The Bonesetter’s Daughter: Making of a Contemporary Opera
Currently in post-production
The Bonesetter’s Daughter: Making of a Contemporary Opera (working title) is a high-definition documentary about the birth of an innovative new opera, one that brings together some of today’s leading creative spirits, and bridges the musical traditions of China and the West.
Based on bestselling author Amy Tan’s most personal novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, the opera is a creative collaboration among American composer Stewart Wallace (Harvey Milk), Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng (The Peony Pavilion, Dark Matter), and the San Francisco Opera, with a libretto by Amy Tan. The documentary explores the very personal themes contained in the drama unfolding on stage, while following the creative process of making the opera.
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Composer Stewart Wallace in Paiya, China, learning to play the lusheng. Wallace traveled China to study Chinese musical traditions while composing the opera. |
The story is a multi-generational epic that explores one family through three generations of mothers and daughters. Ruth is an American-born Chinese woman who struggles to please her mother, even as she resents her advice. Luling is Ruth’s mother, whose anxieties and explosive anger stem from a secret she has never shared with her daughter. Precious Auntie is a ghost who haunts the stage and hopes that her actions, desperately taken to save her daughter Luling, will finally be understood.
| Watch the trailer (Running Time 12:00) |
Production Credits
Executive Producer: Fawn Ring
Producer/Camera: Monica Lam
Director/Camera/Editor: David Petersen
Executive Producer for CAAM: Stephen Gong
A co-production of Outlier Films, LLC, the Center for Asian American Media, the Independent Television Service, and KQED San Francisco, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, John and Cynthia Gunn, and the Shenson Foundation.
On the set during rehearsal with Stewart Wallace and Ning Liang
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