AFTERWARDS

The Artistic Team

Conductor - Glenn Lewis
Stage Director - David Paul
Scenic Designer - Christian Fleming
Costume Designer - Jason Bray
Media Designer - Caite Hevner
Lighting Designer - Todd Nonn
Stage Manager - Cindy Knight
Associate Coach/Pianist - James Lesniak
Wig Master - Nicole Pagano
Asst Stage Director - *Matthew Haney
Asst Stage Manager - Alex W. Seidel
Asst Lighting Designer - Nathaniel Siebert
Prop Master - Johnmichael Bohach
Supertitles - David Paul

Sets & Costumes created by Pittsburgh Opera

_{+    Pittsburgh Opera debut
*     Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist
**   Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist alumni} 

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• Run time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
• Understand Every Word: afterWARds is sung in Italian, and has English supertitles projected above the stage at all performances
• Parking Downtown: get real-time parking availability
• Audio Description
• Braille Programs available
• Large-Print Programs available

After years of bloodshed, the Trojan War is over and the fighters begin the difficult journey home. Idomeneo, King of Crete and commander of its depleted forces, is sailing home with the remainder of his men. Also on board is Ilia, Princess of Troy, now a refugee who watched her family murdered before her eyes. The overture begins with a massive storm that overturns Idomeneo’s ship. Idamante, son of Idomeneo, braves the storm to rescue whomever he can reach. He rescues Ilia in his boat and returns to shore. Idomeneo and his men are outraged at the apparent betrayal by the unknown boatsman.  As he watches his men drown around him, Idomeneo vows, if he survives himself, to kill the unknown young man as a last service to his men.  (This sequence is told throughout the overture in a combination of live action and video).

Back on Crete, the opera begins with Ilia in a refugee shelter. As her family’s sole survivor, she is tortured by survivor’s guilt and feelings of betrayal. Yet much more pressingly, she is racked by her newest torment: a secret, inappropriate, and impossible love for Idamante, the young man -- and former enemy -- who just saved her life.

Idomeneo lands on the shore, having survived the storm. Weary from years of war and destruction, he is tortured by the thought of having to kill yet another person. Meanwhile, Idamante, believing his father to have been killed in the storm, comes to the same shore to mourn him. Father and son meet but don’t recognize each other – though Idomeneo knows that this is the man he has sworn to kill. When he discovers their true relationship, Idomeneo runs away, horrified; Idamante is left behind, confused and pained.

We next meet another inhabitant of the refugee shelter: Elettra, a survivor from an infamous family. With the war finally over, Elettra fantasizes, for the first time in her life, about a positive future – with Idamante, the object of her desire, at her side.

Idamante, meanwhile, confesses his own illicit feelings to Ilia. Caught completely by surprise, she rejects him – just as Idomeneo arrives. He senses that his son might have fallen for the enemy refugee, while Elettra panics that Idamante and her imagined future are slipping from her grasp. Idomeneo refuses to speak to Idamante, and seeing no other way to avoid having to kill his own son, banishes him. Idamante is crushed, not understanding his father’s reasons.

Idomeneo has organized a ship to take Idamante and Elettra back to her homeland. Elettra, relieved to hear the sounds of the water, says a happy farewell to Crete. Idomeneo, meanwhile, is tortured by the vow he made and his inability to tell his son the truth. The torment he feels is overwhelming and he contemplates killing himself. Idamante and Elettra arrive and Idomeneo sends them off.

Suddenly, a giant storm whips up, leaving everyone scrambling for safety. Idomeneo, in complete emotional disarray, reads it as a sign from the gods. He screams at the heavens, demanding they take him, instead.

The storm subsides and Idamante seeks out Ilia to say his final farewell to her before committing suicide.  Ilia makes a tortured confession of her own feelings. Both are overwhelmed, basking in this unexpected moment of bliss.

Ilia seeks out Idomeneo to try and build a bridge between father and son. In a difficult moment of personal struggle, she explains to him that she is ready to accept him as a friend and father-figure, in spite of her family’s past suffering at his hands.

Idamante arrives. He has learned the true reason for his father’s coldness: his father was trying to shield him from the awful truth of promising to kill him. He is ready to accept his death at Idomeneo’s hands, serene in the knowledge that his father loves him after all. Idomeneo is overwhelmed with emotion when Ilia suddenly volunteers herself in Idamante’s place.  Suddenly, Idamante’s gun goes off. Elettra, seeing her future dreams dismantled before her eyes, suffers a nervous breakdown.

Idomeneo, mortally wounded and deeply moved by the love of his son, makes his most courageous decision: to break his vow and allow Idamante to live, regardless of the consequences. All four sing a chorus of love and peace, looking ahead to an uncertain future.

-Courtesy of David Paul

• BroadwayWorld: Pittsburgh Opera Presents AfterWARds
• Pittsburgh Magazine: January: Best of Culture in Pittsburgh
• Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: January Theater Guide
• Empty Nest blog: January Preview of Events
• Hoodline: Top performing and visual arts events in Pittsburgh this weekend
• Owl Scribe Blog: Pittsburgh Opera presents afterWARds – “Mozart’s Idomeneo Reimagined”
• The Almanac: What's Happening: Week of Jan. 20
• OperaWire: Pittsburgh Opera To Perform ‘AfterWARds,’ A Reconstructed ‘Idomeneo’
• The Almanac: Modern-day Mozart: Pittsburgh Opera debuts 'afterWARds'
• Pittsburgh City Paper: Pittsburgh Opera reimagines a Mozart classic to channel stories of modern refugees
• Pittsburgh Current: The Chill Issue: 100 Suggestions To Keep You Busy In Pittsburgh This Winter
• Trib Live: Pittsburgh Opera director re-imagines Mozart's 'Idomeneo' 
• Pittsburgh in the Round: Pittsburgh Opera’s “afterWARds” – (Mozart’s “Idomeneo” Reimagined) – to Feature New Resident Artist Terrence Chin-Loy
• OperaWire: Top Five Operas to see this Weekend
• WQED Voice of the Arts podcast interviews:
  • David Paul, stage director
  • Glenn Lewis, conductor
  • Antonia Botti-Lodovico (Idamante)
  • Terrence Chin-Loy (Idomeneo)
• Pittsburgh Current: The Chill Issue - 100 Suggestions to Keep You Busy in Pittsburgh This Winter
• The Almanac: What's Happening: Week of Jan. 27
• Pittsburgh in the Round review: Pittsburgh Opera's "afterWARds" Opens at CAPA
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: afterWARds review
• Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: February Theater Guide

Princess Ilia of Troy (Ashley Fabian) is anguished and conflicted. The Greeks have razed Troy and killed her family, yet she finds herself falling in love with a Greek (albeit not one who fought in the war.)

Idamante (Antonia Botti-Lodovico) is confused and hurt that his father Idomeneo has rejected him without telling him why.

Idomeneo (Terrence Chin-Loy) has banished his son Idamante (Antonia Botti-Lodovico) without explaining why. Elettra (Caitlin Gottimer) is elated that she can go with Idamante, but Idamante has mixed emotions.

King Idomeneo of Crete (Terrence Chin-Loy) rages at his cruel fate, saying that "a sea is storming in his chest, far more furious than the stormy sea itself."

Elettra (Caitlin Gotimer) comes unglued as she realizes that Idamante, who she loves, is in love with someone else.