Aaron Cain: I'm Aaron Cain for WFIU Arts. IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theatre presents An American Dream, from a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo, with music composed by Jack Perla. It'll be performed this weekend at the Musical Arts Center—7:30 PM on Friday and Saturday—and I recently had the chance to speak with the opera’s director, Richard Gammon, and with the two artists who are double-cast as Setsuko: Sopranos Talinaya Bao and Siyi Yan. And Talinaya began with a brief synopsis.
Talinaya Bao: The story begins with the Kobayashi family living happily on their farm, and this is during World War 2. And, sadly, the Kobayashi family was found by the FBI agents to take them to camps. At the same time, this Jewish couple, Jim and Eva, are also looking for a house. Jim and the father of the Kobayashi family made a deal to sell the land for a much lower price than what the land is worth, so that they could make some money before having to be relocated. And they couldn't take much with them except for some necessities. They had to burn all the images of their Japanese heritage. And so, Setsuko finds this hole on the ground, and that's where she hides her precious doll. She hides it there, and she also steals a letter that was sent to Eva from her German Jewish parents back in Europe, because Jim and Eva are trying to get their parents to come to the States because of the state of the world at that time.
Aaron Cain: This is a very interesting and relatively new opera, and as I understand it, it began as a storytelling project that asked the question: If you had to leave your home today and you couldn't return, what one thing would you take with you?
Talinaya Bao: For Setsuko, at least, in the opera, the only thing that she wanted to take with her was her doll that was passed down from her grandmother to her mom, and it was a representation of the Japanese culture that has traveled all the way from Asia to the states with the Kobayashi family. Personally, for me, if I had to leave my home now, and I can only take one thing, it would probably be perhaps a photo of my family, or maybe a cultural costume. I'm Mongolian, so I have some traditional Mongolian costumes with me.
Aaron Cain: So you’d take that.
Talinaya Bao: Yeah
Aaron Cain: Let's ask you the same question, Siyi. What you, Siyi Yan, would take with you if you had to leave home forever.
Siyi Yan: Sure. Personally I would like to take my journal, which has a lot of, like, very beautiful memory, with me.
Aaron Cain: Let's ask Richard Gammon the same question. The director of this production of An American Dream. What would you bring?
Richard Gammon: If I had to leave, I would bring a rosary that my mother gave me that belonged to her. Yes, that's what I would bring with me. To be very transparent, when I first approached this piece, I did see it from an Asian American viewpoint, coming from my own lived history. My experience of this piece in Hawaii was very special. There was a local college and a teacher had brought her studio to come and see the production. And they stayed to talk to us. And there was a student from Singapore, and she came up to us. She was very shy. And she said, “I didn't know that I could really do this.” And we said, “that you could really do what?” And she said, “I didn't really think that I could have a career singing. This is the first time I have ever seen someone that looks like me, on stage, singing their own story.” We always say that art is a mirror. It reflects who we are, reflects part of us, but there are so few pieces in the repertoire that allow an Asian or Asian American artist to depict themselves, or some part of themselves, on stage. I'm very excited about that, personally, but I'm excited for anyone to come and see part of themselves on stage; to see what America is, what America has been, how we fit into that fabric, and who we are, and who do we see ourselves being in America.
Aaron Cain: Richard Gammon, thank you so much for speaking with me.
Richard Gammon: Thank you.
Aaron Cain: Sopranos Talinaya Bao and Siyi Yan. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Siyi Yan: Thank you.
Talinaya Bao: Thank you. It's our pleasure.
Aaron Cain: IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theatre presents An American Dream, performed Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 at the Musical Arts Center. More information at operaballet.indiana.edu. For WFIU Arts, I'm Aaron Cain.
