SYNOPSIS
"Burning Louise" is an emotionally powerful piece of music theater that synthesizes several dramatic forms into a unique whole. Drawing from modern opera, musical theater, traditions of magic realism, drama, and comedy, while incorporating original video projections, the work tells the story of two haunted persons, running from their own lives. The plot unfolds as a mystery tale, exposing the secrets of a gay fugitive photographer and a wealthy divorcee art dealer. Through humor, drama, and unforgettable music, Bern and Louise challenge each other to confront their pasts, honestly assess the present, and find the courage to change their futures.
PRINCIPAL AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Dwight Okamura (Music – “Burning Louise" and Festival Music Director) Dwight Okamura has been the orchestral pianist for the Berkeley Symphony, the California Symphony, the Skywalker Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. He has accompanied various Bay Area vocal ensembles including Chanticleer, the Bracebridge singers, The Choral Arts Society, The San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Dwight has composed numerous commissioned works, as well as many commissioned arrangements for the Girls Chorus, published by Alliance Music. He is also the composer of two musicals: "Grow Up", produced in 1984 by the New Conservatory Children’s Theater, and "Strikers,” produced in 1995 by Doublemask Productions. He has been involved with a number of theater companies including Marin Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater, Kaliyuga Arts, Theater Flamenco, and the New Music Theater Workshop. Dwight is also a keyboardist with the Best of Broadway series, and has played for "Mamma Mia!," "Baz Luhrman’s La Boheme," "The Producers," and "Wicked.”
Brad Erickson (Book and Lyrics) Brad Erickson was trained at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago. A winner of the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner’s Best Actor award, he worked for ten years as an actor in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. An accomplished playwright, his plays include: “A Benediction,” which he wrote and performed at The Marsh in San Francisco in 1993, Jumping the Broom, a serio-comic examination of gay and lesbian marriage commissioned by Theatre Rhinoceros, the 1996 Theatre Rhinoceros main stage season opener, “Sexual Irregularities,” and “Woody & Me,” which was showcased at the 1997 San Francisco Fringe Festival. Brad is a founding member of First Seen, a playwright-led theatre company based in San Francisco and dedicated to developing and presenting new theatrical work, an Artist-in-Residence at Z Space Studio in San Francisco and is currently collaborating with San Francisco conductor and composer, Sanford Dole, on a new opera, “El Caballero,” based on “The Cabellero’s Way” by O. Henry. By day, Brad is the Executive Director of Theatre Bay Area, the nation’s largest performing arts service organization, with more than 325 theatre company members, and nearly 3,000 individual members. Erickson lives in San Francisco with his partner of 14 years, and dog of 15.
Trauma Flintstone (Collaborator, Bern) Trauma Flintstone is a San Francisco-based lipstick thespian who has appeared in over 40 productions in the past ten years, including "Christmas with the Crawfords," "Club Inferno," "When Pigs Fly" and the opera "Queer." Locally, he is best known for outrageous characters, including Liberace in "Gross Indulgence: The Trials of Liberace ," Patty Andrews in "The Andrews Sisters' Hollywood Canteen" and Meredith Silberstein in "White Trash Compactor. " Flintstone also appeared in the popular long-run hits "Dirty Little Show Tunes" and "Jungle Red." He is most proud of his artist-in-residency with the Jon Sims Center for the Arts, having developed an evening of pre-Stonewall theatre called "A Return to the Caffe Cino ." Also a composer. Trauma is a key collaborator on "Burning Louise" and other musical productions.
Julie Queen (Collaborator, Louise) Julie Queen is a San Francisco based singer/performer whose work ranges from cabaret and contemporary opera to interdisciplinary theater and film. She has performed many premieres of new work ranging from the opera "Wuornos" in the title role, about convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos to the role of Frida in the opera about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Ms. Queen has sung in concert with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Kent Nagano. She is a co-founder of the interdisciplinary performance group, The Qube Chix (Julie Queen, Pamela Z and Leigh Evans), which is known for its hauntingly beautiful theatre pieces, amazing vocal music and crazy stage antics. They have performed in theaters and clubs throughout the Bay Area and also at The Knitting Factory and CBGB's in New York. She will be premiering in a new opera by David Conte/David Yezzi called "Firebird Motel" with Thick Description opening in November 2003.
