‘Is this America?’ Review: An Activist Opera For Our Times

Opera often has the reputation of being an elitist, archaic art form with little relevance to modern political life. Especially when many classic operas center around mortally ill, fragile female protagonists and their saccharine love interests, it is refreshing to welcome “Is This America?,” a new work that strives to tell a politically relevant story that is so often and unjustifiably overlooked.

White Snake Projects gave the world premiere of “Is This America?” at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester on Sept. 20. Written by Black female composer Mary D. Watkins, the opera tells the story of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who galvanized Black voters for the 1964 National Democratic Political Convention. In a press release, Watkins noted that she wanted to tell Hamer’s story through opera, as she felt it was an art form that could embody the “power and sweep of her life.”

Indeed, Watkins’s tender score was beautifully rendered by the orchestra under the baton of music director Tianhui Ng. Mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel starred in the title role, her rich voice a perfect fit for Hamer’s steely resolve. She also played the role of Hamer’s mother, Lou Ella Townsend, in various flashback scenes to Hamer’s past. Naila Delgado-Matin, who played Child Fannie in those flashbacks, had a youthful voice that did not quite have the heft of her counterparts’ but nevertheless captured a young Hamer’s ethereal, bright-eyed hope. The roles of Pap, Hamer’s spouse, and James Townsend, Hamer’s father, were also played by the same singer, charismatic baritone Eliam Ramos Fuentes.

While Nansteel and Fuentes each playing two significant roles made sense as a symbolic choice to highlight the continuity of the Black fight for freedom, it also complicated character tracking, as they appeared together in many different scenes where it was not immediately clear which characters they were portraying. The secondary roles could easily have been played by the impressive ensemble members, who proved an indispensable resource in bringing out the contours of Watkins’s contemporary and incisive score.

It was clear that there was no lack of vocal talent in the room to do justice to the complexities of Watkins’s music. Performing compositional techniques unconventional in mainstream operas, from jazz vocalizations to humming underlays, the ensemble was a well-blended, united front both musically and dramatically.

However, Pascale Florestal’s stage direction could have been stronger, especially in emotionally charged scenes where the ensemble often lacked a compelling, reactionary response to Hamer’s rhetoric. A clearer emotional progression throughout the opera’s scenes, and variegation in the responses of individual ensemble members, might have better fleshed out Hamer’s profound effect on the individual lives of disenfranchised African-American individuals beyond their unity as a collective.

Nevertheless, a more uniform, Greek chorus-like ensemble proved extremely effective in the second act, as they assembled to recount the police brutality Hamer endured at a pit stop in Winona, Mississippi. While the ensemble’s voices in unison mostly made for unvaried vocal texture, in this scene it was utterly chilling as they enumerated the physical and psychological abuses Hamer endured, with the bold decision of incorporating racial slurs to convey the dangerous environment of the time.

The opera’s libretto was both its strongest and weakest point. Jointly written by Watkins and White Snake Projects’s founding artistic director and Harvard Law School alum Cerise Lim Jacobs, it made use of evocative vernacular that was no doubt much easier to follow along in comparison to most operas in the standard oeuvre. However, there was much more “telling” than “showing” of the events of Hamer’s life, making the opera very exposition-driven, rather than allowing for a more intimate look into the characters’ psychological states. This made the whole opera fall flat dramatically, and while the language’s directness offered a comprehensive overview of Hamer’s life story — which was especially useful for audiences “meeting” her for the first time — it failed to induce a more genuine emotional impact due to the absence of the pregnant pauses and contemplative soliloquies that typically offer a window into characters’ souls.

However, credit must be given where it is due: Even if not the most cohesive operatic work, “Is this America?” was more than capable of rallying its audience in solidarity with Hamer’s fight for justice. As artistic director Lim Jacobs exhorted the audience before the curtain went up to just be themselves and react to the opera how they desired, the audience enthusiastically joined in to clap along to the more catchy, strophic sections of song, such as the lyric, “Freedom now! We want our freedom / Freedom now.”

Fearlessly branding itself as an “activist opera company,” White Snake Projects presented a work that truly resonated on a community level, illuminating the story of a pioneer in American civil rights history. With the presidential election on the horizon, it is a timely reminder of the long, rocky road of democracy that America treads, along with the fact that not only is art an activist tool, it also belongs in — and indeed, to — the wider community.

“Is This America?” ran at the Strand Theatre from Sept. 20 to 22.

—Staff writer Lara R. Tan can be reached at lara.tan@thecrimson.com.