“Doctor Atomic didn’t end last week,” he mused. “For me, Doctor Atomic began last week.”
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Calling 'Doctor Atomic': In Santa Fe, Peter Sellars Revisits the Bomb
“Doctor Atomic didn’t end last week,” he mused. “For me, Doctor Atomic began last week.”
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I think it's very interesting to see this article pop up, considering CMU will shortly go into performances for 'Way Out West' which will also examine the creation of the atomic bombs at Los Alamos. One of the similarities between the two that I see initially is how the attention in the opera and in the awareness of the project lies in the less talked about, affected members of the Los Alamos community. In WOW it focuses on the family structures affected by the work, and the Santa Fe Opera has focused on bringing those affected by fallout radiation into the conversation. Theater has always acted as a way to recount and process events in life, and I think that Doctor Atomic is an excellent example of that. I also think that an interesting perspective from Sellars is that Oppenheimer is a "figure that belongs to the ages now." So much research has been put into the Manhattan Project, the lives of the scientists working and the effects of the bombs on humanity, so putting it on stage is almost sort of risky, because you don't want to make it too theatrical so that the audience would forget that the events actually happened. The creation of the bomb was something that has given us, as the human race, a terrible outlet of power, so it's important for productions to weigh in on all the effects, and bring more of those voices to the public eye.
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