Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to TellTale Opera Theatre. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
TellTale, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The mission of TellTale Opera Theatre is to create artist-led initiatives that help develop visionary new voices, and to present stories and characters that reflect American audiences today. We are currently working on our first Sandbox Opera Showcase, a new kind of production dedicated to the creation and performance of short experimental operatic scenes. Our goal is to provide an environment where our “storytellers in residence” feel comfortable taking risks, offering their own unique vision of what dramatic musical works can be. We believe this type of production will be one of the most important aspects of the work we do at TellTale Opera Theatre. As many artists and musicians know, there are countless barriers in our field often embedded deep within the institutions from which a large portion of the opportunity for work comes. TellTale aims to combat this institutional challenge faced by many artists. Our “Sandbox” offers a playful environment, designed to develop new voices and to challenge the notion of who gets to create, what stories are told, and what the performance should look like.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
TellTale Opera Theatre was founded by three friends and Baltimore based musicians: Meg Huskin, Michael Mills and Ben Ross. We met while earning our master’s degrees at the Peabody Institute and bonded over our love of contemporary music. Each of us noticed a lack of spaces and opportunities in opera that encourage experimentation and the development of compositions. We also noticed there was an underutilized pool of talented, visionary artists and not enough opera in town to showcase their stories. We founded TellTale as a way to develop an expansive definition of opera. One which prioritizes collaboration, inclusivity, and diversity while maintaining a practice of radical transparency as a means to combat some of the pitfalls that have long plagued the institution of classical music.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
At TellTale, we pride ourselves on being artist-led. Our team is a multi-talented group of people who split time between performing administrative tasks, and doing artistic labor for our company. We distribute tasks according to a non-hierarchical system in which a team of Directors collaborate in areas of Marketing, Fundraising, Production and Operations. We take our direction and leadership from our artists and performers, and treat them as guideposts more than hired contractors. We see our role as producers to platform the stories that our storytellers want to make, not to adhere to a particular genre, style, or aesthetic. We are constantly expanding our definition of opera to encompass our artists’ work, not trying to make our artists fit into our own definition of opera. We believe this type of artist lead structure is necessary to create impactful art that speaks to the issues of our time while also creating an overall healthier environment for the art to take place. Community-lead art is the foundation of a vibrant cultural scene. We’re proud to follow in the footsteps of some other wonderful organizations such as Rhymes With Opera, Thompson Street Opera, and more. Our hope is to see continued growth in initiatives like theirs and our own. For this to happen, community support is vital. Whether it be through financial donations, attending shows, or volunteering, there are countless ways for someone to support their local art scene, and the impact each individual can have is remarkable.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Since our focus is on living artists and platforming new voices, we’ve known our productions may fall outside what the average person expects from an operatic show or musical performance. Baltimore is a very supportive city with a wide range of musical acts that do well, but we still had some uncertainty with how our audiences would receive us. Would they be willing to take risks with us? Would they enjoy our eclectic programming? We got the answers to these questions at our most recent performance, “An Evening of Storytelling,” where we got to see firsthand just how hungry contemporary audiences are for this kind of work. With a sold-out crowd and even more people tuning in to our livestream, we were totally overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm shown by all who attended. It was incredibly gratifying to see people moved by our work, witnessing the connection they felt to our artists’ humanity, to their performances, and to the stories told was a moment of total affirmation. A resounding confirmation in our belief that there is a need and a desire for artist lead, collaborative music.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/telltale.opera.theatre/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TellTaleOperaTheatre
