for flute duet, piano, and narrator | 7'30"

About the Play POPT by Bruce R. Coleman tells a story that is rarely ever told: in a hate crime, what would happen if the victim fought back? Louie Blunt is a young, gay, adult man who was physically assaulted by a 17-year-old, teenage, boy. Just when the teenage boy was about to hit Louie for the 7th time with his baseball bat, Louie did something the teenager was not expecting at all: he fought back. As a result of this altercation, Louie ending up having multiple bruises and wounds, whereas the young boy ended up in a coma. POPT portrays the struggles Louie must face in a system where he is viewed as the villain in this situation, how he deals with his relationship with his male partner, Jaime, and how everyone involved attempts to recover, both physically and mentally, from this tragic incident.

Composer’s Notes When I had first seen POPT, it was February of 2020 in a small building just outside of Dallas, Texas. I had just gone through three months of some rough writer’s block prior to seeing this play, and POPT opened a floodgate in my mind for creativity. I knew after seeing it that I just had to write something for it, and I emailed Bruce R. Coleman right away, so I could use a copy of the script for reference. 

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POPT Overture doesn’t exactly tell the full story of the play, but it does what an overture typically does. It contains motifs that are used throughout the play, and it also musically foreshadows the relationships between characters. I use a lot of chromaticism and dissonance when a character is unravelling in their situation. In the beginning of the piece, I have a motif that is in the piano that represents Louie getting hit. It’s an accented eighth note pattern that appears 6 1⁄2 times before getting interrupted by one of the flute parts, which symbolizes Louie. After that, the flutes usually “converse” with each other to represent the characters. There are moments in between scenes in the play where one of the characters speaks directly to the audience, and he or she presents a fact about LGBT-centered hate crimes. I included a few of these facts into interludes between melodic ideas because I feel like these facts needed to be shared.

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Premiered by Jacqueline Lum, Becky Garcia, and Kristin Spires