I am the Marketing & Communications Director here at Tapestry. A lot of people ask me about where I work. Granted, some of these folks aren’t familiar with opera. But some are. Either way, people are curious. I’m still getting to know this world, but I can tell you with certainty – it is expanding!
Before we closed over the holidays, we worked on our very first operatic film. With support from Bravo!FACT, Tapestry is producing The Perfect Match, (by Krista Dalby & Anthony Young) a 5-minute opera film about two lives coming together, about love, about the universal search for companionship. I left work on Friday evening, already witness to a shockingly intensive production meeting -(and we thought opera exhausted a lot of resources)- and planned to return on Sunday afternoon to check out the progress of the shoot.
After trudging my way back to the Distillery District during an uncharacteristic Toronto winter storm I arrived (in full snow gear) to find our new works studio completely transformed. Either end was occupied by magical and deceptive sets and virtually the entire floor space by film equipment and crew members who communicated easily through turns of phrase I can only describe as some sort of code. (Did anyone else know that ’subs’ means ’substantials’? Our Producing Director was about to order sandwiches from Subway).
Tom Diamond, Tapestry’s Resident Studio Company Director, sat in a director’s chair, helming his very first film and Wayne Strongman, Managing Artistic Director and Tapestry founder looked over the very technical process in amazement. I watched Set Designer Julia Tribe literally insert herself into pieces of her set making last minute adjustments before the camera captured the scene. As one set was dismantled, it was quickly replaced with another. The entire film crew was constantly abuzz with activity, but all went quiet when we heard the word action and the music began.
I’m glad I made it through the snow and into the studio for the spectacle. The Perfect Match is a perfect example of what we create, develop and perform here at Tapestry: new opera works. New ways to work opera. New ways for opera to work.
The Perfect Match will have its world premiere screening at Opera to Go 2008, Tapestry’s upcoming production of 7 world premiere short operas presented in association with Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage at the Enwave Theatre, February 14 – 23, 2008. Click here for more information and here for tickets.
Oh yeah…did I mention the film is a sock puppet opera?!
Hope to see you there!
Anna
Image: Still from the set of The Perfect Match
