Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn, Artistic Directors
Current Shows
Description
A series of site-specific operas that adapts to each host community, these shows weave hometown documentation with Squonk's aural and visual trickery. This meta-civic celebration, with an original score, is a heartfelt toast and a punk-vaudevillian roast.
We enjoy discovering how each city sees itself, as a whole and within its diverse communities. In having fun with this format of a celebration of the host city, we talk about the broader issues of shared humanity and the need for self-definition. Community is a vital issue and a comic creative challenge, allowing us to explore what makes opera life-like and life operatic…or not.
Wherever we go, there we are.
Here are some of the Hometown Operas we've created so far...
Albany: The Opera
Baltimore: The Opera
Bloomington: The Opera
Bradford: The Opera
Charleston: The Opera
Charlotte: The Opera
Chester County: The Opera
College Park: The Opera
Columbia: The Opera
Houghton: The Opera
Indiana County: The Opera
Newark: The Opera
Pittsburgh: The Opera
Raritan Valley: The Opera
Reston: The Opera
South Orange: The Opera
St. Louis: The Operetta
We hope to Squonk your hometown next!
Visit our Store to purchase or download a CD of the music from this production..
A series of site-specific operas that adapts to each host community, these shows weave hometown documentation with Squonk's aural and visual trickery. This meta-civic celebration, with an original score, is a heartfelt toast and a punk-vaudevillian roast.
We enjoy discovering how each city sees itself, as a whole and within its diverse communities. In having fun with this format of a celebration of the host city, we talk about the broader issues of shared humanity and the need for self-definition. Community is a vital issue and a comic creative challenge, allowing us to explore what makes opera life-like and life operatic…or not.
Wherever we go, there we are.
Here are some of the Hometown Operas we've created so far...
Albany: The Opera
Baltimore: The Opera
Bloomington: The Opera
Bradford: The Opera
Charleston: The Opera
Charlotte: The Opera
Chester County: The Opera
College Park: The Opera
Columbia: The Opera
Houghton: The Opera
Indiana County: The Opera
Newark: The Opera
Pittsburgh: The Opera
Raritan Valley: The Opera
Reston: The Opera
South Orange: The Opera
St. Louis: The Operetta
We hope to Squonk your hometown next!
Visit our Store to purchase or download a CD of the music from this production..
Reviews
“Show me Baltimore, this show says to the people who live here, and I'll show you what you’re missing.” - The Baltimore Sun
“a zany but serious look at Charleston…dance, song, cinema and theater – all flavored with a bit of circus.” - The Charleston Gazette
“What one saw and heard blended the clever and the corny, the catchy and the kitschy, but one could not be left unmoved by the content, shaped so that the best about Bloomington, the vitality of its present and the nostalgia engendered by its past, could bask in the spotlight. The memorable and the simply amusing unfolded side by side in panorama fashion” - The Herald-Times
“a healthy dose of civic celebration mingled with a friendly roast of hometown pride… uplifting and completely over-the-top” - Times Union
“noisy, colorful, funny, outrageous” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“a funny, frank and sometimes sentimental ode to Albany…a multimedia extravaganza of music, song, dance and video” - Albany Sunday Gazette
“College Park gets its own opera – finally! – and it’s a doozy!” - Washington Post Express
“an abstract music video of the town” - Philadelphia Inquirer
“They struck out to tailor their opera to any city, anywhere in America. The project was genius, as the 90-minute work is not only portable but relevant to every hometown audience.” - Albany Sunday Gazette
“The result is an unusual 90-minute ode to the Maryland suburb, including but not limited to rock-and-roll, projected videos, aerial footage, dancers and a puppet show. The elements blend together onstage to create a show that is at once playful and polished. A group of six musicians take the stage in tracksuits, pretending to be Olympic athletes at an over-the-top welcome-home ceremony. Then they sit down and play stunning, sophisticated music.” - The Washington Post
"a surreal dreamscape, alternately sweet, silly, satiric and cool…with a soulful, driving, melodic score." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“a quirky, playful, music- and image-driven piece of performance art that offers a nontraditional view of a place you thought you knew” - Tribune-Review
Go to Media for full articles.
