The Consul

by Gian Carlo Menotti

University of Central Oklahoma, 2022

Winner of the 2023 American Prize in Opera Performance –

College/University (Small Program)

Director: Rob Glaubitz

Lighting Design: Scott Hynes

Costume Design: Chloe Mulligan

Photos Courtesy of Devin Scheef

A totalitarian regime in an unnamed time and place.  While her husband is in hiding from the secret police, Magda Sorel attempts to obtain a visa from the local consulate so she may flee the country and reunite with him.  Faced with unending bureaucratic red tape, interrogations from the police, and the failing health of her child and mother-in-law, Magda's desperation grows to despair until she meets her own tragic fate.

A series of wagon units comprising the Sorel's decrepit apartment track offstage to reveal the stark and unsympathetic waiting room of the consulate.  Concrete-reminiscent panels that hang overhead nod to the brutalist architecture of this world, and descend to the stage to provide a new lighting element during Magda's final descent into her nightmare.