Seating: Reserved Seating
Additional Performances:
Friday, May 3—7:30PM
Composer, vocalist, and performing and recording artist Tamar-kali presents concert performance excerpts from The Swann — an opera she is developing featuring a libretto by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director and Curator-in-Residence, Carl Hancock Rux, about the life and times of William Dorsey Swann, the first known person to identify as a “queen of drag.” A formerly enslaved denizen of our nation’s capital, Swann was the first American on record to pursue legal and political action to defend the LGBTQ+ community’s right to gather. Set during his detention and conviction in 1896 for “keeping a disorderly house,” a criminal charge often levied against those who ran brothels, the opera explores the interior of Swann’s mind as inquest, analysis, and detainment begin to take their toll.
The program concludes with a discussion featuring Tamar-kali and her collaborators, including Rux and stage director James Blaszko.
CAST
William Dorsey Swann, Brian McQueen
bass
Police Officer, Daniel Moody
countertenor
Oshun, Tesia Kwarteng
mezzo soprano
Mother Mary, Marcella Murray
spoken
Judge Kimball, James Busterud baritone
Ethical Court of Law/Ball Attendants
Kenneth Alston Jr., countertenor
Brian Golub, tenor Hans Tashjian, bass
Musicians
Adam Rothenberg - music direction, piano
Ina Paris - viola
Jason DiMatteo - contrabass
Commissioned by Harlem Stage through its WaterWorks Established Artists Program and supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Thompson Family Foundation, and the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Fund. Supported by New Music USA’s Organization Fund in 2023-24.
Tamar-kali photo by Matt Murphy
