AN OVERVIEWDeath and the Powers will be a highly innovative and unusual opera, groundbreaking in musical language and materials, scenographic technique, and performance technology. It will be a one-act, full evening work scored for a small ensemble of specially designed Hyperinstruments, and will include a robotic, animatronic set – the first of its kind – that will gradually “come alive” as a main character in the drama. The opera will have broad appeal, compelling to opera lovers as well as to young, adventurous audiences, and will be adaptable to presentation in a very wide range of performance venues.

SYNOPSISSimon Powers was a great man, a legend who wanted to go beyond the bounds of humanity. He was a successful inventor, businessman, and showman. During his life, he accumulated unimaginable wealth and power. He is the founder of the System, a human organism material experiment which investigated the transduction of human existence into other forms. His work was heralded as revolutionary and genius, but his ideas and experiments also had implications that mainstream society found objectionable. He has received thousands of hate letters. To many, he is considered a pariah. Reaching the end of his life, Powers faces the question of his legacy: “When I die, what remains? What will I leave behind? What can I control? What can I perpetuate?” He is now conducting the last experiment of his life. He is in the process of passing from one form of existence to another in an effort to project himself into the future. Whether or not he is actually alive is a question. Simon Powers is himself now a System. Powers must rely on his family to complete the experiment. The strains on the family come to a head, as Evvy, his third wife, withdraws more and more from the real world in a desire to join Simon in the System. Miranda Powers, Simon’s young daughter by his first wife, is fearful of losing touch with the real world, and tries desperately to keep her father connected to the suffering of others in the world. The family also includes Nicholas, who is Simon’s protégé, the son he never had. Nicholas is the ultimate product of Simon’s manipulation. Nicholas holds the knowledge on how to project Simon to the future. Like a puppet and somehow incomplete himself, he is devoted to completing Simon’s final experiment. Simon’s transition into The System creates global havoc prompting a visit by representatives from The United Way, The United Nations, and The Administration, as well as a parade of the world’s miseries— the victims of famine, torture, crime, and disease. This story is framed by a ensemble of “rolling, lurching, and gliding” robots who have been commanded in some future time to perform this pageant, and who – in a Prologue and Epilogue – attempt to understand the meaning of death.

MUSIC AND INSTRUMENTATIONComposed by Tod Machover, one of the most significant and innovative composers of his generation, the music of Death and the Powers will represent a bold step forward towards a new kind of opera. Innovative vocal techniques will be designed especially for this work. Instrumentation for the opera calls for a small ensemble (ca.10 players: 5 strings, 3 winds, 1 percussion, 1 keyboard) located in the pit. Players will perform on specially designed, next-generation Hyperinstruments which will represent significant advances over our current ones, in gestural sophistication, beauty of sound, and simplicity of use. Unlike current electronic instruments, these new Hyperinstruments will allow each performer to control his/her precise sound mix and balance, with overall balance of instruments and voices being modulated by the conductor. Another innovative musical feature of the opera will be the first-ever use of sonic animatronics (“sonitronics”), or physical, sculptural elements, such as a robotic “Chandelier” which is both a beautiful, compelling object as well as a subtle, resonant musical instrument whose string-like surfaces are struck, bowed, tickled and stretched by skilled Hyperinstrumentalists.

SCENEOGRAPHY AND PRODUCTIONThe production of Death and the Powers will be at once spectacularly innovative and practically simple. The stage will represent Simon Powers’ house, but this room will gradually reveal itself to be a vast, interconnected, intelligent system that will allow the room itself to change its shape, undulating, vibrating, pulsating, or pounding. This “robotic architecture” is being designed by Cynthia Breazeal and her team at the MIT Media Lab and production designer Alex McDowell (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Terminal) who will bring his considerable experience in film design and animatronics to the stage for the first time. Embedded in The System will be a number of image display surfaces and sound-producing elements, capable of showing the disparate, fleeting thoughts and memories from Simon’s inner world. Also essential to the production of Death and the Powers is an overall technical design that will allow the opera to be installed, rehearsed and performed in extremely diverse performance spaces.

SCHEDULEDeath and the Powers will be developed and produced at the MIT Media Lab through Summer 2008. It will receive its World Premiere performances in Monte-Carlo – under the patronage of Prince Albert of Monaco – in November 2008 and then will tour worldwide.

