Echoes is a story of reminiscence set shortly after WWII in a Harlem after-hours club. Musicians, singers and dancers engage in a cutting contest, recounting stories of the Great Migration: characters include soldiers returning from the trenches of WWI France, southern baptist preachers, household workers, miners and expatriated jazz musicians. The tales are personal; held together by the poetic ruminations of a wise soul named Jesse who personifies Great Migration history. Jesse takes us from the beginning, through the Greenville Mississippi Flood of 1927, through the redemption of the Southern lands and the generations that returned to where they once toiled as slaves and sharecroppers, and who now plant and till them as owners of their own estates.
A Little Background
In March 2020, just days before the pandemic “lockdown” occurred, a meeting took place at the Trenton home of Yusef Komunyakaa to explore the theatrical possibilities within of a new series of poems entitled Echoes of The Great Migration. Larry Hilton, singer Miche Braden, both friends from the Trenton Jazz Disciples, and I participated.
We enlisted Vince DiMura, a longtime collaborator of Yusef’s, to compose a musical score. Originally subtitled A Blues Oratorio, we produced an initial audio recording, enabled by the efforts and generosity of Larry Hilton, The Trenton Jazz Disciples, and The I Am Trenton Foundation.
We all agreed that Yusef’s poetry was magnificent, and powerfully enhanced by Vince’s music. But a huge issue loomed in the background. What form should Echoes take as a performance piece? Is it musical theatre? A song cycle? Contemporary chamber opera? Or perhaps a choreopoem?
In March of 2022 we had the opportunity to workshop Echoes as a contemporary opera… Almost unanimously we agreed that Echoes would best be experienced as a “choreopoem.”
What is a choreopoem? The term was originally coined by playwright/poet Ntozake Shange in 1975 to describe her groundbreaking play combining poetry, dance, music, and song for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.
Ntozake Shange (born and raised in Trenton as Paulette Williams) wanted to depart from conventional poetry and storytelling forms. She invented a new art-form that doesn’t necessarily contain plot or specific characters. Instead, the focus is to evoke an emotional response from the audience.
We are hugely grateful to a board member of Catapult Opera who financed the 2022 workshop, Neal Goren, its Artistic Director, and the Vestry of St. Michaels Church in Trenton for giving us the opportunity to explore this powerful new work.
The script and/or a video from the 2022 workshop can be made available upon request.
Sincerely,
June Ballinger, Producer
Echoes of The Great Migration
producer@greatmigrationechoes.com