presented by San Diego Opera

After sending a video message home on the eve of her daughter’s thirteenth birthday, ‘Soldier’ is severely wounded by a roadside bomb. Doctors quickly place her in an induced coma to minimize the extensive trauma to her brain. Now, she must make an arduous journey towards healing and home. She travels through a miraculous coma-induced dreamscape that is punctuated with powerful encounters with fellow service members, each on their own individual journey. Together, they move toward clarity, consciousness, and communal hope during a time of adversity.

The story for The Falling and the Rising was taken directly from interviews with returning Soldiers at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, The Old Guard at Fort Myer, and Fort Meade, Maryland and captures the indomitable spirit of U.S. military veterans and sheds light on the inspirational power of their often overlooked stories. The Falling and the Rising is a story of family, service, and sacrifice inside a period of great uncertainty and this production will feature active service members in opera’s principal roles.