The Household Opera

An opera for toy theater, composed, designed, directed by Randall Wong. Judith Nelson, Scott Whitaker, Randall Wong, singers, chamber orchestra conducted by Barbara Day Turner. Performance @ Z Space Studio Theater, 2001. Video by David Wilson, Museum of Jurassic Technology, LA, CA. 

A whimsically melancholic work after the Orpheus myth, performed by household objects.

My Personal Anthropomorphic Universe

As a child, I was fascinated with stories and cartoons featuring non-living objects which came alive. Toys, clocks, teapots, all inhabited my personal anthropomorphic universe.
But who is to say inanimate objects aren't secretly brimming with unperceived life? All children imbue their toy cars and teddy bears with spark and character. I've always assumed that more mundane objects such as toasters and telephones could also have their hidden personalities.
Maurice Ravel found souls for armchairs, teacups, and trees in his fantasy opera, L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. Edward Gorey created a story of love and death in his Inanimate Tragedy with its cast of buttons, marbles, and pins. The Household Opera continues in this tradition.