The Last American Hammer & the Art of Conversation

The Last American Hammer & the Art of Conversation

By Grace Kim

(L to R) Briana Elyse Hunter, Elizabeth Futral, and Timothy Nix sing their respective parts during the dress rehearsal of “The Last American Hammer.” (Photo credit: C. Stanley Photography)

Every day, the disjointed news cycle delivers another wave of political topics, and writers and artists are constantly voicing their opinions through various mediums to elevate discussions. One interpretation of the current political climate, in the form of a short opera, debuted at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington D.C. in late September 2018. “The Last American Hammer” was the season opener for UrbanArias, a production company that exposes audiences to contemporary operas that are no more than 90 minutes long.

Set to the music of composer Peter Hilliard and lyrics of librettist Matt Boresi, Lake Forest Academy’s very own Director of Theater, “The Last American Hammer” brings three unconventional characters together to embody the modern American experience.

Boresi describes the opera as a tragedy about the erosion of civil discourse. With hyper partisanship rampant nowadays, he and Peter Hilliard wanted to present a piece that exemplified how people from different backgrounds sometimes cannot discuss issues in a productive manner. They began working on the opera in 2016 after drawing inspiration from the news story about armed militants who seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheru National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

The two partners met as classmates at New York University’s Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Writing program and collaborated on a comic opera for their final thesis project. Since then, they have worked together on dozens of operas, choral pieces, art songs, and musicals.

In the basement of a Toby jug museum, right-wing conspiracy theorist Milcom Negley (Timothy Mix) rails against the federal government as museum curator Tink Enraught (Elizabeth Futral) sets a table of tea and cookies. Milcolm explains his theory about a hidden thirteenth amendment in between lamenting the loss of local jobs after a hammer manufacturing company closes in their small town. Contrary to his expectations, his attempt at occupying the federally-funded museum is not met with the attention of military drones. Instead, rookie FBI agent DeeDee Reyes (Briana Elyse Hunter) makes a visit, and a satirical banter among the three plays out as each character struggles to make his or her perspective understood.

In 2011, UrbanArias licensed Hilliard and Boresi’s “The Filthy Habit,” a jazzy comedy about the smoking ban in New York. The success of “The Filthy Habit” led to a commission to produce another opera for UrbanArias with support from a grant bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2015, blues-infused “Blue Viola” unfolded on stage as the performers re-enacted the true story about a lost viola in Chicago that finds its way into the criminal underworld.

“The Last American Hammer” is the second piece developed for a series of commissions, and was met with favorable reviews during its run this past fall. Notably, renowned soprano Elizabeth Futral is a recurring talent at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and she

22 Review Fall 2018 • www.lfanet.org

Poster provided by UrbanArias. Design by Megan Kueny

along with Timothy Nix and Briana Elyse Hunter sang numerous solos complemented by a bluegrass string ensemble. As a result, the opera’s sound was distinctly American.

LFA’s Director of Individual Philanthropy Garry Sloan P’19, ’21 attended a performance of the show and reviews it as “a composition that effectively delivered a timely message - uncomfortable though it might be - with ample beauty and emotional gravitas.” Given his own background in professional singing and conducting, he was struck by how the music paired with the libretto highlighted the rawness, intensity, and urgency of the story line. He says, “[The opera] could not be more relevant to our current American experience. It is a story about people we know; their circumstances are happening now.”

Opera, with its rich history and cultural nuances, can be seen as a challenging art to approach, but the contemporary opera movement can also water down the very elements that make opera unique. Therefore, Boresi emphasizes the importance of balancing musical tradition with current issues.

“You have to keep the opera to a certain length in a language that people understand while composing music and text that carries emotional weight. Personally, my love for opera is far-reaching. I love the emotional scale of it and how those feelings can be painted alongside the depth of music and size of vocal prowess. I am thrilled when 21st century audiences can experience opera in a way that speaks to them.”

UrbanArias recently received another grant from OPERA America that will allow Hilliard and Boresi to showcase an excerpt from “The Last American Hammer” at the National Opera Association Conference in January 2019. While political tensions remain high, “The Last American Hammer” is a touching reminder of the importance of two of the oldest forms of art: opera and conversation.

Matt Boresi and Peter Hilliard pose in front of the opera poster. (Photo provided by Matt Boresi)

Sophie Waimon ’20, Director of Theater Matt Boresi, and Abigail “Abby” Dandrow ’21 look through scripts during Winter Musical auditions. (Photo credit: Pfoertner Photography)

Matt Boresi joined LFA in 2017 as Director of Theater. Matt holds an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from New York University. He has worked most recently as an adjunct professor at Carthage College; an administrator, teacher, and director at the Music Institute of Chicago, and teacher for the Chicago International Youth Musical Theatre Camp, Xi’an China. His teaching assignments include acting, directing, public speaking, and writing for performance. Matt is the librettist behind the regularly performed operas, “The Filthy Habit”, “Blue Viola”, and the upcoming “The Last American Hammer”. He directs the fall play, winter musical, and spring studio theatre lab.

Matt Boresi watches students perform during Winter Musical auditions in early November. (Photo credit: Pfoertner Photography)

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