The wait is almost over. On Saturday, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis will present the world premiere of “This House” by mother-daughter librettist team Ruby Aiyo Gerber and Lynn Nottage along with composer Ricky Ian Gordon.
“This opera will be the centerpiece of Opera Theatre’s 50th anniversary season,” Opera Theatre of Saint Louis General Director Andrew Jorgensen announced. The highly anticipated production that opens May 31st and continues through June 29th.
The production revolves around a home that has been the keeper of a family’s legacy for nearly a century. A young woman’s family seeks to reimagine the space for generations to come. In her quest to give the home a new future, she is confronted with its complicated history and hidden truths.
The genre of opera is a relatively new writing form for Nottage, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and her daughter Gerber – an accomplished wordsmith in her own right.
“I have been writing plays for upwards of 25-30 years,” Nottage said. “I’ve explored the medium in many ways – from drama, to comedy and dramedy. I recently stretched my arms and legs out and have been writing musicals.”
But there was something about opera that spoke to her creative spirit.
“I felt it was very much in conversation with the stories that I wanted to tell,” Nottage said. “I love the expansive way in which you could open up the characters with music that really drew me to this medium. And I love opera. I’ve had experiences sitting in that dark audience looking up at that stage that I’ve had nowhere else.”
She saw Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald in a production of “Porgy and Bess” and was moved to tears.
“I thought, ‘I want to make a moment like that’,” Nottage said.
Her award-winning play “Intimate Apparel” was adapted into an opera. One of its stars, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis favorite Justin Austin, is also charged with helping tell the story of “This House.” Directed by James Robinson, the robust cast also includes St. Louis’ own Adrienne Danrich.
As she looked for another opportunity to create an opera with Gordon, the story that most spoke to Nottage was found in the words of her daughter.
“I brought my play to her and she said, ‘there are all of these rich textures that could be enhanced through music,’” Gerber said. “It became a whole new vocabulary. Opera has taught me so much about what can be said through music – and silence.”
Gerber wrote the play during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a creative response to how it impacted the Black community in particular. She saw history lost through the passing of elders – and displacement through evictions.
“I was really investigating the materiality of Black History,” Gerber said. “I wanted to look at a family in one house and tell Black history over a century – but not through official records – through stories.”
It’s a story in which a Black family gets to stay in one place for generations.
“Because we see so much displacement in Black communities – because of red-lining, because of discriminatory housing practices – it’s a story you don’t get to see enough,” Gerber said. “I was really privileged to grow up in the same house my mother grew up in – where my grandparents lived, living there with my grandfather. I really wanted to share that story.”
The world-premiere of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ presentation of “This House” by Ruby Aiyo Gerber, Lynn Nottage and composer Ricky Ian Gordon will run May 31st – June 29th as part of their 50th anniversary season. For a full schedule of showtimes, as well as the full line up of productions, visit www.opera-stl.org or call 314.961-0171.