Jordan Hendrickson
music and libretto
"The
Yellow Wallpaper"
Ria Patel, soprano
Mia Janosik, mezzo-soprano
Landon Horstman, baritone
Margaret Perry, piano
James Haffner, director
Miranda Duarte, stage manager
Stella Mahnke, assistant state manager
Sunday, April 27, 2025
7:30 pm
Long Theatre
The Yellow Wallpaper (2025)
Ghosts, 4’
The Room, 5’
Jennie and Charlotte, Part 1, 5.5’
Patience, 6.5’
Burnout, 3’
My Secret Friend, 2.5’
No Control, 3’
Jennie and Charlotte, Part 2, 7’
Little Happy Family, 7.5’
Finale, 5’
Jordan Hendrickson (b. 2003)
The Yellow Wallpaper
Patel
Janosik
Horstman
PROGRAM NOTES
This recital is presented as a degree requirement for a Bachelor of Music in music composition.
Jordan Hendrickson is a composer, lyricist, and librettist from Santa Rosa, California. As an avid fan of musical theatre, Hendrickson is passionate about using music as a vehicle for storytelling, in many genres of music—dramatic, vocal, and instrumental. Their work takes inspiration from the dramatic conventions of the theatre and the lyrical beauty of the classical canon. Jordan is thrilled to present The Yellow Wallpaper alongside a wonderful team of creatives, crew, and cast.
Notes by the composer
Charlotte’s Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, is founded in her own experiences with the “rest cure;” a treatment of isolation and rest without mental stimulation, most commonly given to nervous and depressed women. The story follows an unnamed narrator’s secret journal entries as she tries to adhere to the rest cure in an attempt to treat her postpartum depression, but slowly descends into madness due to the neglect and oppression she faces. Stripped of all autonomy and confined to her room, she begins to see visions of a woman in the wallpaper, a woman who is trapped much like herself. Gilman’s work is a powerful piece of feminist literature and has become a staple of the horror genre and of feminist writings since its first publication in 1892. Her outspoken scrutiny of the rest cure helped to shed light on women’s healthcare, particularly mental health, and on the neglect and mistreatment that, while improved since Gilman’s time, still persist today in women’s mental health treatment. My chamber opera adaptation has been in development since 2023 and focuses on the power struggle between the characters as they attempt to maintain a precarious family on the brink of shattering.
Special thanks:
HT Fleming and Charlie Ostner
University of the Pacific, Media X
Kevin Bautsch, Brian Scott Johnson, Jennifer Johnson, and Jonathan Singer, Delta Drama
Marty Weiner, Weiner Piano Service
Dr. Eric Wood and Dr. Andrew Conklin, University of the Pacific, Music Composition
Dr. Andrew Mell, Director of Operations
University of the Pacific, Conservatory of Music
Iris (@trashcangoddessart), poster art
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