MY HEART IZ OPEN (CHAMBER OPERA IN PROGRESS)

My Heart Iz Open is a theatrical music project. It is in progress and changing with every new performance. The subject, My Heart Iz Open, comes from a collection of inadvertently received emails. In this collection of messages a man joins an online dating community and liaises with many women eventually settling on one in particular, My Heart Iz Open, an irrepressible spirit who relentlessly pursues him with desperate insistence.

Using text culled from the emails my piece tells the story of this man’s online dalliance. Currently there are two scenes. The opening scene sets part of the dating website’s Terms of Use agreement, and a scene from the middle of the story centers on the My Heart Iz Open character.

The Terms of Use agreement functions as a litigious framework for the entire piece. Many of us regularly accept terms of use  agreements with little to no understanding of what they actually mean. The contracts are binding and in the case of ‘My Heart Iz Open’ there is an eerie correspondence between issues in the agreement and issues in the story itself.

The second scene, My Heart Iz Open, introduces the character My Heart Iz Open. She is an earnest and sincere woman seeking companionship. She relentlessly pursues the man’s affections through emails and messaging. In this scene, a chorus underscores her plea with details from her profile. The scene turns from zealous flirtation to intense yearning.

Commissioned by High Concept Laboratories and premiered May 11, 2013 by Ensemble Dal Niente and Quince, National Pastime Theater, Chicago, IL.

May 11, 2013 National Pastime Theater, Chicago, IL. Ensemble Dal Niente and Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.