New McKinny Production of Silent Night at Wolf Trap • August 2024
Wolf Trap, Virginia
Ryan and Tonya McKinny made their Wolf Trap Opera directorial debut with a new production of Silent Night, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell about a WWI Christmas Eve ceasefire. Known for their operatic films, the McKinnys also filmed the scenes used as projections in the cinematic staging.
Photo by Scott Suchman
Critical Acclaim
Photo by Scott Suchman
“A salient ‘Silent Night’ resonates loudly… The first thing you notice about Wolf Trap Opera’s new production of Silent Night is its broken frame. Directors Tonya and Ryan McKinny have mounted their production at the Barns like a painting, the perimeter of the stage bound by a gilded frame, its bottom edge snapped and in fragments on the floor. Has it been destroyed by war? Looted by thieves? Or does the McKinnys’ staging suggest a different kind of irreparable damage? A larger global context of ongoing crisis — incursions, invasions, unheeded calls for cease-fire — amplifies both the music and the message of Silent Night, which hits you like a shell and hangs out for a while between your ears. This impact is largely thanks to the McKinny treatment, which employs the frame not just as metaphor but as staging strategy. Ryan McKinny’s own prerecorded video overlays of individual soldiers were cleverly conceived and deployed — flashbacks of life before war were rendered in lush color, with stark black-and-white reserved to depict the psychological agonies of the battlefield. Uncanny depth and dimension… and a dose of brute honesty: The boundary between the horrors of the past and the uncertainties of the present have never felt so fragile. It takes so little for the unimaginable to spill into reality — for the frame to fall to pieces.”
–Washington Post
“Even in war companionship and good times are snatched and show us our common humanity. Co-directors Ryan and Tonya McKinny have made the most of this theme and bring out the importance of ordinary human activity, but especially song, to deepen the connection between war and art, and show us a nexus where perhaps the greatest human need can be met in the most meaningful way. The courage and boldness of their vision have made for a wonderful production.”
–DC Theater Arts
“Wolf Trap Opera’s new production of Silent Night is creative, immersive, and impactful. Kudos are in order for all, and especially for Directors Tonya and Ryan McKinny for keeping all the parts moving together to create such effective storytelling. The orchestra was placed at the back of the stage behind two see through screens for projecting images. This allowed the three groups of combatants to be placed in front of the stage where the orchestra pit would normally be. Many times the characters filed in and out down the aisles in the audience. The stage was framed as though it was a painting from a bygone era. A very clever effect was to use the scrim at the opening of the stage to project individual close ups of the characters fully demonstrating the emotional trauma being experienced. Kudos to Ryan McKinny, a WTO veteran, for filming all the images and videos that were projected onto the screens during the performance. All contribute to an excellent job of musical storytelling. Directors Tonya and Ryan McKinny in their program notes make the point that art is the opposite of war: art is about making connections and war is about destroying them.”
–Opera Gene
“Uncommon artistry and elegance characterize Silent Night. The Barns at Wolf Trap’s intimate space is the ideal venue for communicating the work’s overarching message: when combatants come to know their enemies as people—with families, dreams, and lives—war is unsustainable. Directed by Tonya and Ryan McKinny, the almost exclusively male cast features a richness of bass, baritone, and tenor talent rarely heard in the standard repertoire. As the narrative unfolds, landscape images projected behind the musicians feature barbed wire against ominous skies, distant flames, and a mountain of skulls. The image of an ornate opera house serves as a stark contrast to the barbarity of war.”
–Maryland Theatre Guide
“Bass-baritone Ryan McKinny and his wife, Tonya McKinny, returned to Wolf Trap this time as stage directors for a stylish Silent Night, building on their experience working together to create operatic films. The house space in front of the stage became the trenches, with vivid combat scenes in the no man’s land in the downstage area. The creative use of a scrim with elaborate video projections served for the non-war scenes, as well as providing close-ups of various singers, often in silent dialogue with scenes on stage.”
–Washington Classical Review