In the new age of coronavirus, there are risks to audiences gathering in person for a live performance. Thankfully, artists are turning to new platforms to share their talent.
For instance, this Friday the 22nd at 6 p.m. EST, you can tune into a free performance of Parable of the Sower: The Concert Experience, an opera adaptation of Octavia Butler's novel. Audience members will be able to view the performance live on Facebook and YouTube, and can register for the event here.
The adaptation was co-written by Toshi Reagon (pictured above) with her mother, Sweet Honey In the Rock's Bernice Johnson, and received a rave review from The Portalist.
Friday's performance is the kick-off event for Parable Path Boston, an Emerson University event series exploring social and environmental justice through the lens of Butler's work. The livestream will also feature a pre-show panel and a post-show Q&A. Here's the official description of this Friday's event:
As part of the Together Apart Series, join us for this very special one-night-only streaming of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower: The Concert Experience! The event starts with a conversation between Toshi Reagon and a panel of artists and activists from cities where Reagon previously paved the Parable Path. Viewers will then be treated to a stream of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower: The Concert Experience followed by an audience talk-back with Toshi Reagon and other performers from the show.
Although the pandemic prevents people from congregating in-person, in many ways now is the time when Butler's defining novel about empathy in the face of Change is most vital.
RELATED: 10 Octavia Butler Quotes to Live By
Parable of the Sower centers around a teenager in the near-future, Lauren Olamina, who is one of the first in her community to understand that their way of life is unsustainable.
The novel's message about reimagining survival in the face of widespread disaster is directly applicable to the coronavirus era. Thankfully, authors, artists, and activists are finding new ways to bring the message of Parable to audiences and readers right now, through events like this Friday's livestream, and the 'Octavia Tried to Tell Us webinar series.'
You can watch Toshi Reagon's appearance on the webinar series, in which she discusses the opera with authors Tananarive Due and Monica A. Coleman, here.
Download Butler's vital work today.
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Featured photo via ArtsEmerson on Facebook / Waleed Shah
