What if it were possible to experience the miracle of the operatic voice happening so close, you could feel the vibrations of a great aria pulsating on your skin? Well… brace yourself for an up-close-and-personal operatic experience – in drag.

We’ve asked Heartbeat Opera to bring their powerful-but-minimalist production to the High Line as part of our summer-long tribute to the infamous Renegade Cabaret fire escape series – Out of Line.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Heartbeat Opera is a young company intent upon re-imagining opera in intimate spaces for a new generation. Employing a minimalism that allows the emotional integrity of the music to shine through, the company’s work, led by Co-Artistic Directors Louisa Proske and Ethan Heard, focuses on the body of the singer and the power of the music. The company creates edgy productions of classics and new pieces that are daring and visceral—productions that bring out the emotional grandeur and theatrical power of opera.

Louisa Proske directs opera, new plays and classical theatre with equal passion. She holds an MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama and is an alumna of the Drama League Director’s Project and the Soho Rep. Writer-Director Lab. She has directed critically acclaimed opera and theater works around the globe. Louisa is also an Acting Teacher specializing in work on Shakespeare on faculty at Maggie Flanigan Studio.

Originally from Washington, DC,
Ethan Heard directs plays, musicals, and operas. He is equally at home creating productions of new work, Shakespeare, Sondheim, and Monteverdi. Ethan holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama, and teaches at Princeton University and the O’Neill Theater Center. He is Resident Director of Cantata Profana, a member of the Yale School of Drama Board of Advisors, and the SDC.