Earlier this year, Jordan Bowman and Madelein Bowman of Opera Elect produced a video version of Lisa Neher’s and my micro-opera about athleticism, breast cancer, and identity, SENSE OF SELF. They hit it out of the park, to mix sports metaphors, with great and moving performances. In this work, triathlete Maya has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and must make a decision about her treatment. Her coach, Naomi, wants to help, and tries to encourage and boost Maya’s spirits with her plans for superfoods and physical therapy, but ultimately, Maya alone must grapple with the choices she has.
In writing the libretto for this opera, I read a number of articles and interviews with elite athletes who’d had cancer and who’d had to make these life-changing decisions. I hadn’t realized until I began doing research that often, patients are given a surgery date and simply told to let the surgeon know what they’d decided to have done to their bodies. I know that most patients receive guidance from their doctors, but in cases like Maya’s, for whom her body’s athletic abilities make up her primary identity, patients have to choose from an array of options–lumpectomy, mastectomy, removal of lymph nodes, and more. Having been a competitive athlete, I tried to put myself in Maya’s place, but ultimately the decision she makes is the one that comes from her character as I’ve created her. In writing Naomi, I thought about all of the articles and listicles out there online that offer questionable advice in regard to women’s health. Naomi isn’t doing anything wrong, but she is influenced by the rah-rah cries behind phrases like “beat cancer” and “the fight against cancer.” She’s so engaged in making plans for Maya’s recovery that she doesn’t really understand what the treatments will do to Maya’s physical self and ability to train and compete again. She comes to understand as Maya explains to her, and in the end, they’ve affirmed their relationship and are ready to move forward.
You can rent or purchase SENSE OF SELF here.
