MIRROR GAME: an opera about winner-takes-all in Silicon Valley
Mirror Game - a new opera by Celka Ojakangas and Amy punt
About Mirror Game: Mirror Game examines issues of gender bias through the journey of one ambitious female video game designer who decides to take matters of the sexist gaming industry into her own hands. A multimedia production, Mirror Game incorporates electroacoustic music, projections and choreography for a rich sensory experience that combines reality with the imaginative virtual reality of video games.
Mirror Game is the winner of OPERA America’s 2019 Discovery Grant for Female Composers.
From left to right: Celka Ojakangas, composer; Amy Punt, librettist; Kristine McIntyre, director; Christine Meadows, artistic director; Kathy Maxwell, lighting and projection
SYNOPSIS
Cybil, Olivia and Melody play a video game with real-life consequences. “Playing With The Big Boys” is a multi-player game designed to teach women how to “make it in a man’s world.” The “man’s world” is a Silicon Valley gaming company. It rewards masculine behaviors while also providing an onslaught of casual and overt misogyny through Tony, the manager and Rohm, the CEO.
Overtly, Mirror Game explores the consequences of internalizing the masculine narrative and subverting the feminine within. Cybil, (inspired by Elizabeth Holmes) creates a lie that sky-rockets her to fame and success. Yet, it metastasizes within her, perverting the woman she once was. While it first appears she wins the game, once the lie is exposed, she loses everything, including the woman she loves, Olivia.
Characters pose for a selfie in the Prologue of Portland State’s production of Mirror Game. November 2019
CREATIVE TEAM for Workshop Performance
Composer: Celka Ojakangas
Librettist: Amy Punt
Stage Director: Kristine McIntyre
Producer: Christine Meadows, Vollum Professor of Voice at Portland State University
Lighting and Projection Designs: Kathy Maxwell
SCORE AND PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Date: November 2019
Duration: 82 minutes
Instrumentation:
Violin
Cello
Acoustic/Electric Bass
Electric Guitar
Keyboard with sound patches (acoustic piano, chiptune sounds, and Roland-style piano)
Drumkit
Keyboard reduction with sound patches available
Animated projections with original video game imagery designed by Kristine McIntyre and Kathy Maxwell.
CAST (FULL)
Cybil – Soprano
Melody – Soprano
Olivia – Mezzo Soprano
Rohm – Tenor
Tony – Baritone
We are looking for producers; please contact us here
PRESS
(click to read)
OPERA AMERICA ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF OPERA GRANTS FOR FEMALE COMPOSERS - Opera America
Celka Ojakangas wins grant from Opera America - USC Thornton Press
Podcast 62: Winners of the 2019 OPERA America Women Composers Discovery Grants - Indie Opera Podcast
$100,000 GRANTS FOR WOMEN WHO ARE WRITING OPERAS - SlippedDisc
Mirror Game Premiere - AmyPunt.com
A New Opera Addresses Sexual Harassment in Silicon Valley - Willamette Weekly
A Game of Reflections - Oregon Artswatch