XOR: a chamber opera

Spring 2019

XOR (“ex-or”) is a melodramatic science-fiction chamber opera composed by Jessy Eubanks, with a computer-generated libretto based on Shakespeare's oeuvre. The libretto by Christian Clark and Brian Ellis was created by selectively utilizing materials generated through Google’s TensorFlow machine learning framework. Love, lust, betrayal, and revenge take the stage as Mark (Christopher James Auchter), Remy (Brian Minnick) and Lisa (Zoe Karahouni) learn the perils of trusting technology. The Computer, portrayed onstage in a morphsuit (Paul Hainey) and sung through a vocoder (keyboard by Bill Li, sung by Sydney Pérez), has other plans.

XOR premiered in April 2019 at the Cohen New Works Festival in Austin, Texas.

Production Team

Producer and Librettist/Christian Clark

Libretto Programmer/Brian Ellis

Composer / Jessy Eubanks

Music Director / Q Langman

Stage Director Matthew J. Schulz

Orchestra

Conductor / Q Langman

Violin / Gloriana Wolf

Clarinet/Bass Clarinet / Alan Bowden

Horn / Nathaniel Meeks

Piano / Noah Simon

Percussion / Daniel Gostein

Bass / Nicolas Dominguez

Plot Synopsis

A stagehand, cleaning the stage, tries to pick up a computer, only to find it starts talking. The Computer assures the frightened stagehand that there is nothing to fear. It tells the stage hand of its origins and of its appetite for destruction.

In his room, Mark rejoices in his love of Shakespeare. He daydreams about his coworker, Lisa, who he believes to be his true love separated from him by one thing: her stuttering boyfriend Remy. Mark determines to get Remy out of the way. He fashions a Computer to kill Remy. The Computer does not want to kill anyone but has no choice other than to follow Mark’s orders. 

Lisa and Remy relax in their apartment, when they are interrupted by a knock on the door. A Computer sits on the doorstep. Remy is excited by its potential, but Lisa dismisses the device as silly. Imagining a better future with the Computer, Remy ignores the Computer's ominous messages and Lisa’s warnings. Tired of being ignored, Lisa storms out. Neither of them know it has been watching the entire time.

When Remy is alone, the Computer mocks Remy for his naïvete, insults him,  and reveals it is going to kill him. Remy is terrified, but the Computer stops threatening him once Lisa returns. She worries for Remy’s sanity and tries to assuage his fears, reminding him of their love for each other. The Computer laments having to kill Remy, and despises Mark for programming it to do so. 

Lisa leaves in the morning. The Computer waits till she's gone, then reluctantly snaps Remy’s neck. 

Lisa returns, finds Remy’s body, and is overcome with grief. She wonders how Remy died but does not suspect the Computer, who is wracked with guilt. Mark enters and tries to seduce him, but Lisa angrily rejects him, and he storms off in a rage. 

After seeing Mark’s callousness towards Lisa, the Computer speaks to her for the first time. It confesses its guilt and manipulates Lisa into helping it kill Mark. Lisa excitedly leaves the room to call Mark back. While she is gone, the Computer's desire to kill Mark grows l and celebrates its plans for revenge.

Lisa returns, soon joined by Mark. Lisa pretends to have changed her mind, and Mark is overjoyed. The Computer jumps out as Mark realizes Lisa and his creation have deceived him. After they taunt Mark, the Computer electrocutes him without mercy. Lisa thanks the Computer, who has realized that bringing justice through murder is its true purpose. Since Lisa helped kill Mark, the Computer deems her evil as well. Before it slits Lisa's throat, the Computer reminds her that in death she can be with Remy again. 

The Computer surveys the carnage with satisfaction as the dead sing about their misfortune. Looking to the audience, the Computer sees there are still many who deserve “stern death."