In Harlem鈥檚 Sugar Hill neighborhood, a once-stately brownstone has been home to four generations of the Walker family. The house stands as a testament to the dreams and devotions of its inhabitants past and present. It鈥檚 also filled with ghostly ancestral voices and fears that emerge as the youngest Walker, Zoe, returns to the family home with important news to share 鈥� and a decision that could bring the house new life, or relegate it to history and memory.
Bringing that story to life this spring with the world premiere of 鈥淭his House鈥� will be a highlight of Opera Theatre of St. Louis' 50th season. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and her daughter, poet and writer Ruby Aiyo Gerber, have joined forces to write its libretto, which is based on a play Gerber wrote as a Brown University undergrad during the COVID-19 pandemic.
鈥淚 encountered this quote from essayist and poet Dionne Brand which really helped shape the direction I wanted to go with this story,鈥� Gerber said on St. Louis on the Air.
In the 2001 book 鈥淎 Map to the Door of No Return,鈥� Brand : 鈥淏lack experience in any modern city or town in the Americas is haunting. One enters a room and history follows; one enters a room and history precedes.鈥�
Against that backdrop, Gerber specifically thought about her own experience growing up in the same house her mother did and living in a multigenerational household during a period that saw the deaths of many elders in the Black community.
Gerber didn鈥檛 share the play with Nottage until she finished writing it.
鈥淚t's not based on our family, but it's very much inspired by real characters from our family, so I wanted to get her thoughts,鈥� she said.
Nottage said she was immediately moved by her daughter鈥檚 work.
鈥淚 read Ruby's play and I thought, 鈥楾his play really sings to me, and it would be lovely to figure out a way to turn it into something larger,鈥欌�� Nottage said. 鈥淚 think it was the notion of generations being in dialogue that excited me. What was really lovely about [the multigenerational home] is the fact that on each floor there were different memories stored, but we could move between those floors and have this really robust, lovely dialogue.鈥�
Going from play to opera wasn鈥檛 a thought that entered Gerber鈥檚 mind until Nottage proposed it.
Nottage had wanted to again work with composer Ricky Ian Gordon. The two had collaborated on 鈥淚ntimate Apparel,鈥� a 2022 opera adaption of Nottage鈥檚 play of the same name from nearly 20 years prior.
鈥淚t was a beautiful surprise,鈥� Gerber said. 鈥淚 think being of a certain generation, opera, especially libretto writing, has felt kind of inaccessible. It wasn't something I really knew that people did until 鈥業ntimate Apparel,鈥� which was my first encounter with a modern opera.鈥�
Nottage credits Gordon with bringing the sounds of the house to life.
鈥淭he creaking of the window is the voice of a soprano, but also one of the characters. And the stairs, and the boiler, all of those take on the sounds of not just people, but the home itself,鈥� Nottage said.
"This House" is another highly anticipated Opera Theatre production that follows the 2013 world premiere of Terrence Blanchard's "Champion" and, in 2019, "Fire Shut Up in My Bones." The latter became the first-ever performance of an opera by a Black composer at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Nottage and Gerber said that the world premiere of their first collaborative libretto with Opera Theatre of St. Louis is apropos given the themes of 鈥淭his House鈥� and the artistic organization鈥檚 commitment to expanding who creates and experiences opera.
鈥淚 think St Louis is certainly the right place for this story, because the city is grappling with the effects of gentrification and Black displacement,鈥� Nottage said. 鈥淏ut Opera Theatre of St. Louis in particular is the right space because they've invested so much time and care into nurturing new opera. There is a real desire to cultivate a brand-new audience, but also to find talent like Ruby to tell stories that aren't traditionally put on the opera stage.鈥�
To hear the entire conversation with Lynn Nottage and Ruby Aiyo Gerber, including ways their mother-daughter relationship made it possible to challenge each other, listen to St. Louis on the Air on , , or , or click the play button below.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by , , , and . Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is .
