A NEW SPOKEN-SUNG CHAMBER OPERA
FROM THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL MIND OF LICITY COLLINS
Recently Awarded a 2025 Oregon Community Foundation Creative Heights Grant
“This opera is a spiritual act.”
“It vividly captured the range of emotions of grief. It is a catharsis,”
'I have never experienced a work of art like this before. It is truly unique."
“Absolutely amazing." “Fantastic.” "Extraordinary.”
“The writing is funny! What a treat to laugh while I am grieving.”
“Somehow the first aria expressed exactly what it's like to be dead.”
“Such a beautiful work.”
“What a wonderful gift—a way to explore feelings that are totally beyond words.”
“It's going to impact everyone that experiences it.”
— Audience members attending the workshop mini-preview
Pushing the boundaries of creativity, ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS uses language and music, body and voice, vision and imagination in new ways to give the audience an intimate, personal, adventuresome opera experience. One speaking character is played by multiple actors, while the other character only sings. Solo instruments are liberated from the orchestra pit and join the characters on stage giving a distinctive and intimate voice to each character's emotions. The opera is composed in a collaborative process where each character and solo instrument has a dedicated composer and style. This opera invites you in—to the story and to yourself in the process. Exposing themes of grief and loss that illustrate our shared humanity,
One Death in Seven Doorways expands our minds and touches our hearts.
It is an exploration of the fracturing of time and self
which happens when someone we love suddenly dies,
and the ongoing relationship we have with our dead loved ones.
Please join us in creating this opera by your generous donation.
SUPPORT INNOVATIVE GENRE-BUSTING OPERA
PREMIERE scheduled for OCTOBER 2027
We are currently raising funds for the premiere of the work.
Donations made through Fractured Atlas are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. One Death in Seven Doorways Creator Licity Collins is a sponsored project/artist of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.
Thank you for your contribution.
FUNDING PARTNERS
ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS has recently been awarded a Creative Heights Grant from the Oregon Community Foundation to complete composing and premiere the work in October 2027. We are thrilled at this honor and opportunity.
One Death in Seven Doorways was written in part during a 2023 Black Art/Ists artist residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.
Composing was supported by a 2024 Arts3C Grant through the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC); a 2024 Awesome Portland People's Choice Award, a 2025 Friends of IFCC Grant which included funding from City of Portland’s Office of Arts and Culture and 1803 Fund; a 2024-26 inaugural Music Fellowship at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology which also included grant-writing support; and a 2025-6 Oregon Arts Open Artist in Residence grant. Special thanks to Alicia Cohen and Tom Fisher.
Workshopping space and support were provided in part by the 2024 IFCC (Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center) Grant and Residency Program made possible by City of Portland Oregon funding from the American Rescue Plan act through Portland Parks and Recreation.
Funding for the world premiere production is supported by a Creative Heights grant from the Oregon Community Foundation with fiscal sponsorship from the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.
None of this could have happened without the support
of steady and generous individual donors, like you.
Thank you to every dead person that served as a consultant on this project, especially to Linton Harrington, for this incredible parting gift, and to Suzy who I know only through her words and songs.
