Cunningham’s musical drama to be performed by CSB/SJU students Nov. 19-22

Flannery Cunningham wrote an opera in 2013 for her senior thesis at Princeton University on the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

Two years later, she has composed a musical drama — this time for students at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University. Her composition, "Laying Out the Colors," will be performed by 14 CSB/SJU students at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19-21, and 2 p.m. Nov. 22, at the Colman Black Box Theater, Benedicta Arts Center, CSB. The musical drama is free, although the suggested donation is $2 per person.

Cunningham, the daughter of CSB/SJU philosophy professor Anthony Cunningham and CSB/SJU first-year seminar instructor Mickey Cunningham, grew up around the CSB/SJU campuses.

"They are certainly places I know very well," said Cunningham, who attended St. Cloud Technical High School before receiving her undergraduate degree at Princeton in 2013, followed by a master's degree from the University College Cork in Ireland as a George J. Mitchell Scholar in 2014. She is currently working on a second master's degree from Stony Brook University in New York.

Writing for a diverse group of performers

Initially, her opera on Hamilton and Burr was submitted to Carolyn Finley, professor of music at CSB/SJU, for possible production. Finley enjoyed Cunningham's opera, but "would have needed professional singers" to stage it properly, Finley said.

"So, Tom (Speckhard, the musical drama's director) and I got to thinking, 'What if we commissioned Flannery to do what we call more of an educational musical theater piece?' We have a wide mix of students who would be performing this - we have the non-music major who likes to sing, we have music minors who are taking chemistry as their major, and then we have our music majors.

"So, what do you do with that diverse group? She was writing 'Laying Out the Colors' with that in mind. I have to say her melodies are beautiful and they're very singable. And, they bring out the talents of the young singers," Finley said.

"Someone who is a chemistry major but has a really good ear (for music), it can be wonderful to write for them," Cunningham said. "In fact, having a background in something else could sometimes bring a really lovely, broader sensibility to the role."

Tableau vivant used as unique transition tool

Cunningham spent the good part of spring and early summer doing research and writing the libretto. She wrote the music in July and August.

"I think that it's really necessary to spend a good deal of time on research, because it drives much of the rest of the production of the piece," Cunningham said.

She chose a practice called tableau vivant to make transitions between the music and the spoken word. The paintings of Norwegian painter Harriet Backer will be projected on a screen behind the actors. The actors on stage will freeze to mimic the painting behind them, allowing others who are not frozen to come onstage "and express their thoughts about each other," Flannery said.

"I liked that, because it felt like a really clear structuring device to me. It seemed like it would be something that would be visually cool on stage as well. So, I took that and ran with it," Cunningham said.

A parallel love story

Harriet Backer had a sister named Agathe Backer-Grondahl, who was an accomplished pianist. But while Harriet remained single and quite dedicated to her art, Agathe had a family "and was constrained by the social norms of the time for having a family," Cunningham said.

The opera then flashes to a parallel modern story set in a tiny Minnesota town. Hanna (played by CSB student Maria Baumann) is "a modern day analog" to Harriet, Cunningham said. Her boyfriend Tom (SJU student Thomas Friebe) is very inspired by Agathe Backer-Grondahl. There's a tension between the two in trying to decide between family and a career.

"Fundamentally, the core of the piece is a love story and how to negotiate human caring and devotion to art," Cunningham said. "It should be pretty universal, something that is particularly relevant to the young people who are performing this."

"Laying Out the Colors" is an hour-long opera consisting of 10 scenes and about 35 minutes of music.

"I give them all a lot of credit. Carolyn told me they're really doing well with it. My rhythmic writing tends to be quite challenging. My harmonic language is quite consonant, but my rhythmic writing is hard. It sounds like they've really been putting some good work into it. I'm thankful for all their work," said Cunningham, who intends to see three of the four performances of the musical drama.