WAREHOUSE
Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
Los Angeles, California
June 14–23, 2024

Concept and Direction: Yuval Sharon
Music (The Comet): George Lewis
Libretto: Douglas Kearney
Music (L'incoronazione di Poppea): Claudio Monteverdi
Libretto: Giovanni Francesco Busenello
Music Director: Marc Lowenstein
Scenic Designer: Mimi Lien
Lighting Designer: John Torres
Costume Designer: Oana Botez
Sound Designer: Mark Grey
Dramaturgy: Robert Gooding-Williams and Wendy Heller

The Comet / Poppea brings together seemingly disparate worlds connected by stories of cultural transformation. The work juxtaposes Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), an Italian opera from 1643 unfolding among the social divisions of ancient Rome; and the world premiere of The Comet, based on the 1920 science-fiction short story by sociologist and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois. Set in 1920s New York City, “The Comet” depicts a Black man and white woman as the only survivors after a comet hits Earth.

Presented on a turntable divided in two halves, these worlds unfold simultaneously, with the stage’s rotation creating a visual and sonic spiral for audiences—inviting associations, dissociations, collisions, and confluences. 

Photography by Austin Richey, Courtesy MOCA and The Industry.