Sensorium Ex is an ambitious new opera by acclaimed composer Paola Prestini and Brenda Shaughnessy, co-directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, conducted by Elizabeth Askren, designed by Luke DuBois, Andrea Lauer, Annie Wiegand, Peter Torpey, Garth MacAleavey, and Anna Borou Yu by that synthesizes artificial intelligence, disability, live cinema and interactive design.
Featuring: Hailey McAvoy, mezzo-soprano, Kader Zioueche, actor, Jakob Jordan, actor, Ju Hyeon Han, soprano, Gerlinde Sämann, soprano, Lucia Lucas, baritone, Joshua Jeremiah, baritone
World premiere—Common Senses Festival, Omaha Nebraska 22-25 May 2025
Produced by VisionIntoArt with Beth Morrison Projects, and The Common Senses Festival, with support from The Holland Foundation and UNO
photos by Jill Steinberg
The visionary production pushes the boundaries of what it means to have a voice, paving the way for future artists with disabilities. Sensorium Ex delves deep into the essence of voice, transcending the limits of language to profoundly reimagine what it can be.
Operating at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), disability, and the arts, Sensorium Ex explores the fundamental question of what it means to have voice, and the nature of voice beyond language. Internationally-acclaimed composer Paola Prestini’s expansive, multi-modal work tells a dystopian tale centered on a mother and her son, a nonverbal, nonambulatory child with multiple disabilities, as they resist a villainous corporate entity's attempts to destroy what it means to be human.
Blurring the lines between art and technology, the opera will feature a new set of AI tools developed in partnership with NYU’s Ability Lab that will expand the possibilities for voice and expression in people with disordered, impaired, or limited speech. With a cast of predominantly disabled performers, the project seeks to devise new artistic practices which center disability equity and access throughout all steps in the process. Sensorium Ex is composed by Paola Prestini, co-produced by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects, directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, and features a libretto by poet Brenda Shaughnessy. Premiering for the first time at Common Senses Festival 2025, Sensorium Ex creates an entirely new operatic world – one that redefines who gets to have a voice.
PRESS
WOWT “World Premiere Opera Making Debut in Omaha”
KETV - Sensorium Ex at Common Senses
Opera Magazine May 2025 Issue - "Everyone Has a Voice"
International Arts Manager - "Sensorium Ex Rewrites the Rules of Voice..."
Creative and Design Team
Composer - Paola Prestini
Librettist - Brenda Shaughnessy
Co-Direction - Jerron Herman & Jay Scheib
Music Director - Elizabeth Askren
Creative Producer - Beth Morrison
Creative Producer - Ras Dia
Associate Director - Yibin Wang
Production Assistant, Directing - Xinyu Xu
Assistant Music Director - Micah Gleason
Scenic and Costume Design - Andrea Lauer
Lighting Design - Annie Wiegand
Sound Design - Garth MacAleavey
Video Design - Peter Torpey
Interactive Design - Dan Novy
Associate Scenic Designer - Vinita Gatne
Associate Costume Designer - Jasmine Lewis
Assistant Lighting Designer – Slick Jorgensen
Production
A2 – Zo McGlynn
Accessibility Coordinator – Alison Mahoney
Production Stage Manager – Chris Griswold
Assistant Stage Manager – Miriam Rochford
ASL Interpreter – Cara Schwartz
ASL Interpreter – Bethany Koubsky
SFX Designer – Olive Ryan
Props Builder – RED Kadetsky
Director of Production – Rick Murray
Manager, Artistic Producing – Julia Mendes
Associate Producer – Gabrielle Niederhoffer
Artist Services Assistant – Jasmine Galante
Artistic Administrator / Facilitator of Belonging, Equity, and Understanding – Chira Bell
VIA Impact Lab Fellow for Sensorium AI & Marketing Associate – Daniella Omeruo
VIA Impact Fellow – Greg Moomjy
Sensorium Filmmaker – Paul Lieber
Sensorium Film Producer – Shannon Marie Sullivan
Starring:
Kitsune - Jakob Jordan
Kitsune - Kader Zioueche
Mem - Hailey McAvoy
Mycelia - Gerlinde Sämann
SOPHIA - Ju Hyeon Han
CORP - Lucia Lucas
Niles - Joshua Jeremiah
Orchestra
National Sawdust Ensemble: Flute - Jennifer Grim, Clarinet - Eileen Mack, Bassoon - Alexander Davis, Trumpet - Federico Montes, Violin 1 - Todd Reynolds, Violin 2 - Katie Hyun, Viola - Ljova, Cello - Jeffrey Zeigler, Double Bass - Jordan Sanborn Morton, Percussion - Ian Rosenbaum, Producer, Electronics - Sxip Shirey, Rehearsal Pianist - Mila Henry
Choral Ensemble
Lindsey Chinn (Mem Cover) with Fourth Wall Ensemble: Olivia Greene (Sophia Cover, Mycelia Cover), Heather Jones, Sydney Anderson, Lukas Papenfusscline, Gregorio Taniguchi, Benjamin Howard (CORP Cover, Nile Cover), Dicky Dutton
Commissioned by VisionIntoArt in association with Beth Morrison Projects and Common Senses Festival.
Developed and Produced by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects.
Sensorium Ex is developed and presented with support from the Ford Foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression Arts and Culture (CFE A&C) program, the Mellon Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation’s Performing Arts Technologies Lab, Jill and Bill Steinberg, and National Sawdust. The commissioning of Paola Prestini for Sensorium Ex received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Women Composers program supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional commissioning support was provided by the Allen R and Judy Brick Freedman Venture Fund for New Music, Creative Capital, Alphadyne Foundation, Achelis & Bodman Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts and the Atlantic Opera. Additional production support was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, with development support from the American Academy in Rome, The Shed, Performance Space New York, the REACH at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington National Opera, New York State Council on the Arts.
Sensory Notes: an immersive audio-visual experience