Nicole Jefferson Asher

Love Beats Rhymes

A young woman dreams of making it big in the world of hip hop, but her parents demand that she finish her university degree. She dutifully agrees to complete her education, but her spoken word proves to have a powerful impact in the classroom.

Story of the Eye

Our male narrator, Georges, reminisces about his first sexual encounters with the enchanting Simone. As the encounters become increasingly transgressive, the two characters struggle for power and dominance. The tables are turned; the story is then retold from Simone's very different POV to a horrific climax. 'Story of the Eye' is a scathing critique of the tendency, in both Hollywood and literature, to trivialize female sexuality and power. Simone and Georges battle over the metaphorical 'eye' but the real tension exists in the struggle over who gets to tell the story and ultimately, which story gets told. The hyper-reality of opera as a musical/theatrical device further exaggerates this dichotomy.