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Seven Deadly Sins
Our Seventh Anniversary Fundraising Production - January 2006

Upon setting fire to the stage, Michael Sturtz, founder and Executive Director of The Crucible, welcomed the audience to its 7th anniversary fundraising event -- The Seven Deadly Sins, by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht  in a unique fusion of Opera and Fire Arts,.   Designed and produced by Sturtz, the unique production was directed by Roy Rallo and featured artists from San Francisco Opera and The Oakland East Bay Symphony, conducted by Sara Jobin.  It is Crucible’s second Fire Opera.

Crucible’s vast industrial arts studio was transformed into a dreamscape of fire and passion as the lights dimmed. The 30-piece symphony began, and three lawn chairs became the Louisiana home of Anna and her family. 

Using flaming visual aids, Michael Sturtz explains that the story of both The Crucible and the evening’s Fire Opera is a conundrum about the choices one makes between making money and making dreams come true.
Photo by Mike Woolson

Sisters, Anna I, the singer, played by Catherine Cook, and Anna II, the dancer, played by Lee Kobus, are the same person.
Photo by Sharlene Stephens

The personality of Anna I is practical with a strong moral conscience, but Anna II is emotional, impulsive; she craves artistic beauty. As Anna journeys through seven cities, she encounters a deadly sin in each, and each personality must face the dilemma of choosing between money or dreams. 

The first sin is Sloth.  Anna leaves home and the stage comes alive with fire and light.  Glowing hot cubes rain from above and sparks fly as hammers strike anvils.  The sisters find themselves in a nightmarish scene, compelled to work while the family chorus (lounging in their chairs) exhorts them to keep their nose to the grindstone, singing, “Lazy bones are for the devil’s stock pot.” 

Michael Sturtz tends to red hot cubes of steel in the devil's workshop.
Photo by Michael Macor

Anna sees the blazing pride of cabaret dancers (Harlem Shake Burlesque) as they strut their flaming stuff but loses her own as she does what it takes to send the money home. 
Photo by Sharlene Stephens

A “flameboyant” postman (Cooper Hazen of Xeno) delivers the first of Anna’s payments to her family.
Photo by Sharlene Stephens

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