Water Memory | Jala Smriti
JUNE 2026 | FERST CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Composer: Kitty Brazelton
Librettist: Vaibu Mohan
World Premiere Performance
Performance runtime: approximately 65 minutes—with no intermission
Water Memory (Jala Smriti) was awarded the Antinori Foundation Grand Prize in the 96-Hour Opera Project in June 2024.
Written by Kitty Brazelton and Vaibu Mohan, Water Memory (Jala Smriti) is based on a provided prompt of integrating AI into a creative work. The two were paired by the 96-Hour Opera Project team and the match was serendipitous.
Both composer Kitty Brazelton and librettist Vaibu Mohan shared the experience of witnessing the decline of a beloved older woman in their family due to dementia. For this creative team, Water Memory (Jala Smriti) has become a deeply personal story about the power of memory, family, and connection.
NOW FESTIVAL DATES
Jun 10-14, 2026
NOW Festival
Fri, Jun 12, 2026 @ 7:30pm
New Work World Premiere
Water Memory
Ferst Center for the Arts
Purchase Water Memory Tickets
Sat, Jun 13, 2026 @ 7:30pm
96-Hour Opera Project
competition showcase
Ray Charles Performing Arts Center
Purchase 96-Hour Opera Project Tickets
Sun, Jun 14, 2026 @ 3pm
New Work World Premiere
Water Memory
Ferst Center for the Arts
Purchase Water Memory Tickets
Tickets
Synopsis
Following a choral prologue evoking the cycle of life and reincarnation through the symbol of water, the story begins in a garden.
Scene 1
Chattering hydrangea bushes await their mistress gardener. Janani arrives resplendent—a woman in her prime—grandly scolding and tending them, ignoring their thanks but joining in their celebratory dance. The unexpected arrival of a young man transforms her; she becomes a girl again, outraged that Joseph, her beau, is late. He woos her, and she yields, as the hydrangeas look on with admiration. The romance is abruptly interrupted by a young businesswoman speaking loudly into her phone. When Malli ends the call, she reminds Janani that she is her daughter and that it is time to go to the doctor. The garden and Joseph recede as Janani mourns the loss of her memory.
Scene 2
In a computer-filled man cave, the water droplets reappear as flying bits of data. Chandru, the computer operator, works intently to code what he hopes will become his digital companion, though the system repeatedly crashes under the strain. In fleeting glimpses, the AI emerges—first as a voice, and finally embodied. Data bytes, Chandru, and the new being—MPO, or Memory Processing Operator—move together in a dynamic, animated dance.
Scene 3
Back in the garden, Malli visits again, unwilling to leave her mother in peace. She argues that Janani cannot continue living alone. The hydrangeas appear visibly threatened, though Malli cannot see them. In the midst of the argument, her son Chandru arrives; he observes before joining in, attempting to defend his mother. Chandru and Malli clash violently as the hydrangeas urge Janani not to trust her children. In her desperation, Janani reveals that she sees Joseph—her long-dead husband and their father. The conflict escalates until Janani falls.
Scene 4
Janani awakens from dreams of her dying garden in a room within an institution. When she begins to see her hydrangeas and Joseph, nurses medicate her. Though her children visit, they are unable to reach her. Chandru is suddenly struck by the possibility that his MPO might rescue his mother; Malli resists, then relents. Janani returns to her garden.
Scene 5
Later in the garden, Janani teaches MPO how to care for the hydrangeas. As time passes, she begins to forget them, and MPO gently reminds her
CAST + CREATIVE
Cast
TANUSHKA SISODIYA
Mali
JOSEPH ITTOOP
Chandru
JACOB LAY
Joseph / Chorus Bass
HANAN DAVIS
Chorus Soprano
Creative
CHAOWEN TING
Conductor
GREGORY LUIS BOYLE
Director
TIMOTHY VERVILLE
Assistant Conductor
NYLE MATSUOKA
Pianist
DONALD EASTMAN
Scenic Designer
EMMIE TUTTLE
Costume, Wig & Makeup Designer
BEN RAWSON
Lighting Designer
Creators
Kitty Brazelton
Composer
Kitty Brazelton, a NYC-based composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist, has been recognized with two Opera America awards, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and an NPR-broadcast choral commission with Garrison Keillor. She has always championed music’s power to unite. Brazelton’s recording project the world is not ending—we’ve been here before brings six works into immersive audio, with over 75 singers and instrumentalists recorded worldwide. Other milestone works include I am not my Photograph (you cannot erase me) premiered by the L.A.-based Isaura String Quartet, and Essential Prayers Project—an a cappella work that revisits the tradition of prayer in intimate house concert settings.
Vaibu Mohan
Librettist
Vaibu Mohan is a writer, musician, dancer, director, and producer specializing in bringing South Asian forms of storytelling and theater into the Western sphere. She founded the series Work In Progress at 54 Below that gives early career writers a place to present their work. New York City premieres include: Life Of A Lemon (NYU/AOP Opera Labs), Keep It Cheery (Brooklyn Children’s Theater), and the concert presentation of Sati: Goddess Incarnate at 54 Below in July 2023. Mohan debuted off-Broadway songwriting of Village Songs at Rattlestick Theater (Spring 2022) and is a writing consultant on White Rose (off-Broadway January 2024).
