(L-R) Karen Vuong (soprano), Rod Gilfry (baritone), Nina Yoshida Nelson (Mezzo Soprano) and Christian Mark Gibbs (Tenor) Kennedy Center Photos
David Henry Huang’s latest work The Rift presented by the Washington National Opera premieres tonight, running from March 5-25. This short operatic work, with the libretto by Hwang and music composed by his long-time collaborator Huang Ruo, is one of four works commissioned from different artists that comprise Written in Stone, prepared in celebration of the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary.
The Rift explores the controversy surrounding the Vietnam War Memorial, featuring four main characters – Maya Lin (who won the competition to design the memorial) as she faces questions of her “Americanness,” Robert McNamara (who escalated the U.S.’s involvement in the war as Secretary of Defense), a Black American Vietnam War veteran, and a Vietnamese refugee whose husband died fighting in Vietnam but whose name would not appear on the memorial (which only lists U.S. citizens who perished during the war).