CONTENT WARNING: This production contains themes intended for a mature audience, including sexual content and stylized violence.

Quirky and darkly comic, The Wild Beast of the Bungalow follows an 11-year-old girl through a triptych of short operas. In “Mermaid in the Jar,” she begins a reign of terror over a most unwelcome living gift. The girl divorces her real parents in “Prairie Dogs” and creates her own taxidermied prairie dog family, only to find that they are not the affectionate substitutes she’d hoped for. Finally, in “Fine and Dandy,” she is quarantined in her room, facing forces she cannot control: the Fine and Dandies, a barbershop quartet of chickenpox, and her mother’s own ’60s-style girl group of illness, the Shingles.

The Wild Beast of the Bungalow is the inaugural work presented by the Oberlin Opera Commissioning Project, made possible by Elizabeth and Justus ’71 Schlichting. This world premiere by Rachel Peters features a libretto by Royce Vavrek.

Wednesday, January 29 - opening night, sponsored by Cleveland Opera Theater.
Friday, January 31 - there will be a 7 p.m. pre-performance talk with conductor Ben Martin.
Saturday, February 1
Sunday, February 2 

All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Each performance will be followed by a talk-back with various members of the artistic staff, student performers, and the creative team.

Tickets: Free, but reservations are required. 
Reserve online. For further information, contact CTS at 800-371-0178 or cts@oberlin.edu.

Music by Rachel J. Peters
Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Directed by Christopher Mirto
Conducted by Joseph Hodge

Photo credit: Ryan Bauer-Walsh