An opera based on the 1985 Air India Flight 182 tragedy is being developed by the PuSh Festival and Ireland’s Cork Midsummer Arts Festival.
The production is one of 17 projects that have been approved and will receive funding from Arts Partners in Creative Development (APCD), which receives its funding, from amongst others, 2010 Legacies Now.
Entitled Ahakista — Air India Opera Flight 182, festival executive director Norman Armour says that the project, which is slated to debut in January 2011, won’t trivialize the topic.
“The spirit of the project is about a kind of sense of remembrance and honouring of the lives that were lost. It will have a very human (element) to it,” said Armour.
While details are being finalized, the festival’s executive director said that people from the Indo-Canadian community are involved, which will lend to the work’s authenticity. Srinivas Krishna, director of the film Masala, will serve as assistant director and dramaturge.
