“What is the meaning of a man?
What is the meaning of a flag?
What is the meaning of America?”
THE BODY POLITIC
“This opera has a voice! …Timeless terms that speak to the role of storytelling as a means to understanding.”
“[The Body Politic] resonated with my experience both in this skin and in this state.”
“It’s a beautiful piece and a deeply inspiring story. And, of course, it navigates terrifyingly relevant and urgent waters. It’s a cry for justice in so many forms, yet it’s also a heartwarming human story.”
“I knew nothing about people who identified as transgender… Mainly I learned what I know through trial and error and sitting through a performance of The Body Politic... That’s what The Body Politic did for me. I believe it can have the same impact on others.”
“The cast offered a compelling message through song that moves the discussion along about LGBT issues. ”
one body, two worlds… transformed.
THE BODY POLITIC
Music by Leo Hurley, Libretto by Charles Osborne
The Body Politic is a contemporary opera that follows a transgender “bacha posh” from Afghanistan who is adopted by a North Carolina aid worker at the height of the Afghan War. When his burgeoning LGBT identity collides with the traditional American family, it mirrors the dangerous collisions he faced in the hyperpatriarchal community of his past.
This explosive new opera exposes the daily bigotry and the divisive prejudices of the post-9/11 world and today, as well as the trans-cultural connections that can unite diverse bodies, religions, and political viewpoints across the world.
In 2016, The Body Politic became the first opera or musical in American history to perform for a state legislature when it was presented at the North Carolina General Assembly in response to the discriminatory “bathroom bill”. The bill passed while the opera was in rehearsals at Harvard University for its world premiere at the Boston Center for the Arts.
PRODUCTION HISTORY:
New York Musical Festival (NYMF) 2017, Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY, July 2017
NC State Legislature, Raleigh, NC, May 2016
Boston Center for the Arts, Juventas New Music Ensemble, May 2016
Commissioned and premiered by Juventas New Music Ensemble, Boston Center for the Arts, May 2016
