The pageantry of western opera will join forces with the Tlingit culture’s rich history of storytelling, singing and dancing to create the world’s first Tlingit opera. The opera will premiere at the Perseverance Theatre around 2025.<\/p>\n
The opera will be performed primarily in Lingít, the Tlingit language, and will feature Indigenous actors and singers. The Sealaska Heritage Institute is supporting the writing and production of the work in partnership with the theater. The writing and scoring work is currently underway.<\/p>\n
“The Tlingit language, singing and dancing traditions are powerful. It will make a fantastic opera,” said Tlingit librettist Vera Starbard, who is Perseverance Theatre’s playwright-in-residence, on a phone interview with the Empire on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Starbard is writing the show’s outlines in collaboration with Tlingit composer Ed Littlefield.<\/p>\n
“The writing is very challenging and intimidating. It’s the most difficult writing I’ve agreed to do, but I’m excited about it,” Starbard said.<\/p>\n
The story<\/strong><\/p>\n The story will transport the audience to Alaska in 1802 when the Tlingits launched a coordinated attack on the Russians in Southeast Alaska, Starbard said.<\/p>\n “The Tlingit-Russian conflict is usually presented as a confrontation between ‘whites’ with superior arms and brave-but-outnumbered and poorly armed Natives. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” said Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Worl in a news release. “The Tlingits saw themselves as victors even as they formally ceded to the Russians the site of their village and fort, now known as Sitka.”<\/p>\n Starbard said the history of the time is more complicated than the way modernity tells the story.<\/p>\n “It wasn’t just a single battle. The Sitka battle was a big one,” Starbard said. She explained that the Tlingits attacked the Russians because of abuses being inflicted on women and elders and a lack of trust around trade.<\/p>\n “In 1804, the Russians responded by coming back. So this is a story of both battles. Both battles were huge deciding issues for Russia in terms of staying in Alaska and their decision to sell Alaska to the United States illegally. It may have been one moment, but it was a key moment for world history. It was a true multi-nation war with an interesting amount of global interest,” Starbard said.<\/p>\n Providing a new perspective is one of the show’s goals, but it also leads to the challenge of distilling so much history and oral tradition.<\/p>\n “The biggest challenge is that this is a true story that involves many different Tlingit clans with their own protocols and their own recall of history,” Starbard said. “Making sure it’s accurate but only telling a portion of the story is challenging. It’s an amazing story.”<\/p>\n