Neon Mirror Festival (2014)

Opera written for SATB choir with vocal soloists, barbershop quartet, piano trio, and organ. I wrote this for my undergraduate thesis in music composition at Willamette University, where the work was premiered in April of 2014.

CHARACTERS

Abra
Demons
Festival-goers
Research Dealer

SYNOPSIS

The story follows a young woman, Abra, who comes from a sheltered life, having had little exposure to anything social. She has severe anxiety, and has no friends her age, being too afraid to go out and meet anyone. She has spent her life privately cultivating her passion of ballet, an art in which she is formally trained. Abra’s anxiety is narrated by a group of four men, her Demons, who are constantly telling her what to do and how to feel.

Hearing that everyone her age is attending events called electronic dance music festivals, she decides to quell her own anxieties and purchase a ticket to attend one called Neon Mirror Festival, in hopes that she may find some like-minded individuals who also share a love of dance. She is rudely awakened to the society of these festivals and the debauchery it contains, and is exposed to drugs, physical danger, and sexual promiscuity.

At the festival alone and is overwhelmed by the proceedings. The first person she encounters is a dealer of a drug called Research, and he decides, out of niceness or malice, to give her a free dose. Holding onto these drugs that she is afraid to take, Abra is approached by a group of festival-goers who ridicule her quietness and innocence, pressuring her to let loose, forget her fears, and take drugs with them.

LIBRETTO

PART I.

Demons:
Why does she worry?
Because she’s nothing to worry about.
I suppose that’s pretty worrisome in itself!
And by whom is she troubled?
Nobody’s troubling her but herself!
And as yourself, we propose
You forget this festival and go on home.
But now it’s too late, your ticket’s bought
You are stuck, you can’t escape!
We are her troubles
As herself.

Research Dealer:
Research! Get your Research here!
Research! Get your Research here!
We got pink and brown and yellow and green,
Whatever color to suit your needs!
Change how you hear and what you see,
Just float around in ecstasy!
Hey you, yes you girl!
You’re looking pretty down.
We’ve got just the thing to turn your world around!
Upside down, around, upside down around!
Tell you what, we’ll cut a deal.
Hold out your hand and take these pills.
We can tell you’re new to this, so take from us this little gift.
Say goodnight to whatever was bothering you.

Festival-goers:
Hey, you look new, do you have enough research for tonight?
Ha, quiet girl, that’s okay, I kind of like the quiet type.
You don’t get around much do you?
Not one to experiment?
They call you innocent, don’t they?
Well, hopefully we can try to change that tonight.

Let us join together on this day!
Let us ascend, clear the way!

Demons:
Abra don’t you get your hopes up, we don’t belong here.
You can’t escape us, let’s be frank, you’re better grounded.

Festival-goers:
Fear not the lush, fear not the lavish, embrace the bloom!
You only live once, you only live once!

Demons:
Abra we’re in the wrong place let’s go home, let’s go home.
You know not a single soul, you’re all alone, you’re all alone.

Festival-goers:
Did you come here by yourself?
Are you too cool for this show?
Have you never been out of the house?
Ha! Well, let’s see you dance!

Shit she can dance!

You do you, you do you, you do you, you do you!

Demons:
Abra, what are you getting us into?

Festival-goers:
You only live once, you only live once, you only live once!

PART II.

Festival-goers:
Always be turnt!
That’s it!
It’s the great imperative.
In order not to feel time’s heavy weight
Up up up all up on your shoulders
Grinding you into the earth.
Get get get get get get turnt and stay that way
On lysergic acid diethlyamide, psilocybin, mescalin
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
Whatever, don’t matter,
So long as you are turnt!

Demons:
Abra, this has gone on long enough.
Don’t you see you’re not cut out for this stuff?
Abra, you know not a single body.
You’ve never known a single body!

I mean look at this one, he’s a mess!
I can hardly look him in the face.
We can’t imagine why you’d want to know him any better.
We think it’s time we went home.

Festival-goers:
5-HT2A, receive and activate.
With bursts of dopamine, change how we perceive.
Lysergic acid, diethylamide
Fire neurons rapidly
Distort reality
Through serotonin rise senses intensify.
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine
Pleasures so somatic, explorations psychic
psilocybin, mescalin
The neurotransmitters excite and visions blur
Sweat runs and nausea hits, and so begins your trip.
Ascend, ascend, ascend!

Abra swallows pills of Research, and begins a crazed dance, after which she falls unconscious on the ground.

PART III.

Festival-goers:
My how embarrassing, someone get this poor wretch home.

Some may fall and never get up,
and they will be left in the dust.
No mercy for the ones we’ve lost,
You only live once, only live once!
Past and future nullified,
We live for Present, reach for heights
through alterations in the mind.
You only live once, only live once!
Damage to the synapses
Is necessary means to end
This night in glorious ravishment!
You only live once, only live once!

This poor girl was mandatory cost,
But not in vain was her life lost!
Her sacrifice a must,
You only live once.

Demons:
Abra come home! Abra come home!
Come on home.
Abra come home! Abra come home!
Come on home.
Come on home.

Abra regains consciousness.

Abra:
Demons flee me!
Demons flee me!
Your poison in my blood
Stains my arteries, veins, and capillaries.
Demons leave me be!

Nothing I’ve said,
Nothing I’ve done
Has ever been without
Whispers of the doubt
I never speak for myself.

I’ve had enough!
I’ll spill this blood if I must!
But that would solve nothing,
It’s my blood not theirs.
It’s time I took back what’s mine,
Purge them from me, or control them.

Drugs were futile, they made it worse.
Quick release but lasting hurt.

I came here to find
Some form of escape from my own mind.
But all I’ve seen today
Are kids who spend their lives
Stringing together temporary highs.

But I’ve learned from them
That no one leads my life
Other than myself.

Festival-goers:
I love you, my life.
I love you, my life.
I love you, my life.