The Baldwin Wallace Opera showcased a new production “Taking Up Serpents,” at Main Stage Theater in Kleist Center for Art and Drama. 

Originally composed by Kamala Sankaram and written by Jerry Dye, the story touches on topics such as faith, family and destiny. 

Kaya Sparks, a sophomore voice performance student, is playing the role of “Queer Kid,” a bus passenger that the main character, Kayla, meets.  

“Taking Up Serpents is about a young woman named Kayla, who is wrestling with a history of religious trauma and abuse at the hands of her father, who is a snake-handling preacher in Alabama,” Sparks said. “She learns that a snake fatally bit him. She returns home to confront that.” 

Sparks said Kayla also has to confront her own fear, which, is vague in the storyline, but she suspects it might be the fear of her father, named “Daddy.” 

Ava Grimes, junior vocal performance student playing the lead role of Kayla, said there are themes of violence and abuse but also redemption and love.  

“I find the connection in the angrier parts of Kayla. I think we both have many of the same opinions on why she does the things that she does, why she says certain things, and so on.” Grimes said. 

Katelyn Tiemans, a junior vocal performance student who plays the role of Kayla in an additional cast of the opera, portrays the character having a religious background throughout her childhood, which, they said connects to her personal life experience.  

“She’s very similar and different to me,” Tiemans said. “I grew up religious, and I grew up in a religious community. I grew up Catholic, and then I went to a Christian church growing up with my parents.”  

Similarly, Abby Horn, a sophomore vocal performance student playing the role of Nelda, the wife of “Daddy” said she channels her personal experience of growing up in the South to portray her role as the emotional and manipulative character of Nelda.  

“She knows what she wants, she get what she wants and she knows how to persuade,” Horn said. 

Leah Kania, a sophomore vocal performance student, playing the role of Nelda in the second cast researched the role by immersing herself in worship services at nondenominational church services. 

“It was a cool experience that helped me closely study my character,” Kania said. 

The cast additionally had the opportunity to meet original composer and librettist Sankaram and Dye over a zoom call. They will additionally attend all the performances and stay after each performance to answer questions and have a discussion with audience members. 

“It was cool to see what their experience was like [Sankeram and Dye] growing up with a very specific niche religion, the Pentecostal way of worship, and to see what their thought process was behind it all,” Tiemans said. “It was cool to have them break down the score of the opera and to give us Easter eggs within the opera score.” 

Grimes also said she thought this experience was unique because of the experience to speak with and ask questions the composer and librettist. 

“As a performance major and mostly performing in operas, most of the original creators are dead and long gone,” Grimes said. “So when we do contempory operas like this, we can meet who is behind the opera and ask them questions and engage with them…it’s a really great experience.”  

The opera also has unique aspects that are found within the opera’s score. One example of this is the use of symbolism in numerology. 

“Within the time signatures is a lot religious content…they use the numbers five to represent man, six to represent the devil, and seven to represent God,” Sparks said. “It’s really interesting hearing that throughout the score.”  

Tiemans said the music in the opera is very atonal, meaning it intentionally sounds random and unharmonious.  

“As composers are writing newer operas, we’re gonna see a lot of these weird, wacky, atonal, interesting pieces,” Grimes said.  

Abby Guinigundo, a sophomore stage management student, and one of the three stage managers for “Taking Up Serpents,” said they work with the projection designer, Brittany Merenda, and the Lighting designer, Steve Shack, to make minor adjustments of things that are working and things that need to be changed. 

“It’s always essential to be communicating with one another, which, includes making sure all the stage managers are on the exact same page,” Guinigundo said. “when I get information from the designers, I make sure to relay that information to my other stage managers.”  

Horn said she wants the audience to leave the opera with a sense of independence.  

“I want the audience to walk away with knowing you’re not defined by your backgrounds, and your upbringings and that you can be independent from that kind of stuff and figuring out ways to find light when a lot of darkness is surrounding you,” Horn said. 

“Taking Up Serpents” is showing now until Sunday. Ticket options can be found here.