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Seattle Opera.

Stomping Grounds

Workshop: Stomping Grounds

Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 7:30 PM

The Opera Center | 363 Mercer Street

Free with RSVP requested

Seattle Opera and Seattle Children's Theatre join forces to present a workshop performance of the hip-hop opera Stomping Grounds. Written by Paige Hernandez and composed by Victor Simonson, this innovative work offers positive affirmation about cultural identity, diversity, and connection to home in an hour-long piece that premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2017.

Hip-hop, spoken word, and opera seamlessly blend for this one-of-a-kind exploration of love, faith, and home. Stories of refugees, immigrants, natives, and descendants of enslaved people intertwine as an inner-city coffee shop faces gentrification.

Approximate running time: 1 hour with no intermission

 

What is a workshop performance?

This workshop of Stomping Grounds is a working rehearsal that will be fully performed with musical accompaniment. Workshop performances are opportunities for artists and creative teams to present new works in front of audiences as part of the creative development process. Singers will be reading music off of stands with simplified or minimal additional production elements like sets, costumes, lighting, or other staging.

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Add to Calendar 11/7/2024 7:30:00 PM 11/7/2024 9:30:00 PM America/Vancouver Workshop: Stomping Grounds Workshop: Stomping Grounds Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 7:30 PM Tagney Jones Hall | The Opera Center (363 Mercer Street) Free with RSVP requested Seattle Opera and Seattle Children's Theatre join forces to present a workshop performance of the hip-hop opera Stomping Grounds. Written by Paige Hernandez and composed by Victor Simonson, this innovative work offers positive affirmation about cultural identity, diversity, and connection to home in an hour-long piece that premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2017. The Opera Center | 363 Mercer Street

Creative Team

Paige Hernandez, Librettist & Director

Paige Hernandez

Paige Hernandez is a multidisciplinary artist who is critically acclaimed as a performer, director, choreographer and playwright. As an AEA equity actress, Paige has performed on many stages throughout the country. She has collaborated with the Lincoln Center and has been commissioned by several companies including the National New Play Network, the Smithsonian, The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse and the Glimmerglass Festival. She is the recipient of an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council as well as four Helen Hayes nominations for choreography, directing and performance.

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Paige has also been named a “classroom hero” by The Huffington Post, a “Citizen Artist Fellow” with the Kennedy Center, “40 under 40” by The Washington Post and one of “Six Theatre Workers You Should Know” by American Theatre Magazine. Her work on inclusive spaces and theatre-based trauma informed practices has received international acclaim and garnered her such acknowledgement as the inaugural Victor Shargai Leadership Award and a repeat keynote speaker and presenter for Disney. In 2023, Paige was appointed to the Maryland State Arts Council by Governor Wes Moore. Paige was recently named one of the Top 5 Most Produced Artists for Theatre for Young Audiences. She is elated to be the Associate Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre in her hometown of Baltimore, MD. With her company B-FLY ENTERTAINMENT, Paige continues to develop and tour original work internationally. www.paigehernandez.com

Victor Simonson, Composer & Music Director

Victor Simonson

Victor Simonson is a multi-talented musician with gifts spanning in areas of conducting, directing, composing, arranging, orchestration, piano and vocals in genres including Classical, Broadway, Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Sacred, R&B and Folk. He is also a gifted Minister of Music, keyboardist and organist.

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Mr. Simonson currently serves as Music Director for the 1st National Tour of MJ the Musical. Simonson also composed and arranged music for the highly acclaimed run of AMEN CORNER at Shakespeare Theater in Washington D.C. that ran from Feb–March, 2020. He was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for music directing Three Mo’ Divas in 2006. He is Composer for the groundbreaking HIPHOPERA, STOMPING GROUNDS that premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2017.

