2009: Jess Rowland and the Dreamland Puppet Theater

This experimental puppet opera by Jess Rowland will be a live marionette production featuring the puppeteer and production work of Naia Venturi from the Dreamland Puppet Theater, and a mix of live and prerecorded sound sources. Jess Rowland will also write the libretto for the production and perform the live aspects of the piece. The piece will be based on the themes and concepts found in Jess’s recent work “The Problem with the Soda Machine.”

Although puppet productions of existing live stage opera from the repertoire are not uncommon (see for example Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses coming to Theater Artaud), to our knowledge this will be one of the few operas written for, and premiered with, puppets. And although the Dreamland Troupe and Jess Rowland have worked together on many music-related puppet productions, this will explore uncharted terrain in terms of incorporating music with puppetry. The thematic material of the piece is also unique. The story centers around the fate of the company vending machine. With words taken verbatim from real company emails, a drama unfolds about how people feel about the machine, what they really want in the machine, and whether or not they are willing to let go of the machine if insufficient product is sold. The piece addresses our shared awkward relationships with technology, capitalism, junk food, and the place where most of us spend most our lives: at the office.

Jess Rowland is a San Francisco based composer and performer, interested in new approaches to electroacoustic music and multimedia art. Her diverse works have ranged from electronic conceptual pieces, experimental puppet-theater musicals, to video/music collaborations. In 2004 and 2008, Jess received grants from the American Composers Forum to create a new multimedia piece, John Ashcroft vs.The Space Librarians (2004), and to compose music for modern dance and processed chamber ensemble, Ballast (2008). Jess released a CD of solo piano improvisations, H.29 (2005), on experimental label Pax Recordings, which was followed by Scenes from the Silent Revolution – a double disc set featuring a DVD of multi-media video art music. Most recently, a new solo release, The Problem with the Soda Machine, has been released on Edgetone Records. Jess is also composer in residence for Shift Physical Theater modern dance troupe, a collaboration which cumulated in a full-length artist-in-residence show at ODC Theater in San Francisco in 2007. This work formed the basis for her first release on Edgetone Records, The Shape of Poison, called “inspired” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and “lush and spell-like” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Artist (photo by Photographer)