BOOKS

Book Specifications:-Individual Books are 2” wide, 14” deep and either 13”,15”, or 17” tall

-Individual books to slide from start position to 15”, with variable speeds and stop points

-Spines to have LED Panels capable of displaying imagery

-Spines to have transparent cover with slight curvature

-Total books in current design: 91566

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF BOOK

EXPLODED ISOMETRIC VIEW OF BOOKSCALE = 3”-1’-0”

SHELVES

Shelf Specifications:-Individual shelves are 1’-10” high and 5’ wide

-Each shelf to hold 28 books

-Shelves to have mechanics to allow books to slide in and out

-3 variations of shelves

-Total Shelves in current design: 323

SHELF ELEVATIONSSCALE = 1”-1’-0”

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF SHELF

WALLS

WALL ELEVATION AND SECTION SCALE = 1/4”-1’-0”

Wall Specifications:-Individual walls are 20’ high and 15’ wide

-Each wall contains 36 shelves, and 1008 Books

-3 variations of shelves spread randomly throughout each wall

-Total Walls in current design: 9

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF WALL

COLUMNS

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF COLUMN

Column Specifications:-3 Walls set at 60 degree angles create one traingular column

-Interior of column to hold performers, stage hands, and neccessary structure and wiring

-Columns are mobile, choreography through movement and rotation

-Total Columns in current design: 3

COLUMN PLANSCALE = 3/8” - 1’0”

DISPLAY SYSTEM

DISPLAY SYSTEM PLANSCALE = 3/16” - 1’0”

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF DISPLAY SYSTEM

Display System Specifications:

-3 Columns line up to create one 45’ wide by 20’ high screen capable of displaying imagery

-System capable of displaying individual images on each column or a single image spread across all three columns

STAGE CONFIGURATIONS

STAGE PLAN SCALE = 1/8”-1’-0”

BIRDS EYE VIEWS OF STAGE AUDIENCE VIEWS OF STAGE

CHANDELIER

Chandelier Specifications:

-Performs as formal, musical, and lighting element

-Chandelier consists of body and three operable wings

-20’ diameter wing span when open

-10’ diameter when closed

-Each wing to have 57 strings, 25 actuated for musical resonance (5 types of actuators)

-Each string to have lighting at beginning and end of string, lighting to extend the line work of the string

-End of wings to have key spot light to extend the form

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF CHANDELIER

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF STRINGING AND STRUCTURE

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF CHANDELIER LIGHTING CONCEPTPERSPECTIVE VIEWS OF CHANDELIER

ROBOTS

Robot Specifications:-Robots are equliateral triangles with sides and heights of 2’.

-Robots are mobile, capable of both basic and complex movement

-Heirerarchy of leader and follower robots is established through choreography

-Robots contain triangular heads (screen) capable of projecting light and color, screen has a wide range of motion, leader robots can extend up to 4’-6”

-Robots are able to produce down light and internal glow

-Individual mechanical nodes as points of light

-Total Robots in current design: 36

ROBOT PLANSCALE = 3”-1’-0”

ROBOT ELEVATIONSSCALE = 3/8”-1’-0”

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF ROBOT LIGHTING CONCEPT

LED SCRIM

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF LED SCRIM

LED Scrim Specifications:

-Hangs as backdrop to stage

-Capable of producing forced perspective sky imagery

-112’ wide by 70’ high

-Lights on 1’ grid

-Total Lights in scrim: 7840

LIGHT MATRIX

Light Matrix Specifications:

-3D array of lights hung from ceiling

-6 x 6 x 6 grid spaced on an 8’ module

-One matrix above stage and one above audience.

-Matrix above stage to fly in and out

-Matrix above audience to remain static

-Total Lights: 216 above stage and 216 above audience

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF LIGHT MATRIX

Composer/Creative Director: Tod Machover Librettist: Robert Pinsky

Story: Randy Weiner Director: Diane Paulus

Production Designer: Alex McDowell Robotics: Cynthia Breazeal

BIOGRAPHIES

CREATIVE TEAM

Tod Machover is head of the Media Lab’s Hyperinstruments/Opera of the Future group. An influential composer, he has been praised for creating music that breaks traditional artistic and cultural boundaries; his music has been performed and commissioned by some of the world’s most important performers and ensembles. In 1995, he received a “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,” one of France’s highest cultural honors, and in 1998 he was awarded the first DigiGlobe Prize from the German government. He has composed five operas and is the inventor of Hyperinstruments, a technology that uses smart computers to augment virtuosity. Hyperinstruments have been used by performers such as Yo-Yo Ma, Prince, and Peter Gabriel. Machover is also the creator of the Toy Symphony, an international music performance and education project. His research group is currently examining ways to use music in therapy for emotionally and physically challenged individuals. Machover was formerly director of musical research at Pierre Boulez’s IRCAM institute in Paris. He received both his BA and MA from the Juilliard School in New York.

