Constance, a Confession

Created by the Experiments in Opera Writers’ Room 4.0

Developed in Experiments in Opera’s Writers’ Room 4.0, Constance, a Confession is a comedic journey following one woman’s devotion to the long art of the con.

The opera starts tracks the rise and fall of Constance, an art student who finds work as a psychic, becomes a wellness influencer and grows her online empire into a cult — with deadly consequences.

Scored for four singers and all-star experimental ensemble Hypercube, this zany new opera explores the power — and perils — of a good story.

Experiments in Opera Writers’ Room 4.0
Librettists: Susan Bywaters, Lisa Clair, Sam Norman, Ed Valentine
Composers: Jasmine Galante, Elizabeth Gartman, Mattie Levy, Roger A. Martinez

Constance, a Confession received its premiere at HERE Arts Center, May 2026. The director was Shannon Sindelar and the music director was Dmitriy Glivinskiy.

What Critics Say

“Anchored by wry humor, strong performances and clear intelligence… CONSTANCE refracts and reflects modern life, delivering its argument about manipulators and tragic gullibility without selling out its characters or assaulting its audience with the moral” — The New York Times

“Sharp, strange and savagely entertaining… Sam Norman’s text finds an ideal conspirator in composer Elizabeth Gartman, whose music seems to curl itself around the characters’ neuroses like cigarette smoke in a black-box theater lobby at midnight” — TheaterScene.net

“CONSTANCE is a laugh-a-minute whodunit of cult-ridden America today” — Picture This Post

“Brazen fun… Vulgar exaggeration and parody explode into terrific opera” — Berkshire Fine Arts

“A funny, edgy tale of a woman with zero scruples and boundless ambition” — Seen and Heard International

“Refreshingly original… An excellent production” — Parterre Box