Jonestown is a multimedia chamber opera based on the mass murder/suicide of the members of the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, also called Jonestown, after their leader and pastor Jim Jones, which occurred on November 18, 1978. The group was both a pseudo-Christian church and Marxist commune which sought to build a communist utopia in the jungles of Guyana.
The opera incorporates video and audio elements, including the tapes recorded by the Peoples Temple members. These tapes were released by the FBI to the Jonestown Institute, which is generously allowing me to incorporate them into this project.
This work received a staged reading on November 13, 2015 at CCM. You can listen to excerpts below, or view the full reading on YouTube- Acts I and II here, and Acts III and IV here.
The opera incorporates video and audio elements, including the tapes recorded by the Peoples Temple members. These tapes were released by the FBI to the Jonestown Institute, which is generously allowing me to incorporate them into this project.
This work received a staged reading on November 13, 2015 at CCM. You can listen to excerpts below, or view the full reading on YouTube- Acts I and II here, and Acts III and IV here.