Hydrogen Jukebox

lyrics by Allen Ginsberg  *  composed by Philip Glass

directed by Alison Moritz  *  scenic|prop design AmarA*jk   *  costumes Matthew Pedersen  *  conductor Braden Toan
starring  *  Bill Gorman as Allen Ginsberg  * Scott Percell * Stacey Geyer * Abigail Smith * Mary Beth Nelson * Jordan Schreiner * Jake Stamatis *

photo credit * jk
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This production was a departure from the "traditional" structure of presentation. Director Alison Moritz envisioned the opera as the last day before Ginsberg's death when friends and family gathered and recalled his life. 

We chose to use the Savoca-Hibbit Hall at Tri-Cities Opera in a completely novel way: An alley stage. In addition to creating an intensely intimate space and forcing each half of the audience to recognize itself sitting across the space, it also meant that the audience had to enter through Allen Ginsberg's front door and walk through part of his apartment to get to their seats. 

This production was about questioning, about facing fear and facing death, about living life fully, stripping away bullshit and recognizing masks.  We aimed, through the scenic design to create a place based on the realities of Allen Ginsberg's life, to engage the audience from the moment they entered, and to honor the work of a remarkable poet and artist. 
RESEARCH

​Allen Ginsberg lived a photographic as well as literary life. While the alley stage configuration meant our final design had to be minimal, we delved deeply through the material he left to chose the most indicative, the most iconic, and the most moving for our final design of his apartment for this production.
DESIGN MATERIALS

The process of this project from design to production was very organic.  Our relatively low budget went mainly to the risers for seating, the apartment wall and building a few distinct furniture pieces.  Many key pieces - the kitchen sink and kitchen floor, the windows, the altar, and the rugs - were all scavenged, found, or reused from other sets. ​
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We very intentionally did not fight to make reality conform to our original vision, but allowed the pieces to come together, made decisions as options were presented, and let the research and our original vision guide us in the details that ultimately defined the visual aspect of the production.
PRODUCTION PHOTOS