Vixen is a curious opera. The lives of anthropomorphic animals and flawed human beings interweave in a rustic woodland setting. The story is endearing but not sentimental, at times sober and poignant but not overly serious. How does the directing/design team visually distinguish between the animals and the humans and their realms? The challenge was finding the balance between the whimsy and pathos.

The opera has a range of emotions:  playful, morbidly funny, joyous, mournful, and bleak. The director/design team pondered these questions at length. We chose to feature the cyclical nature of the seasons of life as our unifying principle.