The Edge of Forever
[2012 & 2016, Librettist, Director and Producer]
The Edge of Forever is a chamber opera in five scenes inspired by the ending of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. It is a time-responsive opera, written for one moment in time and performed once on December 21, 2012, the final inscribed day of the Mayan Calendar. It was performed by LA-based chamber music ensemble Wild Up, conducted by Christopher Rountree, at The Philosophical Research Society (Los Angeles). The recording was released on The Industry Records label in 2016.
The Edge of Forever explores the nature of consciousness and its relationship to time through a prophecy of divine love. It is the story of an ancient astronomer and a distant beloved, a cosmic union that will begin a new, undocumented era of time.
[Excerpt from record liner notes. FOREVER, June 2016 by Elizabeth Cline]
In the Yucatec Maya oral tradition, stories are told in the present tense, always in progress. Events do not unfold linearly but rather storytellers paint word pictures, manifesting symbolic narratives or moral lessons for the listener. Like the Mayan Calendar, these moments are woven together to create an infinite garland interpreting the universe without beginning or end. Stories become energy moving dynamically through the past and present.
Aligning this storytelling tradition with December 21, 2012, the auspicious ending of a great time cycle, established a fertile ground for exploring the nature of consciousness and love in relationship to time. The Edge of Forever balances on the axis point of the past and future. To connect to the vast cosmic calendar, I wrote the synopsis for a 3 act opera with the intention that only the final act was to be performed in the present tense on this fated date. The continuity between the written yet unperformed events and the experienced event created a space to organize the drama around distinct states of being. Through the main character Laakan I focused on a part of our existence that is not in time – the state of being in love.
The Edge of Forever expands from the temporal into the metaphysical by way of a mystical union on the cosmic level. Laakan resides deep within a sacred cave beset by echoes, shadows, and stone. Here, his yearning becomes so intense it eclipses the space between the material and spiritual. Buried beneath the earth, he gradually flattens into the one-dimensional image of an ancient glyph. Hidden away, he merges with the primacy of love, the desire for unity. The final scene is a quiet act of transcendence: there is no spectacle or transformative moment. It is his realization that love is infinite and not bound by time and that one can find forever in each moment.
For more information and to help, visit Mayas for Ancient Mayan, a nonprofit organization that helps Indigenous Mayans connect to their ancient language.