AKIN: TRUE BUT DOUR, truebutdour, troubadour. A multimedia chamber opera that traced the relationship between a father troubadour and the son who follows in his footsteps. These singer-poets traveled throughout twelfth-century Europe, functioning as the “human newspapers” of their day, singing of the historical, the political, the amorous.

The father is a shining exponent of the classic tradition, singing of love, idealized or bawdy. Upon reaching manhood, the son, who has been coached well by his father in the singing traditions, sets out on his own, his curiosity taking him through the centuries until he arrives in a strange urban landscape, what seems like a displaced Eden, in the early 1990s, where he witnesses brutality, confusion, liberated sexuality, human cruelty and plague. But the son has not forgotten the lessons of his youth. The twentieth-century troubadour resolves to sing of these exhilarating and nightmarish experiences in the belly of the beast––his loves, his losses, his rage.

Story, choreography and direction by John Kelly; original music by Richard Peaslee; lyrics by Mark Campbell; additional music by David Linton; set design by Huck Snyder; film sections by Anthony Chase; lighting design by Howell Binkley; costume design by Donna Zakowska; sound design by Tim Shellenbaum; hair and makeup design by Bobby Miller; set design assistance by Scott Pask; costume mistress, Hebe Joy. Produced by La MaMa E.T.C., Music Theater Group and Liz Dunn for John Kelly Performance. Premiere: La MaMa E.T.C., NY, March 1992. WITH: Peter Becker (Father); Kyle de Camp (Daughter, Denizen); John Kelly (Son); Larry Malvern (Brother, Denizen); Marleen Menard (Daughter, Joan of Arc, Denizen); and Vivian Trimble (Mother, Eve, Denizen).