We have tickets to give away to March Madness at the Chan Center for both the Fri/21 and Sat/22 shows! Email marke@48hills.org with the subject “March Madness” and which evening you would like to attend.
Nikola Printz thinks the times require a little diva chaos. The mezzo-sprano and acrobatic aerialist, who has worked with SF Opera and Festival Opera and brings a fresh, punk-influenced energy to the stage, looks to the great mad heroes of opera as inspiration for their “March Madness” extravaganza at the Chan National Queer Arts Center, March 21 and 22. “I am so fascinated with the classical approach to losing one’s mind,” Printz tells me. “A primal scream is a good way to start.”
Their show features fellow trans trailblazers tenor Katherine Goforth and drag performer Polly Amber Ross, along with pianist Robert Mollicone and flutist Jessie Nucho, for an “exhilarating descent into identity, reinvention, and musical rebellion.” Influences range from the Pixies to Donizetti, and the performers float through the audience for an interactive vibe. It’s a mad, mad world, and Printz is here to swing you through it.
48 HILLS Hi Nikola! I love how you’re finding new ways to connect with people with opera. You were involved with SF Opera’s “Boheme out of the Box” and “Carmen Encounter,” where you directly interacted with the audience in a party atmosphere—what were those experiences like?
NIKOLA PRINTZ They were incredibly fun and chaotic experiences! I think outreach for opera companies is really crucial to reel people into coming to the opera. “Boheme out of the Box” was a great gateway for folks to see an operatic story, one they undoubtedly recognize, presented in a casual way. Musetta is also a super fun character that I easily could slot myself into. The Carmen encounter was also fun! I’ve done Carmen many times before and being able to sing it on that stage with that orchestra was such a treat.
I only wish we could have done the whole opera and then partied! The encounter part was beautifully set up, I found it a little overwhelming how much was happening in any given space. I’ve done immersive theater before and I think my personal comfort lies in being a performer in those spaces, so I have some semblance of control instead of being in the fray of the party. But it was a lot of fun and the audience was so full of life. I loved seeing so many queers at the opera.
48 HILLS There’s an incredible array of styles and performers for “March Madness.” What can you tell us about the program, and what inspired it?
NIKOLA PRINTZ It was an idea I was playing with a lot last year. I love, love, love mad scenes in opera—and Catherine Clement wrote a great feminist essay book on them, Opera or the Undoing of Women, and I am so fascinated with this classical approach to losing one’s mind. This recital is chaotic and scattered because being mentally unwell is chaotic and scattered. Sometimes the voice of my despair is Elliot Smith, and sometimes it’s Donizetti. Sometimes my anger is Nadia Boulanger and sometimes it’s Nina Hagen backed by a raucous punk band.
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I’ve always felt like my voice as a performer lies in the variety I hold; the multitudes I contain. I think despair sounds like so many things. I structured the recital to be in two halves: the madness outside coming in (external influences of the world and our relationships and how that erodes us) and then the second half as a response. Cleverly—or not, maybe too on the nose—I see it as blue pill/red pill. Do I go with this flow of the world crumbling, or do I fight against it with my anger, with my voice, with my rage?
Anyway, that’s a very long way to say it’s about feeling so bad at the state of it all, and then feeling like you need to burn it all down, a universal feeling I’m sure.
48 HILLS Queer arts are so important right now—the idea of a “cathartic scream” through performance (the madness of opera!) is definitely needed. How do you feel about the times we are in lately?
NIKOLA PRINTZ Terrible! How else should I feel? I want to scare people into doing something! My partner always tells me before a performance or audition, instead of “good luck” or “break a leg” they say “terrorize them.” That is what I intend to do with this recital. It’ll be good terror, I promise!
A primal scream is a good way to start. I performed for Spectrum—this fundraiser where circus, burlesque, and drag artists came together at Club Fugazi and raised 30K for a local trans charity (El/La Para TransLatinas)—and our host had us start with a primal scream. I might invite the audience to do something like that, but more so I think I want them to be moshing by the end. Maybe both if you’re lucky! All in all, I want people to walk away from my art feeling seen, invigorated, inspired… maybe even screaming!
NIKOLA PRINTZ: MARCH MADNESS Fri/21 and Sat/22, 7:30pm. Chan National Queer Arts Center, SF. Tickets and more info here.
