Anima Mundi


Phantom Femme #2 (1998) by David Nez


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Morning: In the village square, Roma and elderly Guslar sit, chatting and smoking. Hajduk and Vixen enter after a night of stormy love. Guslar asks why Hajduk why he became an outlaw. Hajduk is unwilling to elaborate, and Roma throws cards to find an explanation, selecting three: the Lovers, the Hanged Man, and Death. Startled, Hajduk jokes that he has never "had his own wife," and Guslar quips that he himself has been married several times (already). To illustrate the three (his)stories suggested by the cards, characters enact stories of Fatima (who is forced to choose to marry either a rich old chieftain or a handsome poor warrior), The Robber's Bride (who discovers, too late, the type of man she was hastily married off to), and Old Mother of Dzhaferbeg (a young woman who suffers under the tyranny of a jealous mother-in-law).

Premiere at Boston University, April 1, 2011 (duration 24:00)

Cast: Rebekah Alexander, Elissa Alvarez, Ian Geers, Ulysses Thomas, Gregory Zavracky.

Xanthos Ensemble conducted by Jeffrey Means:
Zachary Jay (flute/piccolo), Alexis Lanz (clarinet), Brenda van der Merwe (violin),
Leo Eguchi (cello),Eunyoung Kim (piano), David Tarantino (percussion).

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