Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl is a fully staged cantata produced by and featuring the Dallas based choir, Verdigris Ensemble. The concept for the design was “a live, fully staged film.” We centered archival footage from the Dust Bowl, and then paired it with the iconic cartoons of the 1930s. The music juxtaposes the tragedy of the environmental disaster and Great Depression with almost outrageous bluegrass-style movements that bring levity to the larger work. The relationship between cartoons and archival footage was meant to realize that tension visually, and also firmly plant us in the world of 1930s film. We used a title sequence, title cards for movements (image 5), and ending credits to further create the illusion.