Kevin Puts, composer
Mark Campbell, librettist

• Gun Violence and Simulated Wartime Violence
  • Opening battle sequenced with staged violence and audible onstage theatrical firearm effects
  • In Act I, there is the use of theatrical stage blood on the hands and bodies of soldiers
• Gunshot Effects
  • Throughout the production, audible onstage theatrical firearm effects are used in addition to offstage pre-recorded sound cues.
• War trauma and grief
  • Characters experience despair, bereavement, fear, and the psychological effects of combat
• Flashing/strobing lights and theatrical haze
  • Flashing and strobing take place during the opening battle sequence
  • Theatrical haze and smoke continue throughout the production
• Alcohol
  • Soldiers are shown receiving and drinking such things as whiskey, beer, and wine

Georges Bizet, composer
Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halévy, librettists

• Smoking
  • Cigarette smoking is depicted particularly in Act I and throughout the production
• Domestic/intimate-partner violence
  • Don Jose becomes increasingly obsessive and physically controlling of Carmen throughout the course of the opera
• Simulated murder/death
  • Carmen is killed onstage by Don Jose at the conclusion of the opera
• Sexual Themes
  • Female presenting characters are often hyper sexualized and the story involves themes of seduction, sexual attraction, jealously, and possessiveness
• Theatrical Haze
  • Limited use of theatrical haze onstage throughout the production.

Richard Wagner, composer & librettist

• Simulated Suicide
  • The conclusion of the opera depicts Senta, main character, throwing herself off from a great height to simulate suicide
• Supernatural/horror imagery
  • A cursed ghost ship, video depictions of undead/ghost sailors and storm sequences evoking damnation
• Flashing/strobing lights and theatrical haze
  • Flashing and strobing take place during multiple storm sequences
  • Theatrical haze and smoke continue throughout the production
• Loud/Sonically intense Music
  • Wagner scores can be extremely loud and sonically intense

Giacomo Puccini, composer
Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa, librettists

• Sexual Assault
  • In Act II, Scarpia is often depicted getting physically controlling and forcing Tosca to submit to his advances
• Simulated Murder
  • In Act II, Tosca stabs Scarpia to death often depicted in a violent manner
• Torture/Execution
  • In Act II and Act III, there are moments of simulated physical torture. In the middle of Act III, Cavaradossi is condemned to death and shot by firing squad
• Gunshot Effect
  • In Act III a firing squad condemns Cavaradossi to death, often depicted with onstage theatrical firearms (at a minimum the use of a pre-recorded firing squad sound effect).
• Simulated Suicide
  • The end of the opera depicts Tosca jumping to her death from a great height

Tazewell Thompson, creator & director
Dianne Adams McDowell, vocal arranger + additional music and lyrics

• Themes of Racism and racial oppression
  • The central subject is the experience of Black students shorty after the Civil War and their encounters with racism
• Racist Language
  • Racist terminology/slurs may be spoken or sung during the production
• Racist Violence/depictions of violence
  • Through spoken/sung text and the occasional visual projection, depictions of racist actions and violence are depicted and discussed towards specific characters in the opera.