Carmina Escobar’s Bajo la Sombra del Sol has its World Premiere at REDCAT

Bajo la Sombra del Sol still; Milo Tamez, Jerónimo Naranjo, and Oguri; photo by Wesam Nassar. | Photo courtesy of REDCAT.

On Thursday, Nov. 18, experimental vocalist Carmina Escobar (Music MFA 11), faculty in The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts, premieres Bajo la Sombra del Sol / Under the Sun’s Shadow at REDCAT in Downtown L.A. in collaboration with Boss Witch Productions. 

Bajo La Sombra del Sol / Under the Sun’s Shadow is an immersive installation that includes live performances interwoven with film. The piece is structured in nine chapters and is based on a series of performances that took place at Mono Lake, located on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada in California. 

More from the program: 

Behind this sun, an unknown monster, menacing to confront us with our own darkness. The creatures on this land, figures of nascent light, debonded from the constructs of another human world, must fall into the abyss of darkness to find the true nature within themselves and give birth to a new collective mythology in order to survive. For this they must find in destruction the cause of coming to being, to find the love that lives in the dark corner, to find the sacredness in our relationship to nature as part of ourselves, and the will to live.

The piece features a number of artists, performers, and producers, including Dorian Wood; Tanya Orellana, School of Theater faculty; Yulissa Maqueos, Wesam Nassar; Oguri; Madeline Falcone (Music MFA 13), music faculty; Matthew Johns; Justin Asher; Mataji Booker Graham; Madison Heying; Kozue Matsumoto (Music MFA 16); Roxanne Steinberg; Hyoin Jun; and Asher Hartman, School of Theater faculty.

Founded in 2020 by Escobar, Falcone, and Heying, Boss Witch Productions is an artistic production company focused on the intersection of experimental sound art, ritual performance, video art, and transmedia collaboration within natural landscapes.