CLASSICAL POST: Ted Hearne & Saul Williams in "Place": Me, You, and The Difference Between
CLASSICAL POST: Ted Hearne & Saul Williams in "Place": Me, You, and The Difference Between
BY ANNA HEFLIN
“A remarkable aspect about Ted Hearne, Saul Williams and Patricia Mcgregor’s 80-minute staged oratorio, Place, is that it holds so many stories and opens the door to numerous conversations. Writings about this work could be centered around how the performers in Place faced the effects of gentrification in their own lives, converting the work into a video piece during Covid-19, how Hearne composed the music, I could go on. But one aspect which gripped me is the collaborative process between Saul Williams and Ted Hearne in creating a libretto for Place. I spoke with Saul Williams and Ted Hearne separately about Place and this collaborative process and have created this piece in the spirit of that dialogue, allowing the reader to alternate between the perspectives of Williams and Hearne.