Arts & Events

Erling Wold's new opera, 'Certitude & Joy' (title from Pascal), blends the stories from Chapter 22 of Genesis, Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac, with Lashaun Harris' s (of Oakland) 2005 drowning of her young sons at the Embarcadero in San Francisco from what she thought to be God's command. Staged by the ubiquitous Jim Cave (who also teaches at Laney), with six performers—singers, actors, dancers—'Certitude & Joy' plays with identity ... Lashaun, Abarham, God, Jesus—and Wold himself—all speak from various lips onstage.  

Laura Bohn and Jo Vincent Parks are the major singers, Talya Patrick portrays Lashaun, Kerry Mehling choreographed and dances, Blake Street Hawkeyes founder Bob Ernst and Travis Santell Rowland also perform—and Wold appears ... on the pier, Mikiko Usugi's set. The Zofo Duet, Keisuke Nakagoshi and Eva-Maria Zimmermann, render the score on two pianos. Wold wrote both score and libretto and has remarked it's like a contemporary Passion Play, the original which featured a divine parent sacrificing his child. Thursday through Sunday, April 1, at Bindlestiff Studio, 185 Sixth Street (near Mission), San Francisco. $25-$35. (800) 838-3006; brownpapertickets.com/event/224679 or certitudeandjoy.org