Other Washington DC area appearances include Cover Conductor, West Side Story, National Symphony Orchestra; Music Director, Bud Not Buddy, Kennedy Center; Associate Conductor for The Wiz, Ragtime, 110 in the Shade, Freedom’s Song, and Violet at the Ford’s Theater; Associate Conductor, Pajama Game, Newsies, Arena Stage; Matilda, Wicked, Addams Family, Evita, Aladdin, and many other shows at the Kennedy Center; Tours—The Lion King (Rafiki), Memphis (Nat’l), The Color Purple (Nat’l), Three Mo’ Tenors. Regional—A Civil War Christmas; The Wiz at Centerstage Theater in Baltimore, MD; Brooklyn, The Musical, Denver Civic Theater. Film/TV—Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, Rosie O’Donnell, PBS, WORD Network, NAACP Image Awards. Concerts/Recitals—Il Divo, Denyce Graves, Angela Brown. Other—On My Journey Now, featuring Baritone Lester Lynch (arranger, pianist); The McLurkin Project (Orchestrator); Total Praise (Grammy Nom. CD, composer); Victory (Debut CD, 2008). Candidate for M.Div, Wesley Theological Seminary. Victor thanks God for this opportunity and gives God praise for everything, most especially his wife Reverend Ciara Simonson, his daughter Victoria and son Immanuel! www.VictorSimonson.net

Nick (tha 1da) Hernandez, Sound Design/Drum Controller

Nick (tha 1da) Hernandez

 

Cast

Chad DeMaris—Historian

Chad DeMaris

Tenor
At Seattle Opera in 2024/25: First Armoured Man, The Magic Flute

Hometown: Mason City, IA
Seattle Opera Debut: Eduardo Jr./Mr. Xoloti, Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World (‘23)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Monkey, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers ('24); Cop/Reporter 2, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (’24)
Engagements: Tenor Soloist, Missa in tempore belli (Masterworks Choral Ensemble), Kaspar, Amahl and the Night Visitors (Kitsap Opera, St. Thomas Medina); Spoletta (cover), Tosca (Utah Opera); Scottish Soldier #1, Silent Night (Utah Opera); Tenor Soloist, St. Matthew Passion (Salt Lake Choral Artists); Xu Xian, Madame White Snake (Edgar Snow Symposium)

Rocky Duval—Eda

Rocky Duval

Mezzo-soprano

Hometown: New York, NY
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: Writer/Composer/Hildegard, Hildegard, Reborn (Lincoln Center); Hansel, Hansel & Gretel (City Lyric Opera); Rosalba, Florencia en el Amazonas (Opera Steamboat); Soprano/Creator, Baroque Pop: From Vivaldi to Adele (Candlelight Concerts); Featured Poet, German National Poetry Slam (ARTE Television); Hekja, Freydis & Gudrid (IMDb - Freydis & Gudrid Opera) 

Cody Jarrett—Douglas Freeman

Cody Jarrett

Baritone

Hometown: Oxon Hill, MD
Seattle Opera Debut

Jawan Jenkins—Asku

Jawan Jenkins

Baritone

Hometown: Bronx, NY
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: Guest Artist, Peppermint Pops (Albany Symphony Orchestra); Baritone Soloist, An Early Grave (Georgia Symphony Orchestra); Action, West Side Story (Opera San José); Marcello, La bohème (Vegas City Opera); Policeman 3/Congregant 3, Blue (The Glimmerglass Festival); Ford, Tarquinius, The Rape of Lucretia (UT Austin, Butler Opera Center)

Stephanie Sánchez—Yesi

Stephanie Sánchez

Mezzo-soprano

Hometown: Las Cruces, NM
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: Mrs. Moreno, The Listeners (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Alto soloist, Handel’s Messiah (Phoenix Symphony); Fricka/Flosshilde/Norn, Der Ring in einem Abend (West Edge Opera); Carmen, La tragédie de Carmen (Newport Music Festival); Frida Kahlo, El último sueño de Frida y Diego (Opera Omaha); Die Hexe, Hänsel und Gretel (Kentucky Opera)

Shanelle Valerie Woods—Judge

Shanelle Woods

Soprano

Hometown: New York, NY
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: Soloist, Firesongs (National Sawdust); Alma Stinney, Stinney: An American Execution (GLOW Lyric Theatre); Jenny Diver, The Threepenny Opera (City Lyric Opera); Judge, Stomping Grounds (Glimmerglass Festival); Annie, Porgy and Bess (Spoleto Festival USA); Jeanette, L'amant Anonyme (Colour of Music Festival)

 

Presented in partnership with:
Seattle Children's Theatre