Photos courtesy of Terry Gilliam
It started when Peggy Kriha Dye, general and artistic director for Opera Columbus, approached Janet Chen, executive director for ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, for a cup of coffee. Dye wanted to collaborate with Chen and ProMusica for Opera Columbus’ first commissioned work. What that work would be, Dye wasn’t sure – but she knew Chen could help.
The conversation moved from a cup of coffee to a glass of wine. There were a few things they knew immediately: the collaboration would be fruitful, and Columbus history was to play an integral role. For that, they consulted WOSU’s Cindy Gaillard, producer of Columbus Neighborhoods. They had a simple question.
“This woman knows the city. … I’m like, ‘What’s the biggest, most epic thing?’”
Gaillard had a simple answer: The great flood in the Franklinton neighborhood in 1913. It killed more than 90 people and wiped out 4,000 homes – the most disastrous flood in Ohio history, per WOSU.
Four and a half years later, on Feb. 8-10, The Flood premiered at the Southern Theatre. With the commissioning of Korine Fujiwara of Carpe Diem String Quartet and libretto by the Juilliard School’s Stephen Wadsworth, collaboration for the original production extended far beyond Columbus limits.
The production was split physically and thematically into four rooms, each representing a different generation in Columbus: 1913, 1940, 1970 and 2014. The opera sought to answer one question.
“How does trauma or a traumatic event affect generations of a family?” asks Dye. “So, in order to tell the story and get it up to modern day, (Wadsworth) went up through four different generations – 100 years.”
Dye heard ProMusica perform the score for the first time just a week before opening night and, up until the dress rehearsal, The Flood was still being refined. Fujiwara had a challenging job: write varying music for four separate eras without losing the audience.
“Korine was so brilliantly able to tie sort of threads and textures into each of the eras that came together, kind of representing the room they were in. … How do you do that without becoming too overwhelming?” says Chen. “That’s a tricky thing to do.”
The production was a hit, eliciting a standing ovation from the audience all three nights.
Though both Chen and Dye hope to bring The Flood back to the stage at some point in the future, for now, Columbus is left with the impact of a local production with national interest. The city is young and only getting younger – Columbus ranked No. 24 for the most popular U.S. city for Millennials in 2018 – so it’s important for residents to know their roots, Dye says.
“The characters are fictional but there’s so much real history embedded in the city – the insane asylum, the development of the Scioto Mile. There’s all these nods to Columbus – Gladden (Community House), Broad Street, Poindexter Village,” says Chen. “I think we, as a community, should feel really proud that that part of history is written forever down through this work.”
Opera Columbus made more on ticket sales that weekend than ever before. A reporter from The Wall Street Journal flew out to review The Flood. A producer from New York City visited Columbus specifically to see the opera. The support The Flood received from the opera community at large, Dye says, was staggering.
“It’s really surreal. I feel like I was numb all weekend because there’s still so much to do,” she says. “I’m really trying to soak it in. That Wall Street Journal article came out, and I’m like, ‘This really happened to us.’ It’s a really amazing thing.”
The effects of the flood in Franklinton are still palpable today, and the effects of the production have the potential to be long-lasting as well. Being Opera Columbus’ first commission, and ProMusica’s first time writing an opera, The Flood has inspired growth for both organizations. The atmosphere on opening night alone was hard for Chen to put into words.
“You can’t really describe it. In a way, we have lived – quote, unquote – with each other for four and a half years. It’s not just me and Peggy, it’s our staff, our teams that have had to work with each other. Our boards that have had to come together and believe in this project,” says Chen. “You feel like you’re a family and you’ve given birth to this thing. … It’s a very – it’s an incredible, emotional roller coaster.”
Photos courtesy of Terry Gilliam
Both ProMusica and Opera Columbus are known for doing things fresh and unexpected, and The Flood has only emboldened Dye and Chen more. They each expressed interest – and hope – that they can work together in a similar magnitude again.
“Working with Janet was honestly – I couldn’t have picked a better partner. We were joined at the hip artistically, financially and it was so great to have a real partner through this process,” says Dye. “I could cry talking about it.”
Amanda DePerro is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
