ABOUT THE OPERA
ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS will premiere in October 2027
The opera is driven by two characters.
Sam and Suzy begin with a tense exchange in Suzy’s apartment. Sam storms out, leaving her door open.
The next time we see Sam, Suzy is dead.
Sam is fractured into an array of memories (doorways). This comes to life by 7 different actors + 7 on-stage solo instruments playing Sam. Our shared humanity is central to the show. As a diverse array of Sams enter and exit, we see that inside each one of us—is all of us. After she dies, Suzy returns singing—a new way of hearing those we have lost.
Spoken-sung dialogue, stories, arias, ensembles, and a duet singing the names of audience’s own lost loved ones—culminate in a quiet intimate moment at Suzy’s funeral.
Over the course of the show, the seven Sams and Suzy treat the audience to a playful, sometimes cynical, sometimes remarkably innocent exploration of our deepest feelings, disguised as talking and singing about elusive sleep, disruptive refrigerators, chunky ice cream, moldy bread, aggravating flies, brilliant toddlers, and humiliating poets.
As Sam and Suzy come to terms with their old and new relationship, we are invited to admit our own inner conflicts and yearnings about death and loss. The opera is touching, funny, surprising, resonant, and truly entertaining.
Libretto by Licity Collins
Music by Licity Collins with Collaborative Composers:
Nicole Buetti, Cecille Elliott, Laura Kuhlman, Mendel Lee, Tristan Gianola, and Stephen Montalvo.
ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS IS…
AN INTIMATE EXPERIENCE
Performed in an intimate setting, the chamber opera allows the audience to connect with the story, music, and characters in an immediate way. The opera is performed for you, not at you. This brings the audience close enough to listen intently, see the actors emotions, and hear the instruments without amplification.
A FRESH TAKE ON AN IMPORTANT TRADITION
Spoken-sung opera is part of the operatic tradition. In ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS we combine rich spoken text with potent singing and played-through music. This underscores the themes and narrative of the show. Sam, still living, speaks. Suzy, once she has died, can only sing. This is her new language which the Sams, Suzy herself, and the audience are all learning to understand. Sam 6 also sings. He bridges the divide by representing the part in all of us that deeply knows how to communicate with those we have loved and lost.
A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO COMPOSITION
Each character is scored by unique composer, writing for a solo instrument. These instruments, on stage with their corresponding character, express the inner dialogue and emotions of each Sam and Suzy. Licity Collins, as lead composer works with each individual composer to craft their scene music to fit the overall expression of the show. Licity is the composer for Sam 1's Double Bass scene, all of Suzy's voice parts, all of the ensembles, and the unifying motifs employed by all of the collaborating composers. This gives the work a unique vision, while accentuating the individuality of each of the Sams. Meet the Composers
AN EXITING APPROACH TO CASTING
Each of our 7 Sams is played by a different actor from a variety of genders, races, ages, and appearances, giving the message, that“Inside each of us is all of us.” . Meet the Cast
A UNIQUE ENSEMBLE OF INSTRUMENTS
Sam—Soprano Saxophone
Sam 1—Double Bass
Sam 2—Metal Percussion
Sam 3—Bassoon
Sam 4—Recorder
Sam 5—Baroque Violin
Sam 6, Baritone—Synthesizer
Suzy, Mezzo Soprano—Electric Guitar
Musically, One Death in Seven Doorways sits in the genre of New Music/21st Century Classical. The sound is acoustic and organic—a solo, resonant, acoustic approach that speaks directly to the audience’s bodies, rather than merely filling the space. Not functioning as narration, punctuation, or background, but as an inner voice of each character—each instrument communicates unspoken feelings that lies underneath the words. When more than one instrument is on stage, they dialogue with each other, at times creating duets, trios, and quartets of our inner dialogue with ourselves.
ENSEMBLES: REQUIEM OF THE ROUTINES
The seven instrumental ensembles that surface throughout ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS make up a complete work titled Requiem of the Routines. Drawing on the repeated soundscape that surround modern deaths this work resonates with the routine noises that become a part of death from the crying to the clicking of calculators. These things have replaced ritual, they have become our replacement ritual of death.
TRIOS, QUARTETS
When multiple Sams interact their instruments form generates various duets, trios, and quartets.
80s POWER DUET
When Sam 6 and Suzy share a scene (both singers, both with electronic instruments, Suzy with electric guitar and Sam 6 with synthesizer) something other-worldly happens, demonstrated by an 80s style power duet.
ARIAS
Suzy treats us to beautifully sung arias discovering a new phase of her existence, while trying to communicate and heal with Sam.
DENSE, LITERARY, CONFESSIONAL AND FUNNY LIBRETTO
The language of One Death in Seven Doorways is a story-telling confessional. Rich with inner-searching monologues, Sam discovers that the only person he can trust with his intimate journey is—the audience. As Suzy tries to reach Sam through song we experience the tension and confusion of how to stay connected to those who have died. As the Sams interact with each other we hear our own inner conflicted and competing (sometimes colluding) voices come to life. Along the way, they all treat us to laughter, absurdity, tender emotion and a reflection of ourselves.
ONE FINAL MOMENT
Sam at Suzy's funeral. How do we really move on after someone we love dies?
How It Came to Be
"Rest" is the second piece from my 2022 spoken-word music collection, "The Flower in the Mirror was Dead." This is where I met Sam and his friend Suzy. I connected with Sam and realized he had a lot more to say. I started a draft of a new collection of essays called, "Sam's Stories."
Then
My dear friend, high school chemistry partner, and 10th grade prom date, died—suddenly, of a rare heart condition that was never supposed to give him any trouble. He had just turned 49. Nothing was out of the ordinary. He rode his bike to work as an environmental educator for at-risk-kids. He taught them about monarch butterflies. The next morning he woke up, made a pot of coffee, had a heart attack, and died.
I spoke to him three weeks before his death. The last words I said to him, were not words we said with any regularity but felt crucial to say right then. "I love you." A month later, I got a phone call from Amanda Huron, the drummer who played on "Rest." She and I have known each other since third grade. She was our friend's 11th grade prom date, the year after he and I shared that same awkward teenage ritual. Her voice was on the phone to tell me he had died.
Then
When I came back to Sam, and asked him what we would be writing about. He told me that his friend had also died.
Then
One Death in Seven Doorways began.
What is a Doorway?
A doorway is any opportunity we have to remember, reflect, connect with, or reject someone who has died. It could be a memory fleeting across our minds, a sound that reminds us of their voice, a smell, a dream, a song, or that thing in the store that you suddenly want to buy for them and then you remember that they are dead. These are all chances we have to make that connection, or to say “not now, it’s too much.” It is the dead reaching out to us. It is one of the ways they communicate.
A doorway is also those memories that become instantly crystalized, frozen in time the moment someone we love dies. They are the things we want to hold onto forever and repeatedly purposefully remember—in our attempt to make sure we never forget. The last conversation, the prom date, the hay ride, the three hour phone call, that playful argument, that kiss you aren’t sure was intentional and can never ask them about ever again. The time you hit them, yelled at them, ignored them for a week, or just forgot to call for too long and missed your chance. These are the doorways. They are what we are left with when someone dies.