“You’ll never direct an opera; that’s not your field…” is something young theater makers often hear during their training. All the more reason, then, to take a critical look at this genre and tear it away from the narrow confines of elitist circles.

With a dynamic mash-up of lip-sync opera (where performers move their lips in sync with pre-recorded singing), spoken word, hip-hop, Afrobeat, and acting, the themes of Puccini’s hit are translated into contemporary German life—and brought onto the subcultural stage of the Kassablanca. We encounter a group of artists, activists, and migrants in a fictional gentrified neighborhood, who must not only fight for love and artistic freedom but also for recognition of their voices in a society that renders them invisible.