Opera Praktikos is set to world premiere a new interabled adaptation of Vincenzo Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2026, as part of National Sawdust’s inaugural makemake Festival in Brooklyn.

The 90-minute, one-act production reimagines the 1831 work through the integration of American Sign Language and bel canto singing with the aim of framing the opera’s somnambulism as a metaphor for societal barriers to understanding disability. The concert performance will be sung in Italian and signed in ASL, with projected English supertitles.

The production features arrangement and orchestration by Spicer Carr, ASL translation and integration by Brandon Kazen-Maddox, direction of artistic sign language by Patrice Creamer, and a new book and English translation by Marianna Mott Newirth. Deaf actress Treshelle Edmond will sign the role of Lisa opposite soprano Aja Nile-Brimm as Amina, with Linda Collazzo, Aaren Rivard, and Phillip K. Bullock rounding out the principal cast.

“Working with an interabled team, we view Romani’s story through a disability lens, building a deeply familiar yet entirely distinct work,” said Greg Moomjy, artistic director and cofounder of Opera Praktikos, per an official press release. “Our abridgement asks universal questions of belonging, examining the complex relationships people with disabilities have with one another and with the community at large.”

Founded in 2021, Opera Praktikos describes itself as New York City’s pioneering disability affirmative opera company, working to make opera accessible to audiences and artists through reinterpretations of classic works and commissions of new ones.