National Sawdust and New Latin Wave present Paraíso, conceived and composed by Sokio, with a libretto by Venezuelan poet, scholar, and educator Natasha Tiniacos in collaboration with Sokio. A poetic work of overlapping thoughts sung by a mother and child, Paraiso stems from the true story of a woman from Puebla, Mexico, who, in the George W. Bush era, crossed the Texas border with her infant to join her husband in New York City. This cross-generational, cross-cultural story traces the impact of America’s shifting border policies and rhetoric through the personal lens of its two characters’ lives. It grapples with immigration at the US/Mexico border, and the larger political and economic issues that determine who gets to cross, who doesn’t, and under what conditions.
The resulting work features two performers—vocalist Melisa Bonetti playing the role of the Mother and vocalist, composer, and performance artist stefa playing the Child—and traverses time to explore the story of a months-long border-crossing journey, and the act of building a new life in the U.S. while longing for a home that no longer exists. A decade-and-a-half later, the Child navigates the discovery, as a teenager, of their precarious immigration status in the U.S. That revelation has a shifting impact on their identity, as the teenager learns to live with fear of deportation, and the longing for a place tied to their roots that they may never know. Working with trans non-binary performer stefa expanded Sokio’s vision of the role of the Child and their existence between cultures.
Paraíso features the use of samplers, modular synths, recordings and improvisation, as well as voice, bass, cello, guitar, and percussion. It is conducted by vocalist, composer, and instrumentalist Raquel Acevedo Klein, and features composer and bassist Brandon Lopez, musician, improviser and percussionist Shayna Dunkelman, cellist Amanda Riesman, and composer and music producer Adele Fournet. The performance includes interactive video by interdisciplinary artist Andrea Wolf, and costume design by fashion designer and social scientist Lucia Cuba.
The performance, conducted by Raquel Acevedo Klein, takes place at National Sawdust (80 N. 6th Street, Brooklyn) June 16 at 8pm.