by BEN MOORE
libretto by NAHMA SANDROW

KENTUCKY OPERA

directed by MARY BIRNBAUM - costume design by Kaye Voyce / Josette Miles - lighting design by ANSHUMAN BHATIA

photos by BILL BRYMER

If time is a form of perception, a category of reason, / The past is present, Auschwitz forever." It's 1948 and Herman Broder is living in New York City after narrowly escaping Poland during the war. He juggles a new marriage and a mistress, only to be surprised by the arrival of his first wife, whom he presumed dead. As he struggles to navigate the present, his memories of the war collide with present circumstances.

The set design for Enemies: A Love Story is a catalog of Herman’s mental state. The space is surrounded by walls of boxes, each of them containing artifacts from the past and present, which appear and disappear as Herman trades one woman, one memory, or one New York City landmark for the next. With each subsequent scene, more objects are unboxed and litter the space, creating an increasingly chaotic environment that becomes impossible to navigate by the end of the show. The boxes gesture to the absurdity of modern life as Herman sees it - but they are also a poignant reminder of how the weight of the past can bear down on an individual, sometimes to the breaking point.