Contemporary Opera Explores Biological Warfare, LSD and CIA
In Performances at Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Long Island University’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts in Brooklyn is offering a new round of avant-garde and traditional productions in October and November, including a contemporary opera, a dance competition, Panamanian dance and music and a theatrical production with juggling, dance and music.

“Man: Biology of a Fall,” a new full-length opera with music by Evan Hause and a libretto by Gary Heidt, will have a world premiere run from Thursday-Saturday, October 4-6, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 7, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $35, $25; $15 for students with ID and seniors. The Kumble Theater is located on the University’s Brooklyn Campus, at the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush avenues. For more information, call the box office at (718) 488-1624 or visit www.kumbletheater.org.

Traversing classical, rock, jazz and electronic styles, the opera is conducted by Clay Greenberg and directed by Jyana Gregory. It stars lyric tenor Steven Ebel supported by a large cast, including Daniel Gundlach, San-ky Kim, Mark Peters, Mary Ellen Assue, David Morrow, Kamala Sankaram, John Schenkel, Raemond Martin and actor Christopher Burris, among others.

The opera is a fictional account of the last days of Frank Olson (1910-1953), one of the first American scientists to study biological weapons, such as anthrax, for the Army. He was ultimately drugged with LSD and subjected to interrogation when he began having reservations about his work.

Other events at the Kumble Theater

• Dance Expo will take place on Saturday, November 3, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dance teams will compete and perform. Tickets: $15 (2 p.m. children’s competition, ages 6-13); $20 (7:30 p.m. teen/all-star/college division).
• “Traduciones de Mi Panama” will take place on Saturday, November 10, at 8 p.m. Conjunto Nuevo Milenio is a folkloric ensemble, led by Alberto Gonzalez, that celebrates the beauty, diversity and richness of Panamanian culture. Tickets: $25.
• “Red” will take place on Thursday, November 15 to Saturday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 18, at 4 p.m. A journey through the memory of a circus’s Master of Ceremonies, Red features jugglers, music and special effects. Tickets: $20, $10 for students with ID and seniors.

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.