The Story
Five instruments wait to be discovered. Five women’s voices wait to be heard. Writer-composer-performer Bethany Hill will inhabit multiple ancestral characters from Australia and Europe to tell this semi-autobiographical story of judgment, desire, and searching. Inspired by the words, music, and life of Barbara Strozzi, a 17th-century Italian composer and a woman ahead of her time, Hill moves from Appalachian dulcimers to her laptop, from classical singing to contemporary color, to weave a miscellany of old and new together in this modern opera.
A young woman stands at the altar of her fundamentalist church, surrounded by her devout family, questioning her role in her looming marriage. In the days that follow, an email arrives, offering her a place in a music academy. In order to attend, and without the approval of those around her, she makes the difficult decision to leave her home, her family, and her oppressive background.
Embarking on a voyage of experimentation and self-discovery, the young woman soon comes to realize that while the academy is a wonderland of musical expression, the teachers are as rigid as their rules, she’s behind in her work, and some of her classmates are simply idiots. She begins to make music in a way that is startling to her teachers and surprising even to herself. She pushes back on her idea of sexual morality and she questions the very existence of a higher being. Riddled with self-doubt, a history of shame, and a fear of disappointing those she loves, she looks to her ancestors for generational wisdom as she struggles with her decision to leave it all behind. How many rules will she need to break in order to find her freedom? And once she’s found it, will she choose it over her family and the life she’s always known?
FEMMINA SUPER, told through classical singing and contemporary monologues, is a one-woman modern opera that makes its international debut at the 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Director’s Note
by Alek Lev
An overlooked 17th century female composer. Opera re-imagined as smaller, more intimate, more character-driven. Traditional Appalachian instruments echoing through a digital looping platform. The tale of an Australian woman escaping her fundamentalist upbringing. There are things you’ll experience in FEMMINA SUPER.
And these are things I know exactly nothing about.
When you’re looking for projects to direct, you’ll often seek out something with which you have a personal connection or a long-term fascination. Or at least, like, have heard of. For me, instead, this has been a learning experience from the moment that Bethany said to me, 15 months before opening night, “I have this idea about a one-woman opera about Barbara Strozzi,” right up until yesterday, one day before opening night, when we were still asking ourselves who Barbara was and why she was visiting our story. I’ve learned about traditional opera, and what traditions we were joyfully breaking, a process I started while co-directing with the boundary-breaking Victory Hall Opera in Charlottesville, Virginia. I’ve learned about the dulcimer, the metallophone, the shruthie box, and other instruments my auto-correct can’t figure out. I’ve learned about Barbara Strozzi, whose name I had never heard, a fact that emphasizes the very reason that Bethany was so determined to tell her story. But most importantly, I’ve learned the joys of watching Bethany Hill turn all of this into a beautiful, touching, funny, and powerful modern opera. Her script seamlessly ties together Barbara’s life with her own, and with the lives of other woman in Bethany’s ancestry who have pushed against the walls of oppression, false assumptions, and invented rules. Bethany has taken the structure of Strozzi’s music and imbued, infused it with her own artistry while also taking Strozzi’s Italian and creating her own poetic English translations. I’ve learned, in short, that my role is to support Bethany, to help clarify and enhance, to throw in some silly jokes and even a double-take (watch for it), and ultimately, get out of the way and arm myself with Windex, so that I can keep clean the window through which you get to see this tour de force.
Oh also, she’s a pretty good singer.
BETHANY HILL
Performer / Writer / Composer
BETHANY HILL is a versatile and critically acclaimed Australian soprano and theater-maker, now based in the United States. A specialist in 17th and 18th century music, she is also regularly involved in the development of new compositions. Bethany has performed multiple times in the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Notable productions include BREAKING THE WAVES(Scottish Opera), SAUL (Glyndebourne), a solo recital with CHAMBER LANDSCAPES, and the Australian premiere of the opera I HAVE NO STORIES TO TELL YOU (USA). In 2018, Bethany co-created and performed in the childrens’ opera CAN YOU HEAR COLOUR? (Patch Theatre), which premiered in the Festival. Since relocating to the U.S., Bethany has enjoyed performing in the Bay Area as a chamber musician and soloist. She is one half of the folk duo, Turas, who toured to Alaska for the first time in 2023.
“Hill is a standout as she joyously prances and warbles using her powerful melodic voice, hitting impossibly high notes with confidence and precision, all the time as a speechless bird. .”
— STAGE WHISPERS on Can You Hear Color
“FIVE STARS. [Hill] is, at heart, a storyteller, and her vocal range paints the narrative with a broad range of nuanced emotions. ”
— Glam Adelaide
ALEK LEV
Director
ALEK LEV is a director and producer, working in theater, film, and podcasting. After graduating from Wesleyan University, he studied and toured with The National Theatre of the Deaf and later performed with Deaf West Theatre. Alek directed THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING with mixed casts of Deaf and hearing actors. In 2022, he co-directed the opera ORPHEUS AND ERICA, a new take on the classic tale, for Victory Hall Opera in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2022, Alek also wrote and directed the feature-length, black-and-white silent comedy WHAT?, which played in 24 film festivals across 9 countries, winning 21 awards, including 4 for Best Picture, 5 for Best Actor, and 3 for Best Director. Alek is the producer and co-host of the podcast ARTS EDUCATORS SAVE THE WORLD.