Due to inclement weather, the Opus Siniestrus performance on Saturday has been moved from the outdoor terrace to the ICA auditorium. Capacity indoors is limited to half that of the terrace. As a result, only the first fifty registrants to arrive at ICA Friday evening can be guaranteed entry. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please feel free to contact us at hello@ica.upenn.edu with any questions.
Opus Siniestrus, a play by the feminist surrealist Leonora Carrington and directed by Ricardo A. Bracho, concerns the outbreak of a virus that kills only women. Its protagonist, an old woman who carries with her at all times an ostrich egg, battles the patriarchy in the form of a Doctor, the Pope, Hitler, and Superman. Written in 1979, the play exemplifies Carrington’s environmental politics as well as her participation in the women’s liberation movement in Mexico City. Equal parts absurd performance spectacle and acute social critique, the play’s characters include 12 Cannibals, 3 Astronauts, a misgendered Ostrich, and a Computer.
Funded by a Collaborative Provost Interdisciplinary Grant from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, Opus Siniestrus is performed and designed by Penn students, staff and faculty. It is envisioned for the stage by The Headless Collective: artist-educator Joelle Estelle Mendoza, producer-musician Enix Inri (Ren Clark) and poet-playwright, Ricardo A. Bracho, former Sachs Artist-in-Residence of The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program and current Fellow at the Center for Experimental Ethnography. Performances will begin after dusk, following the surrealist maxim that, “The revolution begins at night.”
A dress rehearsal of Opus Siniestrus, open to the public, will be held on ICA’s Tuttleman Terrace on the evening of Friday, October 29. Click here to register for the dress rehearsal.
Sponsored by:
The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies
Department of Music
Institute of Contemporary Art
Space is limited for this program, so registration is required.*Please note, in the event we reach capacity, visitors will be admitted on the basis of when they arrive at ICA.Registration on Eventbrite facilitates the check-in process, but does not guarantee entrance.
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