“Original music by Brian McWhorter, director of Orchestra Next, offers gorgeous harmonies and compelling percussion in several songs with lyrics derived from the book.” The Register Guard, Nov. 7, 2017
Left Hand of Darkness Nov 3-18, 2017
Nov 3, 4, 10, 11,17,18 @ 7:30 pm. 11/12/17 @ 2:00 pm, Robinson Theatre
FREE FOR UO STUDENTS
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On the frozen planet of Gethen there are not two sexes. Gethenian people share a unique biology that makes each individual potentially capable of bearing a child. Without sexual categories there is no history of normalizing “gender,” and interstellar observers suspect the lack of gender constructions on Gethen is one factor in why its populations have never experienced war. An envoy from a consortium of planets who coordinate for mutual benefit, seeking to extend and exchange knowledge, has come alone to Gethen to invite its people to join. The envoy’s arrival is fraught with peril after the shock for Gethenians that there are other worlds, with technologies and understanding more advanced than their own. Powerful people of Gethen’s two great nations are suspicious, fearful of this strange visitor and his invitation – arriving at a moment when there are new tensions along their borders and dangerous differences in state power and control. Unaware, they are at the brink of inventing war. One gendered person and one un-gendered person, across a great glacier, must fight to stop war and open a world’s future, together. Award-winning Oregon author Ursula K. Le Guin’s groundbreaking novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, is adapted for the Robinson stage by John Schmor, in cooperation with the author.
Adapted and directed by John Schmor
with music by Brian McWhorter
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