{"id":522,"date":"2019-04-17T18:49:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T18:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/?post_type=work&#038;p=522"},"modified":"2022-12-02T18:11:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T18:11:29","slug":"specimen-days-a-civil-war-opera","status":"publish","type":"work","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/current-repertory\/specimen-days-a-civil-war-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"Specimen Days: A Civil War Opera (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em> <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-524\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/meredith-monk-media\/1\/2019\/04\/specimen-days-photo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1275\" height=\"1645\" srcset=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/meredith-monk-media\/1\/2019\/04\/specimen-days-photo.jpg 1275w, https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/meredith-monk-media\/1\/2019\/04\/specimen-days-photo-388x500.jpg 388w, https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/meredith-monk-media\/1\/2019\/04\/specimen-days-photo-768x991.jpg 768w, https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/meredith-monk-media\/1\/2019\/04\/specimen-days-photo-794x1024.jpg 794w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1275px) 100vw, 1275px\" \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2><strong>Specimen Days: A Civil War Opera<\/strong> (1981)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Specimen Days: a Civil War opera<\/em> was originally developed beginning in 1978 and was inspired by Monk\u2019s recognition that the last war fought on American soil was the Civil War.&nbsp; While the piece is not specifically about the war, it uses it as a metaphor for a country divided against itself, and as a way of exploring dualism\/categorization as a recurring human tendency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through music, image, text and movement, <em>Specimen Days<\/em> juxtaposes the time frame of the Civil War and contemporary society to explore cycles of violence which continue today and loom into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The piece borrows its title from a book by Walt Whitman of the same name, and references Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a notorious American composer of the period, and Matthew Brady, the famous civil war photographer, to elicit a notion of \u201cAmericana\u201d through the eye and ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conceived, Directed and Composed by<strong> Meredith Monk<\/strong><br><strong>Performers<\/strong>: Cristobal Caramb\u00f3, Shami Chaiken, Robert Een, Ronnie Gilbert, Andrea Goodman, Paul Langland, Steve Lockwood, Meredith Monk, Nicky Paraiso, Margo Lee Sherman, Mary Shultz, Gail Turner, Mieke van Hoek, Pablo Vela<br>Music: <strong>Meredith Monk<\/strong><br>Choreography: <strong>Meredith Monk, Gail Turner<\/strong><br>Costumes and Decor: <strong>Yoshio Yabara<\/strong><br>Lighting: <strong>Beverly Emmons<\/strong><br>Film: <strong>Robert Withers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Meredith Monk: Specimen Days (Live Excerpt, 1982)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bddm7ybkAkU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:<\/strong><br><br>\u201cSome Observations on Meredith Monk\u2019s Specimen Days\u201d&nbsp;by Kenneth Bernard; Theater (Yale School of Drama\/Yale Repertory Theater); Vol. 13, No. 2; Spring 1982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":524,"menu_order":23,"template":"","acf":{"is_current_repertory_work":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/work\/522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/work"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/work"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-dot-meredith-monk-website.appspot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}