(Credit: Caroline Tompkins)

Omaha’s Common Senses Festival in a co-production by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects will present the world premiere of Paola Prestini and Brenda Shaughnessy’s “Sensorium Ex.”

The world premiere of the opera, which features predominantly disabled performers and explores the question of what it means to have a voice, is set to take place May 22-25, 2025, and will feature a production directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib. The opera stars Hailey McAvoy, Kader Zioueche, Jakob Jordan, Laurie Rubin, Ju Hyeon Han, Lucia Lucas, and Joshua Jeremiah.

“For the last 7 years, I’ve been creating, co-producing, and living with ‘Sensorium Ex,” Prestini said in an official press release. “Brenda Shaughnessy’s rich setting has allowed us to create an entirely new operatic world, one that envisions a truly intersectional approach to disability. In opening up the often-inflexible space of opera to different needs, we have seen firsthand how the system doesn’t work for many people, and our solution has been to create a dedicated advisory board to guide us and vet us, every step of the way. Change on this scale truly takes a village, and together, we have created a space that allows us to consistently redefine who gets to have a voice in society.”

The opera tells the story of a dystopian world where a scientist/mother and her nonverbal, nonambulatory child with multiple disabilities as they come into conflict with an evil corporate entity’s attempts to use human data to create an AI to replace humans.