and climate change, the narrative delves into the complexities of identity and nationhood; DRIFT is a prismatic journey of migration, with all its losses and wonders.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
J. Mae Barizo is an author, musician and multidisciplinary artist who works at the intersection of poetics, performance and decoloniality. Barizo holds an MA in performance from Mannes School of Music and an MFA from Bennington College. The author of two books, The Cumulus Effect and Tender Machines, her work, which often navigates links between geography and memory, has been anthologized by W.W. Norton, Atelier Editions and Harvard University Press. She is the inaugural recipient of Opera America’s IDEA residency, given to artists who have the potential to shape the future of opera. This season she will premier works at Long Beach Opera and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. DRIFT, a climate opera written with composer Alyssa Weinberg, is in development at National Opera Center in New York. A classically-trained musician and a champion of cross-genre work, she has collaborated with artists such as Beyoncé, John Legend, Mark Morris, and the American String Quartet. She has taught writing and transdisciplinary studies at Pratt Institute, Eugene Lang College and Parsons School of Design and is currently on the MFA faculty at The New School.