(Photo credit: Yvette Marie Dostatni/Chicago Puppet Studio)

Activist opera company, White Snake Projects, is set to the world premiere of “MONKEY: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable” on Sep. 22-24, 2023.

Per an official press statement issued by the company, composer Jorge Sosa and creator/librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs‘ “Monkey” is a family-friendly transmedia show featuring life-scaled Bunraku puppetry, Kung Fu, computer generated images, and live opera. Drawing inspiration form the Chinese fable “Monkey King: Journey to the West,”  the duo rewrote the opera to reflect contemporary issues from the multicultural mosaic of American life.

Countertenor Chuanyuan Liu sings the title role beside bass John Paul Huckleas as Zhu, mezzo-soprano Maria Lopez in the role of Shu. Other cast members include sopranos Carami Hilaire and Cristina Maria Castro. Lizzy Stant, Alexis Peart, David Rivera Bozon, and Andrew Stack with Voices Boston make up the ensemble.

Alongside the main characters Monkey, Zhu, and Shu puppeteers will lend a hand to the portrayal of these main charcters. The production is sung in English.

White Snake Projects stages “MONKEY’ at the Emerson’s Paramount Center Theater in Boston.