IN Series is set to present John Adams’ “I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky” starting on April 14, 2023.

Written by June Jordan, the work presents “events of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake with its searing, compassionate, and prescient exploration of broken justice and migration systems, police violence against young Black men, family border separation and the impossible situation of illegal refugees in America living in fear of INS/ICE.”

The production will be directed by Timothy Nelson and conducted by Emily Baltzer and David Chavez. It will star Shana Oshiro, Louisa Walcott, Judy Yannini, Demarcus Bolds, Daniel J. Smith, Alan Naylor, and John Kun Park.

The opera’s run will last until April 30, 2023. Performances between April 14 – 16, 2023 will take place at the Baltimore Theatre Project with the final performances between April 22 – 30, 2023 set for the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

“I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky” premiered in 1995.