For Life - Opera on Psychiatry and Its Drugs Premieres on Jan 15
Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health
Mad in America
4.7 • 213 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2022
⏱️ 52 minutes
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Summary
Dawn Sonntag and Kermit Cole have collaborated on creating a 30-minute opera, For Life, that explores the possible harms that can come from psychiatric drugs. It's a novel subject for an opera, which premieres online on January 15 at 9 p.m. EST. The opera will be performed by students at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.
Dawn is an award-winning composer whose works have been commissioned by the Cleveland Opera Theater and the Hartford Opera Theater and performed at numerous music festivals in the United States and Canada. Her first opera, for which she also wrote the libretto, titled Verlorene Heimat, was a finalist in the 2021 American prize for opera. She wrote the composition for For Life.
Kermit Cole is well known to Mad In America readers. He cofounded madinamerica.com, and served as our editor for the first four years. He has a background in street theatre, having toured Europe as part of a mime troupe, and in the 1990s, produced a documentary about living with HIV. He has worked in various residential settings for people struggling with psychiatric difficulties and is trained in Open Dialogue therapy. He wrote the libretto for the opera.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Mad in America podcast, your source for science, psychiatry, and social justice. |
| 0:12.0 | I dream I am lost in a woods searching. |
| 0:25.6 | A path leads out of the darkness. |
| 0:30.6 | The trees are watching. The trees are watching. |
| 0:42.3 | The trees are watching. |
| 0:51.1 | Hello, my name is Bob Whitaker, and today we'll be speaking with Don Sonatog and Kermit Cole about an opera they have created titled For Life. This opera is, I think, |
| 0:56.6 | rather unique for, I don't know of any other opera that explores the foibles of psychiatry |
| 1:02.1 | and the harm that the psychiatric drugs can cause. Don is an award-winning composer whose works |
| 1:08.2 | have been commissioned and performed by the Cleveland Opera Theater, |
| 1:11.2 | the Hartford Opera Theater, and have been performed at numerous music festivals in the United |
| 1:16.3 | States and Canada. Her first opera, for which she also composed the libretto, is a finalist |
| 1:22.1 | in a 2021 American Prize for Opera. Krimit Cole is well known to readers of Madden America. |
| 1:29.7 | He was one of the founders of Madden American, |
| 1:31.7 | served as the editor for the first four years. |
| 1:34.6 | He also has a background in film. |
| 1:36.9 | When he was young, he toured Europe as part of a mime troupe. |
| 1:41.0 | And in the past 20 years, |
| 1:42.4 | he's also become trained in open dialogue therapy. And he has a |
| 1:47.3 | lifelong love of playing with words. He's a fan of crosswords. And he recently created one for |
| 1:52.7 | Matt in America. He wrote the libretto for the opera. This opera for life will premiere online. |
| 1:59.4 | And there will be a discussion afterwards and you'll |
| 2:01.6 | need to register for the discussion afterwards. |
... |
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