Robert Pinsky ~ United States Poet Laureate (1997–2000), Translator, Essayist, and Teacher. Robert Pinsky’s first two terms as United States Poet Laureate were marked by such visible dynamism, and such national enthusiasm in response, that the Library of Congress appointed him to an unprecedented third term. Throughout his career, Pinsky has been dedicated to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world.

Randy Weiner is a writer, director, and producer of live theatrical events. He is best known as the foremost creator of a hybrid form of theater, which he calls “Club Theater,” that mixes the music and energy of a nightclub with the drama and spectacle of theater. New York Magazine calls him “the master of the club spectacle”. His “Club Theater” shows have been presented at venues throughout the United States and Europe. He is the creator of THE DONKEY SHOW, a disco-version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” that has run for the past eight years all over the world including productions in New York, London, Edinburgh, Geneva, Madrid, Helsinki, and in Spring, 2007, Seoul. Randy is the creative director and co-creator of BEACHER’S MADHOUSE, a variety show, now in its fourth year at The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Randy is also the executive producer and creator of STAIRWAY TO HELL, a Heavy Metal musical play, currently running at Snitch in New York City. This Summer, Randy’s wrestling rock opera, TURANDOT VS. MYSTERIO: THE RUMBLE FOR THE RING, will be presented at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. In the Fall, his fashion show inspired, runway extravaganza, FASHION 47, will premiere at the Tony Award Winning CTC in Minneapolis. Randy is currently working with the Bee Gees to develop a musical extravaganza, JULIET, featuring music remixed by Pete Tong, scheduled to open at the ten-thousand person party, Manumission in Ibiza, in Summer 2008. Randy is a partner in New York City’s hottest new venue, The Box, and for the last eights years has served as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Office for the Arts at Harvard University.

DIANE PAULUS is a director of opera and theater. She has directed LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA, TURN OF THE SCREW, COSI FAN TUTTE, and ORFEO at Chicago Opera Theater. In 2002, her production of ORFEO was presented as part of The Monteverdi Cycle at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2007, she will direct Monteverdi’s IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA at COT, marking her sixth collaboration with British conductor Jane Glover. She is the creator and director of THE DONKEY SHOW, a disco adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which ran for six years Off-Broadway, and toured internationally to London, Edinburgh, Madrid, and Evian, France. Recent theater work includes THE GOLDEN MICKEYS for Disney Creative Entertainment in Hong Kong; BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, a gospel/r&b adaptation of “A Winter’s Tale” produced Off-Broadway by Music-Theatre Group and The Women’s Project; and THE KARAOKE SHOW, an adaptation of “Comedy of Errors” set in a karaoke bar, produced by Jordan Roth Productions. Also for Music-Theatre Group, she directed the Obie award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist RUNNING MAN by jazz composer Diedre Murray and poet Cornelius Eady; FANGS (music by Murray and libretto by Eady); and SWIMMING WITH WATERMELONS, created in association with Project 400, the theater company she co-founded with her husband Randy Weiner. Her other work Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theater: BRUTAL IMAGINATION, and the Obie-award winning ELI’S COMIN, featuring the music and lyrics of Laura Nyro. Upcoming projects include the opera LOST HIGHWAY by composer Olga Neuwirth, based on the David Lynch film, to be presented in a co-production by the English National Opera and the Young Vic in London.

Alex McDowell, RDI. Alex McDowell’s career as a production designer spans two-plus decades of award-winning music videos, television commercials, and animation and feature films. An advocate of immersive film design, McDowell integrates digital technology and traditional design technique, creating a production design process that allows for unprecedented control over the look of the final film. Notable amongst his body of work are The Terminal, the largest architectural set ever built for film, and The Head on the Door, a music video for The Cure featuring the band inside a wardrobe, the smallest set ever built. He designed The Crow, Minority Report, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and is ever watchful for projects that resemble no other. McDowell is also involved in projects under the auspices of Matter Art & Science, a networked group of artists, designers, scientists and engineers he founded in 2000, that explores the progressive need to bring art and science into a new convergence. In 2006, McDowell was named Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA, the UK’s most prestigious design society; and was appointed Visiting Artist at MIT’s Media Lab.

Cynthia Breazeal directs the Robotic Life Group at the MIT Media Lab. She is internationally known for seamlessly blending scientific theories, artistic insights, and engineering principles to create compelling robotic creatures that have a lively and compelling social presence to those who interact with them. Her current research extends these themes in the area of human-robot relations to create cooperative and capable robots that can work and learn in partnership with people.