In Process

“Les Berceaux (“The Cradles”) and the Lighthouse” promises to be a major interdisciplinary artwork. Co-authored by Donna Ahmadi, Dianna Cortez, and Derek J. Weagle, it features a radical adaptation of Faure’s art song “Les Berceaux.” Divided into five movements, each uniquely combines performance art, Butoh, dance, theatre, opera, puppetry, visual arts, film, transforming costumes, sets, culinary arts, music composition with live musicians, and environmental and social action in arts.

Movement 1 portrays a frayed pregnant woman isolated in a NYC apartment during COVID-19 lockdowns, giving birth alone amid a mental health crisis. She dissociates from her body’s systems, and they seek asylum in a diseased forest junkyard. In Movement 2,  the mother and child cocoon in Mother Nature's cradle for refuge.  Her disconnected body systems are nourished by evocative characters embodying nature's ecosystems.  Disrupted by corporate greed, a man-made forest fire evicts the mother, child, and her systems, forcing them to escape to the sea.

Further, in Movement 3, they journey across unforgiving seas filled with toxins, animal carcasses, and multitudes of suffering refugees.  They find fleeting hope within nature's mesmerizing serenity amidst war-torn lands. When in Movement 4, a lighthouse keeper, symbolized by an unassuming sage woman, offers sanctuary and healing, in Movement 5–they are serenaded by the sound healing voices of mother spirits. The narrative parallels personal experiences of childbirth amid isolation, mental health crises, and global refugee crises, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between humanity and nature.