My ÁntoniA
"The most breathtakingly brilliant new musical I’ve encountered in quite some time... My Ántonia has so much disarming heart and musical imagination that I believe it could become a Broadway hit…" - Pioneer Press
My Antonia World Premiere
The world premiere was a huge hit - Latte Da sold out the run, extended, and sold out again - it was the best-selling world premiere in their history!
June 3 - July 26th at Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis
THE STORY: Adapted from Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Willa Cather’s 1918 masterpiece, My Ántonia employs an ensemble of 12 and a small band leading the Kilbanes’ folk-rock score to depict life on the prairie in 1890s Nebraska. Centering on a family of immigrants from Prague, the story follows twenty years in the life of young Antonia Shimerda and her friend Jim Burden as they survive loss and hardship, and work to thrive in a turn of the century farming community. Simultaneously, our adaptation theatricalizes Willa Cather's own journey: she begins the piece searching for belonging and a way to heal a broken heart, and finds both by reconnecting with Antonia - her real life muse - and telling her story.
THE WHY: Antonia’s story is one of quiet heroism: the person working for their family and neighbors, who, uncowed by struggle, builds and cements a community. Under its celebration of immigrant communities is Cather’s sly undermining of nativist rhetoric and the myth of rugged individualism. Antonia is one of so many American heroes who don’t have monuments built in their honor or get musicals written about them either, but they are certainly worth singing about.
THE TEAM: My Ántonia is co-conceived by Jessie Austrian, Noah Brody, Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses. Married couple Kate and Dan comprise the composing team The Kilbanes (Larson Award and Pipeline Arts winners; Lortel and Drama Desk nominated), and married couple Jessie and Noah are founding co-artistic directors of the award-winning Fiasco Theater, acclaimed for its inventive, minimalist productions and ensemble storytelling.
