Angel’s Bone, an opera that deals with the very real story of human trafficking, will be presented at Harbourfront Centre for its Toronto premiere. The production uses creative storytelling to portray the stark realities facing victims, and the resilience of survivors. It follows the story of two young people who are enticed into a dependent and exploitive relationship with traffickers.
The Toronto remount of Angel’s Bone is presented by a partnership of four of its original producers, including Toronto’s Array Music and Loose Tea Music Theatre, and Vancouver’s Sound The Alarm: Music/Theatre and Turning Point Ensemble.
The score was composed by Du Yun, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2017. Yun is a Chinese-American composer with professorships at both Peabody Institute and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The libretto is by Canadian Royce Vavrek. Canadian-born, Brooklyn-raised Royce is a fixture in NYC’s indie opera scene and beyond. His work has been performed by the Los Angeles Phil and Los Angeles Opera, International Contemporary Ensemble, and many other prominent groups.
In a statement, Yun says of the work,
“Art does not solve problems. Art, at its best, functions to provoke and suggest. When we choose to have our characters sing, we tackle a phenomenon: we too, can be any of these people — angels or not, middleman or not.”
The Toronto premiere takes place March 22, 23 and 24.
We contacted Terriea Harris, community consultant on human trafficking, a survivor, and the production’s rehearsal resident counsel, in place to help the team embody these characters and their circumstances in a way that’s both truthful and healthy to all involved, and Co-Director/Co-Producer (with Alaina Vlau) Alan Corbishley about what to expect.
Angel’s Bone Toronto: The Q&A
LvT: How did you come to be involved in the Toronto premiere of Angel’s Bone, and what impression(s) can you share about the opera?
Alan: This opera is no ordinary opera. It is designed to disrupt; to disrupt standard operatic form through its use of traditional and non-traditional voices used; to disrupt genre classification through its catapulting from medieval chant, into contemporary opera, into jazz, into punk; to disrupt what topics we present on stage and whose stories we tell.
It is an experience like no other, and it asks for a kind of resilience and courage from anyone who engages with it. If you are looking for a romantic operative experience that will leave you indulging in great melodies and lush music — this is not it. I know, I know…. I’m painting quite the picture — but through our promotion of this production, which we are proud of and want people to experience, it does require some audience care, and there is an obligation to be upfront and transparent as to what you are coming to.
So, I would say, if you are comfortable being uncomfortable, this is a great show for you.
Terriea: To be completely honest, when I was invited to be a part of an opera highlighting the social injustice of sex trafficking — I was scared.
I did not know what to expect; I only had my personal lens to draw upon filled with biases and one experience witnessing the “Phantom of the Opera” in elementary school.
My willingness to remain open and curious left me feeling blown away by the skill and heart that went into this art piece. It is an experience that must be witnessed and felt to be understood. Even if you are not an opera fan, this piece will move you, as a survivor of sex trafficking….
It certainly moves me.
The trailer from its 2016 world premiere:
LvT: How does the music and performance capture the emotions at the heart of the work?
Alan: The music is very diverse and intentionally unpredictable to keep the characters, and the audience, unsure of place and time, as well as the inability to sink into a ‘knowing’ of sonic predictability. It is beautiful and poetic at times, it is musically harsh and loud at times, it is electronic and dancey at times, it is disturbingly absent at times.
The performers and cast have been really incredible as it requires sensitivity and bravery to tackle such difficult characters within extreme situations, feeling such extreme emotions.
Here is a reviewer’s take on that: “Asitha Tennekoon as Boy Angel brought a tour-de-force performance, with an incredibly difficult score, plucking stratospheric high notes out of thin air and imparting the desperate rage of his captivity. He was absolutely spectacular and incredibly emotionally compelling throughout.” (Schmopera)
So yes, the music at times captures the emotions of these characters, and frankly, it is more than we are used to in opera — despite it being a genre of intense and heightened emotional landscapes.
The committee of community experts involved in developing the authentic narratives layered into this production has really anchored the team in knowledge, and has aimed at allowing for emotional care through rehearsals.
LvT: How important is local involvement, which has been a feature of both the Vancouver and Toronto premieres? How important is is to put the work into context?
Alan: It is best to have Terriea speak to this. But….
As the opera is centered around the subject of human trafficking, the point is to be non-complacent, nor comfortable observers, to the realities that exist in our Canadian backyards. It is not a comfortable feeling to squarely face harsh truths as it relates to trauma and our dirty underbelly of society.
But the reality is, human trafficking is actually a big Canadian problem. It is for that reason that our artistic team has worked for the past six years with frontline workers dealing with the ramifications of this crime on our youth and their families. Through that informative work, we have designed this particular production to reflect the abuses of power and how that looks at various stages of exploitation, as authentically as possible.
As Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre (a company I founded) helps ‘sound alarms’ on social issues through art, that requires committed investment in the ‘alarm’. Working closely with this heroic team of community workers, trying to generate support for those affected by being trafficked, we have worked hard to truthfully and responsibly deliver an impactful piece of theatre that informs and is respectful to survivors.
Terriea: It matters to be authentic and within integrity to the voices and realities of Canadian human sex trafficking in the social messaging. This, I believe was understood and implemented from the onset with the formation of a Social Committee for the Vancouver production and our continued involvement in Toronto.
To me, there is no authentic social messaging without context, it becomes a fictional show without it.
LvT: Would you agree that art and performance are perhaps the best (most effective) way of conveying not only what you might call a social message, but its human side, and costs? In Western/eurocentric society we tend to silo off the arts from the rest of life, but it seems to me that it can play a much larger role, particularly when it comes to healing.
Alan: I do feel the arts are a key venue for change. It allows difficult discussions to be had within a forum that allows space to digest the many diverse perspectives, which in turn often allows for contemplative thought and change.
Having said that, especially since COVID, we seem to be turning to the arts to escape the difficult daily realities of stressful news and heightened social tensions. So paying for an experience that is continuing that notion of being ‘challenged’, is perhaps a harder sell for people to sign up for these days. This is why we are engaging the media in awareness campaigns around Canadian human trafficking, so that the issue is less hidden, and there is a meaningful artistic experience attached that helps put it into perspective.
Terriea: Harnessing the power of art and performance to convey a social justice message has the capacity to weave our humanity together as a shared experience. The messaging can also be experienced instead of simply intellectualized (which can be a feature of Western/Eurocentric society) and therefore, oftentimes with intellectualizing, the reality can be avoided.
We have the opportunity to turn towards what should feel uncomfortable and cultivate our capacity to witness, and allow that discomfort (and the emotions witnessing inspires) to move us into action. Turning towards a social justice issue like sex trafficking through the medium of art and performance opens us to the possibility for a shared human experience of empathy, growth and inspired action.
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