In a series of conversations that bring guest artists to campus to discuss what they face in making art in the modern world, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, director of the Princeton Atelier, moderates a discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker (The Flick, Body Awareness, Janet Planet) and experimental music/contemporary opera composer Kamala Sankaram, praised as “one of the most exciting opera composers in the country” by The Washington Post.
This year’s series is cosponsored by Labyrinth Books.
Admission & Details
This event is free and open to the public; no tickets or advance registration required.
Directions
Get directions to Richardson Auditorium, located in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus.
Accessibility
Richardson Auditorium is an accessible venue with assistive listening devices available. A house wheelchair (for transfer only) is available upon request; inquire with staff at the door. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
About the Artists
Annie Baker
Photo credit: Ella Pennington
Annie Baker’s plays include Infinite Life (Atlantic Theatre Company, National Theatre, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Antipodes (Signature Theatre, National Theatre), John (Signature Theatre, National Theatre, Obie Award), The Flick (Playwrights Horizons, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Obie Award for Playwriting, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Obie Award for Best New American Play), and an adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep, Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival), for which she also designed the costumes. Other honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Steinberg Playwriting Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Texas, Austin, and wrote and directed the film Janet Planet (Telluride, New York and Berlin Film Festivals) for A24 and BBC Film.
Kamala Sankaram
Photo credit: Dario Acosta
Praised as “one of the most exciting opera composers in the country” by The Washington Post, Kamala Sankaram moves freely between the worlds of experimental music and contemporary opera. Known for pushing the boundaries of form and style, she has created work for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (as 2023 artist-in-residence), an opera for the trees of Prospect Park, a techno-noir featuring live datamining of the audience and a chorus of 25 singing tablet computers, and the world’s first virtual reality opera, among other pieces. She has been commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival (as 2022 artist-in-residence), Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Prototype Festival, and Creative Time, and she is currently a composer-in-residence at Minnesota Opera as part of their new works cohort. As a biracial Indian American and trained sitarist, Kamala has drawn on Indian classical music in many of her works, including Thumbprint, A Rose, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, and the Jungle Book, a newly expanded version of which will premiere in December 2024 at Washington National Opera.
Also an accomplished performer, Kamala has been hailed as “an impassioned soprano with blazing high notes” (Wall Street Journal). Notable collaborations have included works with Anthony Braxton, the LA Philharmonic, and the Wooster Group, among others. She is also the leader of Bombay Rickey, an operatic Bollywood surf ensemble. Dr. Sankaram holds a PhD from the New School and is currently a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music.
