photo by Michael Hart

"...voices intertwining into a dense sonic tapestry..." John Rockwell, The New York Times

Dress Code: Audiences attending SCARLET FEVER are encouraged to wear red.

Scarlet Fever

What happens when a young woman shows up for her senior year of high school pregnant…and a man? Such is the stuff of SCARLET FEVER, a new opera from Brooklyn-based Collective Opera Company.

Taking Nathaniel Hawthorne’s iconic 19th century novel “The Scarlet Letter” as a starting point, SCARLET FEVER mines America’s long-held obsession with unorthodox pregnancy. Classical voices, romantic literature and tabloid headlines collide in this absurdist riff on parental identity.

Concept and creation by Collective Opera Company including Summer Baldwin, Brent Capron, Michael Hart, Jocelyn Ladd, Ryan Scott Lathan, Elizabeth Munn, Chris Schiavo, Ryan Tracy, and Paula White

Original music by Ryan Tracy, with contribution from the company

Libretto by the company, based on “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Lighting and visual design by Chris Schiavo

A Mount Tremper Arts Commision