The Comet/Poppea announced for the Lincoln Center
- JJMM
- Apr 16
- 1 min read
The American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) will open their Run AMOC* Festival at the Lincoln Center with the New York premiere of The Comet/Poppea. The production fuses Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea (1642) with George Lewis' The Comet, based on W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1920 short story of the same name.
Set in 1920s New York City, The Comet is an experimental short story by civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois that depicts a Black man and white woman as the only survivors after a comet hits Earth. The narrative explores what could happen when what Du Bois called “The Veil” of white supremacy was suddenly removed through this extreme cosmic action. The wealthy young white woman Julia and the black worker Jim begin to envision the possibility of love and change, as well as the necessity to find effective solutions to the many problems of free will, agency, and systems of class, gender and racial hegemony that had been suppressed by the social world, right up to the onset of the catastrophe.
Directed by Yuval Sharon, the production features Tony Award winner and Lincoln Center Artist-in-Residence (2022–24) Mimi Lien’s rotating set, merging the ancient Rome of Monteverdi's drama with comet-ravaged New York, creating an apocalyptic, immersive experience.
The production will run for five performances between 18 - 21 June 2025.
