Theater productions
For Women Serving Time
Commissioned by Washington DC-based IN Series opera company, For Women Serving Time is an hour-long extended poem-opera with music by Adrienne Torf and libretto by Fatemeh Keshavarz, for six female voices (SSMMAC) and small ensemble (piano, cello, flute, trumpet, percussion.) Directed by Timothy Nelson. Musical Direction by Adrienne Torf.
For Women Serving Time fuses Fauré’s Requiem, jazz elements and Brechtian theatrical traditions in a powerful contemplation of the human experiences contained in female incarceration in America.
- World Premiere: March 20, 2026, Dupont Underground, Washington DC
- Initial Run: Six performances – Dupont Underground (March 20-22, 2026) and Baltimore Theater Project (April 10-12, 2026)
“Torf is clearly an extremely creative composer, from the instrumentation to the way she used four-part harmony… to make the audience feel how prison is never quiet, to the use of breathing and whispering as vocal effects, including at the end, with a final, audible and dramatic exhale before the blackout.”
