Creator Spotlight FSOO 2024: Jens Ibsen & Cecelia Raker

Jens: When I conceived of the piece, I had the idea of assigning each character their own music from a distinct genre and time period. Bubbie’s music is very inspired by Mahler and Korngold, and the Demon’s music was inspired by metal bands I love such as Tool, Sleep Token, and Zeal & Ardor. Karen’s music ended up becoming the sonic bridge between the chaos of the Demon and Bubbie’s serene romanticism—she embodies both polarities as she tries to keep it together as the perfect mother, but collapses into paroxysm during her aria and subsequent banishment from Bubbie’s home. Overall the work moves from an anachronistic sound into a more modern one, with the music of Bubbie’s opening aria being transformed by the finale into a rollicking, electric guitar-like dance.

Cecelia: Everything Jens said is really the answer here, of course. And a fun extra tidbit: the first time Jens and I talked was three weeks after I gave birth, so I was just beyond sleep deprived, to the point where I had no inhibitions left. He pitched me a bunch of normal, sophisticated story ideas, and then I was like, "You know, I've always kind of wanted to write a heavy-metal opera? And make it funny?" And I think that was the moment Jens and I really started to click as collaborators.

Jens: I like to think that the Demon becomes her companion for the rest of her earthly life. Maybe he accompanies her on grocery runs, maybe he’s a hulking figure at an eventual family reunion, maybe he picks up knitting. In my mind, the Demon has found his family in her and he’s going to see where that leads, what sort of person he can be. That truly is the heart of the piece—he is a demon because that is all he has been told he can be. Through Bubbie taking his humanity as a basic fact, he is granted the possibility to be human, at least in an emotional, metaphorical sense. To be loved is to be changed.

Cecelia: Jens and I have actually dreamed about expanding this piece into a full-length opera. Could happen two very different ways.

One is that we get to see more of the kind of moments Jens mentioned: the Demon must attend to some otherworldly duties, and Bubbie hires Karen's son Kyle to walk the Demon's Hellhound, the Demon learns to knit, etc.

But we've also talked about creating a series of linked short operatic stories, each based on different bizarre internet moments. BUBBIE is a takeoff on a Tumblr writing prompt that went viral a number of years back, starting a chain of fanfic versions, including ours. We're really interested in exploring the phenomenon of fanfic and what happens when you put anonymous, iterative, internet wish-fulfillment storytelling onstage. I mean, there's a lot of hilarious viral internet shit that deserves an opera, no? Perhaps the Demon's initial experiments in humanity include creating a bunch of those absolutely unhinged 5-Minute Crafts videos. What if Karen's moment of empowerment in this opera leads her to become one of these litigious Omegaverse romance novelists? The Demon uncovers the secret history of Bubbie's kids, and they turn out to be the kids in the Folger's incest commercial. Etc.So yeah, if you know anybody who wants to commission an Extremely Online Comedic Opera, please do let us know. (OOO notes: we totally do lol)

Jens: In my interpretation, Karen is someone who suffers from the perils of misogyny and motherhood, while also being someone of relative privilege. The way I imagine her, she has been raised to believe that if she is simply compassionate enough, if she gives enough of herself to a husband, to her children, to what other people want from her, then she will be rewarded for that compassion with a happy life, a simple life that need not be examined. But she feels the tension of that societal promise being a lie. At the same time, she’s a life-long people-pleaser. She wants to be good, socio-politically good, even, but has so little insight into the experiences of other people that her attempts at addressing her own “privilege and bias” seem comical. In essence, she is someone at the beginning of a journey towards understanding the struggles of marginalized people, as well as understanding the nature of her own struggles as a woman and mother. Her apotheosis as a character occurs in the argument scene with Bubbie and the Demon wherein she realizes her judgment of a situation (i.e., the Demon being big and scary) was correct. This is probably the first time in her life that her experience has been validated by anyone at all. I like to think this opens the door to her trusting herself as a person more and investigating the tension at the heart of her domestic life.

Cecelia: I really love Jens' answer here; it's spot-on. And also, the woman is entirely overwhelmed, because she's carrying a four-person one-dog household on her shoulders. She's probably unable to consume any content that requires more than like a two minute attention span. So to help her out, here are some places she might start:

• Read this comic about mental load and then check out Fair Play (yes, it's a book, but don't worry, they also have an Instagram). Your "feminist" husband needs to step it up!
• Check Your Privilege is a great place to start sitting with more nuance in conversations about bias.
• Scroll through Brit's gorgeous artwork and ponder confronting some of the trauma that comes from never feeling validated. Then go find a good therapist! It's chill! Therapy is great!