Sweet Land
The Industry
Yuval Sharon, Director
Cannupa Hanska Luger, Director & Costume Designer
Raven Chacon, Composer
Du Yun, Composer
Douglas Kearney, Librettist
Aja Couchois Duncan, Librettist
The Arrivals wash up on the shore. They make contact with another civilization they call “the Hosts.” And from there, the story splinters, following diverging perspectives. Starting as a procession through the LA State Historic Park, Sweet Land becomes an opera that erases itself.
The company that created Invisible Cities and Hopscotch, now brings you a grotesque historical pageant that disrupts the dominant narrative of American identity.
Like all of The Industry’s previous works, Sweet Land is the result of a highly collaborative and multi-perspectival approach. Composer Du Yun is a Chinese immigrant whose recent work originates from what she states “is a lack of understanding and empathy around immigration”. Her last major opera, Angel’s Bone won a Pulitzer Prize for music and explores the psychology behind human trafficking. Composer Raven Chacon, United States Artists fellow and winner of the Creative Capital Award, is a composer, performer and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation. Librettist Douglas Kearney is a poet whose “polyphonic diction pulls history apart, recombining it to reveal an alternative less whitewashed by enfranchised power” (BOMB Magazine). Librettist Aja Couchois Duncan is a mixed-race Ojibwe writer who works to advance equity and social justice. Cannupa Hanksa Luger is a multidisciplinary artist who interweaves performance and political action to communicate stories about 21st-century Indigeneity. He co-directs Sweet Land with Yuval Sharon, the Founder and Artistic Director of The Industry and a 2017 MacArthur Fellow.
Visit our Ticketing and Experience FAQ to learn more.
The Industry’s “Sunday Sessions” series supplements Sweet Land with free public events that further explore pertinent themes from the opera. Learn more about Sunday Sessions.
Credits
Creative Team
- Composer Raven Chacon
- Composer Du Yun
- Librettist Aja Couchois Duncan
- Librettist Douglas Kearney*
- Director & Costume Designer Cannupa Hanska Luger
- Director Yuval Sharon
- Associate Director Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
- Sound Designer Jody Elff
- Production/Lighting Designer Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew
- Projection Designer Hana S. Kim
- Projection Advisor Alex Schweder
- Scenic Designer Tanya Orellana
- Scenic Designer Carlo Maghirang
- Costume Designer E.B. Brooks
- Choreographer Tonantzin Carmelo
Cast
- Coyote Carmina Escobar
- Coyote Micaela Tobin
- Coyote Kathryn Shuman
- Wiindigo Sharon Chohi Kim*
- Totaa'ar Jenny Wong
- Totaa'ar Lucy Yates
- Makwa Kelci Hahn
- Grandfather Derrell Acon
- Father Babatunde Akinboboye
- Brother Fahad Siadat
- Jimmy Gin Scott Belluz
- Guide Jehnean Washington
- Bow Lindsay Patterson Abdou
- Drum Nandani Sinha
- Captain Jon Lee Keenan*
- Preacher Richard Hodges
- Rifle Joanna Ceja
- Scribe Peabody Southwell
- Scribe Molly Pease
- Speck Micah Angelo Luna
- Speck Leander Rajan
Ensemble
- Maria Elena Altany*
- Richard An
- Adam Faruqi
- David Harris
- David Hobbs
- Laurel Irene
- Molly Pease
- Theodosia Roussos
- Luvi Avendano
- Jessica Choi
- Mindy Ella Chu
- Mana Contractor
- Angelica Rowell
- Kurt Kanazawa
- David García Saldaña
- Jaquain Sloan
Orchestra
- Music Director and Co-Conductor Marc Lowenstein
- Co-Conductor Jenny Wong
- Concertmaster Maiani da Silva
- Violin Adrianne Pope
- Violin Mona Tian
