From The Director
ERIC EINHORN shares what the audience will experience with Happy Birthday Wanda June. For other interview videos and more, visit Indy Opera's YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Happy Birthday, Wanda June Director’s Notes
By Eric Einhorn
“This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing – and those who don’t.”
-Act I, sc. 1, Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Happy Birthday, Wanda June is Kurt Vonnegut’s wry recasting of Homer’s Odyssey in a contemporary context. In the original epic, the warrior Odysseus, having offended the god Poseidon, is made to wander for ten years as he attempts to make his way home to his faithful wife, Penelope and son, Telemachus. Penelope, meanwhile, is being pursued by countless suitors, all vying for the hand of the famed Odysseus’ wife. When Odysseus finally returns, he and Penelope are reunited happily and each is rewarded for their faithfulness.
That’s all well and good for an ancient epic poem, but as I’m sure many contemporary readers ask while reading Homer: how would all of that play out if it happened today? That’s where Vonnegut’s genius comes into play. He creates the world of Harold Ryan, a military hero with hundreds of kills to his name from several wars. He has been away from home for eight years while on an expedition for diamonds – a rather hubris-driven mission. While he is away, his wife, Penelope, and his son Paul attempt to carry on with their lives. Paul, as a boy entering adolescence, desperately needs the father he can no longer remember. Harold’s taxidermy trophies remain the only link the boy has to his father, who he sees only as a conquering hero.
Penelope, unlike her Homeric namesake, attempts to move on with her life, believing her husband to be dead. Having married Harold when she was very young and being held under his misogynistic thumb, Penelope takes his absence as a chance to pursue her education and date men with little resemblance to her “late” husband. Who can fault Penelope? Wouldn’t anyone try to move on with their lives after eight years of believing their spouse was dead? Her son Paul is not so convinced of Penelope’s choices and even Penelope’s own suitors seem unable to shake the ghost of Harold Ryan.
As in The Odyssey, Vonnegut’s characters must also deal with the questions and the effects of war. These are timeless issues that, especially when framed with contemporary characters, lead us to question our own beliefs. The piece pushes us to examine our feelings on war, killing (“justifiable” or not), and redemption. Vonnegut’s disarming vision of heaven, similar to the Greek Elysian Fields, pushes us even further out of our comfort zone. In Vonnegut’s heaven, we meet eight-year old Wanda June, who extols the virtues of heaven as a place where she can play shuffleboard with Nazis. It is a place where everyone ends up, seemingly free from the Judeo-Christian idea of judgment. It is from this unsettling place - far from safety and stability – that Vonnegut takes us on our own personal odysseys.
When approaching a piece like this as a director, my main focus is on the characters. The people who inhabit this world are the most important elements to the drama. This is not a piece about spectacle, grandeur, or magic. It is a piece of deep pathos couched within an intimate domestic tragi-comedy. It’s a piece about relationships, conflicts, and questioning one’s own humanity - not a “simple-minded play.” My work with the cast will focus on the text and the depth of these richly painted characters. The production itself (sets, costumes, and lighting) will serve to amplify and clarify each element of the narrative. My work will be in service to Richard Auldon Clark’s crisp score, that heightens Vonnegut’s powerful language, allowing the text to penetrate the listener’s ear in a far more powerful way than if it had only been spoken. As Vonnegut himself knew, this is a story born for the operatic stage, and I am so excited and humbled to be able to help bring it to life.
By Eric Einhorn
“This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing – and those who don’t.”
-Act I, sc. 1, Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Happy Birthday, Wanda June is Kurt Vonnegut’s wry recasting of Homer’s Odyssey in a contemporary context. In the original epic, the warrior Odysseus, having offended the god Poseidon, is made to wander for ten years as he attempts to make his way home to his faithful wife, Penelope and son, Telemachus. Penelope, meanwhile, is being pursued by countless suitors, all vying for the hand of the famed Odysseus’ wife. When Odysseus finally returns, he and Penelope are reunited happily and each is rewarded for their faithfulness.
That’s all well and good for an ancient epic poem, but as I’m sure many contemporary readers ask while reading Homer: how would all of that play out if it happened today? That’s where Vonnegut’s genius comes into play. He creates the world of Harold Ryan, a military hero with hundreds of kills to his name from several wars. He has been away from home for eight years while on an expedition for diamonds – a rather hubris-driven mission. While he is away, his wife, Penelope, and his son Paul attempt to carry on with their lives. Paul, as a boy entering adolescence, desperately needs the father he can no longer remember. Harold’s taxidermy trophies remain the only link the boy has to his father, who he sees only as a conquering hero.
Penelope, unlike her Homeric namesake, attempts to move on with her life, believing her husband to be dead. Having married Harold when she was very young and being held under his misogynistic thumb, Penelope takes his absence as a chance to pursue her education and date men with little resemblance to her “late” husband. Who can fault Penelope? Wouldn’t anyone try to move on with their lives after eight years of believing their spouse was dead? Her son Paul is not so convinced of Penelope’s choices and even Penelope’s own suitors seem unable to shake the ghost of Harold Ryan.
As in The Odyssey, Vonnegut’s characters must also deal with the questions and the effects of war. These are timeless issues that, especially when framed with contemporary characters, lead us to question our own beliefs. The piece pushes us to examine our feelings on war, killing (“justifiable” or not), and redemption. Vonnegut’s disarming vision of heaven, similar to the Greek Elysian Fields, pushes us even further out of our comfort zone. In Vonnegut’s heaven, we meet eight-year old Wanda June, who extols the virtues of heaven as a place where she can play shuffleboard with Nazis. It is a place where everyone ends up, seemingly free from the Judeo-Christian idea of judgment. It is from this unsettling place - far from safety and stability – that Vonnegut takes us on our own personal odysseys.
When approaching a piece like this as a director, my main focus is on the characters. The people who inhabit this world are the most important elements to the drama. This is not a piece about spectacle, grandeur, or magic. It is a piece of deep pathos couched within an intimate domestic tragi-comedy. It’s a piece about relationships, conflicts, and questioning one’s own humanity - not a “simple-minded play.” My work with the cast will focus on the text and the depth of these richly painted characters. The production itself (sets, costumes, and lighting) will serve to amplify and clarify each element of the narrative. My work will be in service to Richard Auldon Clark’s crisp score, that heightens Vonnegut’s powerful language, allowing the text to penetrate the listener’s ear in a far more powerful way than if it had only been spoken. As Vonnegut himself knew, this is a story born for the operatic stage, and I am so excited and humbled to be able to help bring it to life.