Upcoming Dates
October 21, 2011
Hardin County: The OperaHardin County Schools PAC
Elizabethtown, KY
April 9, 2011
Jersey Shore: The Opera
Algonquin Arts Theatre
Manasquan, NJ
April 15-16, 2011
Central College: The Opera
Central College
Pella, IA
October 21, 2011
Hardin County: The Opera
Hardin County PAC
Elizabethtown, KY
Artists
The Artistic Directors
Steve O’Hearn & Jackie Dempsey
The Band
Vocals*
Autumn Ayers
Keyboard & Accordion
Jackie Dempsey
Acoustic & Electronic Percussion
Kevin Kornicki
Flute, Sax, Wind Synth & Manybell Trumpet
Steve O’Hearn
Electric Guitar
David Wallace
Upright & Fretless Bass
Nathan Wilson
The Team
Music
Jackie Dempsey
Design & Staging
Steve O’Hearn
Concept Development
Steve O’Hearn, Jackie Dempsey, Buzz Miller, David Wallace & Rick Kemp
Video Design
Buzz Miller with Steve O’Hearn & David Wallace
Lighting Design
Bob Steineck
Additional Music & Assistant Musical Direction
Kevin Kornicki
Stage Direction
Rick Kemp
Lyrics
Christina Acosta & Jackie Dempsey
Text
Steve O’Hearn, Rick Kemp & Jackie Dempsey
Video Operation
Jessi Sedon-Essad
Sound Engineering
George Powell
Project Management
Michelle Carello
Stage Management
Heidi Nagle
Additional Video Design
Bonnie Bogovich, Sara Haig, Dean Mougianis, Jim Mueller, Caroline Savage, Tanya Stadelmann, Dylan Stern, Cara Thompson
Set & Prop Artists
Sharky Schutte, Chris Letzelter, Demmler Schenck, Elizabeth Rishel, Ben McDonald
Costumes
Candy Callery
Opening Voiceover
Rick Kemp
Steve and Jackie would like to acknowledge everyone involved in this production for their creative contributions, especially the Squonk musicians for adding their own individual flavor to the music, and the designers, builders and technicians who added detail and richness to the production.
*Prior to late 2007, Christina Acosta was the vocalist in our Hometown Opera Series
and appears in the videos on this website.
Tech
Our Hometown Opera is a commissioned site-specific proscenium show that requires a stage at least 32' wide and 22' deep and 15' high. The show requires a weeklong residency with 2 Squonkers working with local school students and community members and other site-specific elements created a month or 2 before the show. It is loaded in the day before the show with community rehearsals the night before the show.
For full tech requirements and more residency information, refer to our Media page.
Touring History
NC Blumenthal PAC … Charlotte, NC
Buskirk-Chumley Theater … Bloomington, IN
Busan International Performing Arts Festival … Busan, South Korea
Columbia Festival of the Arts … Columbia, MD
CenterStage … Reston, VA
Baltimore Theatre Project … Baltimore, MD
Raritan Valley Community College … Branchburg, NJ
Michigan Tech’s Rozsa Center … Houghton, MI
University at Albany … Albany, NY
Bradford Creative & Performing Arts Center … Bradford, PA
Lively Arts at IUP … Indiana, PA
FestivALL Charleston … Charleston, WV
University of Delaware … Newark, DE
Kelly-Strayhorn Theater … Pittsburgh, PA
First Night St. Louis … St. Louis, MO
South Orange PAC … South Orange, NJ
Shady Side Academy … Pittsburgh, PA
Delaware Valley Arts Consortium … Kennett Square, PA
Clarice Smith PAC – Univ. of MD … College Park, MD
Kelly-Strayhorn Theater … Pittsburgh, PA