HERE Presents World Premiere of 'Only You Will Recognize The Signal'

Live Serial Space Opera by Composer Kamala Sankaram, Librettist Rob Handel, and Director Kristin Marting Expands Possibilities of Digital Opera

The OBIE-winning HERE (Kristin Marting, Founding Artistic Director) is proud to present the world premiere of Only You Will Recognize The Signal, a serial space opera featuring music by Kamala Sankaram, libretto by Rob Handel, and direction by Kristin Marting. As creators of the world’s first Zoom opera, All Decisions Will Be Made By Consensus, and the 2019 digital surveillance opera, Looking at You, this creative trio continue their exploration into the convergence of technology and opera through this new serial live-streaming experience.

Only You Will Recognize The Signal is set aboard the Grand Crew, a massive luxury emigrant craft, where a group of travelers is expected to remain in therapeutic hypothermia until they arrive at their new home planet. Unfortunately, the technology has been compromised. Isolated in their pods, the unfrozen migrants find themselves entangled in a shared phantasmagoria that smells like sour gummi worms. They are stuck in mid-transition between planet A and planet B, between the end of the old life and the beginning of the new life, between memory and amnesia. They can’t finish the job of erasing the past, and they can’t move into the tenebrous future. But don’t worry: the ship’s computer, Bob, has a plan.

Only You Will Recognize the Signal features performances by Paul An, Christopher Burchett, Hai-Ting Chinn, Adrienne Danrich, Joy Jan Jones, Joan La Barbara, and Jorell Williams, with puppetry design and performance by Hanne Tierney.

The additional creative team includes David Bengali (Video Design), Normandy Sherwood (Costumes), Liminal Entertainment Technologies (Virtual Stage Engineer), David Kunz (Video Engineer), Paul Pinto (Audio Engineer), and Courteney Legget (Stage Manager).

Only You Will Recognize The Signal consists of 10-minute live episodes that premiere weekly each Thursday at 1pm EST through December 10. The completed 70 minute world premiere will debut on December 17 at 7pm EST and will be available for on-demand viewing until February 15, 2021. Formally, the seven-episode serial builds on the compositional flexibility, performer autonomy, and unexpected comedy for which the creators have been recognized.

Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can at here.org with a suggested donation of $5–$50. Each individual ticket at any donation level gives viewers access to each of the weekly installments as well as the final premiere.

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