- Viola Marta Honer
- Viola Diana Wade
- Cello Jennifer Bewerse
- Cello Derek Stein
- Bass Ben Finley
- Bass Hakeem Holloway
- Flute Erin McKibben
- Flute and Saxophone Damon Zick
- Clarinet and Saxophone Brian Walsh
- Clarinet and Saxophone Andrew Conrad
- Trumpet Sarah Belle Reid
- Trombone Matt Barbier
- Tuba Luke Storm
- Tuba Brad Moller
- Guitar Lily Maase
- Guitar Michel Von Loh
- Piano Lucy Yates
- Piano Milena Gligic
- Percussion Corey Fogel
- Percussion Jordan Curcuruto
- Percussion Derek Tywoniuk
Production
- Executive Director Elizabeth Cline
- Executive Producer Jhane Myers
- Production Director Mariana Perez-Seda
- Technical Director Jacob Patterson
- Production Stage Manager Amelia Nordin
- Associate Director Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
- Props Master Erik Albidress
- Associate Producer Yael Greenberg
- Stage Managers Isabella Grace, Ben Kutner, Mitchell Webb
- Assistant Stage Managers Kymberli Skye Butler, Aliyah Smith, Amanda Reynoso, Andrea Ruffalo, Pita Taing, Liv Wafler
- Assistant Lighting Designer & Master Electrician Ashley Duke
- Assistant Costume Designer Annie Szeliski
- Wardrobe Supervisor Kaszandra A. Liput
- Wardrobe Assistants Ryan Norton, Cassidy Santos
- Assistant Projection Design/Video Lead Erin Teachman
- Crew/Video Operator Tess Lauren Holtzman
- Build Lead Greg Schenk
- Crew Helen Aboulhosn, Mikie Beatty, Cole Castine, Jay Emstrom, Josh Esquivel, Stephen Estrada Jr, Alex Legolvan, Roman Prado, Francesca Quintano, Mateo Rudich
- Associate Producer, Audience Experience Brian Sea
- Associate Producer Gabriella Rhodeen
- Box Office Manager Sydney McDonald
- Community Outreach Coordinator Derrell Acon
- Community Outreach Assistant Alyse James
- Associate Producer, Events Jaden LaRue
- Communications Sounding Point
- Public Relations First Chair Promotions
- Graphic Design Visual Issues
* Denotes a Company Member of The Industry
Support
Sweet Land is supported in part by generous grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, LA County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and the Pasadena Arts Alliance.
The Commissioning of Du Yun for Sweet Land received funding from OPERA America’s Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
A special thank you to our community hosts the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission.
Leadership Support for the production of Sweet Land comes from The Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Foundation, Category41, and William Anawalt and Anawalt Lumber. The music of Sweet Land is commissioned by Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.
Visionary support for the production is also provided by Stuart Meiklejohn and Mary Ann O’Connor, Betsy Greenberg, Abby Sher, Myrna Cook, Ruth Eliel and Bill Cooney, Maurice Singer, and Debra Vilinsky and Michael Sopher.
Sweet Land “Directors’ Chairs” are underwritten by Leslie Lassiter and Raulee Marcus.
Major support provided by Fariba Ghaffari, Christine Adams and James Asperger, Evelyn and Stephen Block, Gary and Lolly Brown, Robert A. Ellis, Ruth Gilliland and Arthur Rieman, Adam Paris, Stephanie Barron, Dr. Erika Marina Nadir and Sam Maizel, Diane and Peter Gray, Rajika and Anupam Puri, Yuval Sharon, Yuval Bar-Zemer & Gudrun Goetschke, Hyon Chough, Anonymous, Barbara Cohn, Kyle Funn, Kenneth Reinhard and Julia Reinhard Lupton, Kiki Ramos and David Gindler, Debra and John Warfel, Dan and Liat Zuckerman, NancyBell Coe and Bill Burke, Stephanie and Alfred Shuman, Susan Bienkowski and Wang Lee, and Rosanne Ziering.