Veronica, In Bed

Veronica, in Bed uses the life of 16th-century Venetian poet-courtesan Veronica Franco to explore timeless questions about visibility, power, commodification, and agency.

A performer lies in bed – dying, or remembering, or performing death itself – moving fluidly between past and present, between herself and Veronica. Through multimedia projections, operatic interludes sung with a Renaissance band, live audience participation, and electronic sound design, the production collapses 500 years into a single fevered consciousness.

Renaissance beauty rituals dissolve into TikTok tutorials. Sexting poetry from the 1500s appears alongside projected text messages. Venice itself becomes a character—an opera singer embodying the city. At one point, the audience is invited to use their phones to comment, react, and participate, only to have that agency stripped away at the play's structural collapse (the 1575 plague).

The work asks: How do we use tools of visibility to gain power and agency? Are we at risk of those tools consuming us? Have we changed in 500 years? Our exploration refuses easy answers, trusting audiences to hold complexity, discomfort, and ambiguity.

Work-in-Progress Showing

In December 2024, we presented a work-in-progress showing at Shaking the Tree Theatre, merging writer Briana Ratterman Trevithick's fresh script with historical texts by Veronica Franco herself. Directed by Štěpán Šimek, the performance featured Renaissance music and opera performed by Musica Universalis (Laura Kuhlman, Esther Saulle, Paul Martin Beck, and Jeffrey Reynolds), the captivating vocals of Madeline Ross, puppetry by Duffy Epstein, and cutting-edge media elements by Trevor Sargent, including live video feeds, projections, social media, and AI manipulation.

Full Production - 2027

We are currently raising funding for a full production of Veronica, in Bed in 2027. Your donation will help bring this ambitious work to life.

Donations can be made via Venmo to Musica Universalis (501c3) here.