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[Analisa Wack]

Russellis just a regular kid growing up beneath the shade of Miami palms, but everything changes when a family secret is inadvertently revealed. Join us for this heartfelt journey that follows a mother and son as they move past their pain and toward hope and healing.

Tenor Russell Thomas bares his remarkable story in the world premiere of Fire and Blue Sky from Emmy-winning composer Joel Thompson and celebrated Los Angeles-based poet Imani Tolliver. Deborah Nansteel joins Thomas as his mother. Featuring the LA Opera Orchestra under the baton of Lina Gonzlez-Granados.

Emmy Award-winning composer, Joel Thompson (born in 1988) is a composer, pianist, conductor, and educator from Atlanta. He was one of the composers commissioned to write a new musical piece for the interactive digital performance Modulation, co-presented by LA Opera in early 2021.

Imani Tolliver (she/her) is an award-winning poet, artist, educator, and producer. She is the author of Runaway: A Memoir in Verse, available from World Stage Press, Amazon, and the Los Angeles Public Library.

She is a graduate of Howard University, where she received the John J. Wright Literary Award, served as Poet Laureate for the Watts Towers Arts Center, and was awarded literary fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and George Washington University.

Imani received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition by the U.S. House of Representatives for her work as the Cultural & Fine Arts Supervisor for the City of Buena Park and a Certificate of Recognition by the City of Los Angeles for her work as a promoter, host, and publicist in support of the literary arts in Southern California.

Rooted in social justice, Imani has curated and produced a wide portfolio of arts and cultural programming that celebrates, reflects, and amplifies the voices of diverse communities. These programs have included art festivals, poetry readings, concerts, community theater, youth theater, and special events for large municipalities in Southern California.

Recent awards include second place in the Sun Valley Opera competition in Seattle, the Andrew White Award and Seybold/Russel Award in the Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition, and a winner in the National Orpheus Vocal Competition. She also recently earned the highly-esteemed Betty Allen Award and a grant from the Sullivan Foundation.

We invite you to join us for a pre-performance conversation led by Connects affiliated scholar, Dr. Tiffany Kuo and featuring Fire and Blue Sky composer Joel Thompson and librettist Imani Tolliver. The talk will begin at 6:30pm in Stern Grand Hall.

"The loss of the lives of Air Force officers and firefighting aircraft operators, in the line of duty and while attempting to protect the lives and property of citizens, as well as the environment of our country, is deeply saddening," Mr Dendias said in a statement.

"They gave their lives, saving lives, proving how risky their daily firefighting missions are. The state respectfully stands by the families of the two heroes. They are two children, two brothers of all of us."

Greece's fire department says it has battled 53 wildfires across the country in the last 24 hours, including on the islands of Rhodes and Corfu, as well as "multiple flare-ups" on Evia and in the region of Achaea, to the west of Athens.

Desperate residents with wet towels around their necks have been using shovels to beat back the flames approaching their homes - with firefighting planes and helicopters resuming water drops at first light.

Mr Mitsotakis warned: "I will state the obvious - in the fact of what the entire planet is facing, especially the Mediterranean which is a climate hotspot, there is no magical defence mechanism. If there was, we would have implemented it."

It comes as Housing Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News on Tuesday that he plans to holiday on the Greek island of Evia in just over a week, and insisted the region is safe for holidaymakers despite fire concerns.

The signature shows of the "Characters Welcome" Era felt different from a typical dramedy. The best shows of the "Blue Sky" Era defied genre labels and could encompass whatever genre their shows' creatives wished: from a quirky character piece like Monk to a spy-thriller like Burn Notice, or a legal drama like Suits. However, the individual shows constituted more than just simple genre labels. All three shows had elements of a kooky sitcom, a long-running serialized saga, a mystery, or a political thriller.

The shows during the heyday of "Characters Welcome" could serve multiple genres. Even a series such as Psych, which was largely comedic, could get serious and raise the stakes when necessary. Burn Notice could play one episode surprisingly dark, where characters die and all hell breaks loose, and then suddenly Bruce Campbell could be involved in a wacky B-plot as Sam Axe. And yet, within all those shows, nothing felt out of place. They all dabbled in multiple genres, and it worked.

An additional aspect that made these shows destination television viewing was their sublime casting. Since they were character-driven pieces, they all featured tremendous ensemble casts. The "Blue Sky" Era was memorable because every week, each show was packed with electric chemistry, and inter-character dynamics were a key to their success. Shows like Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Suits, Psych, White Collar, and more had that in spades. Each show had something fun, unique, and different to offer, and the characters' adventures were always memorable. It was truly a renaissance for quality television programming. Looking back upon the "Blue Sky" Era, it was a time when the network was spoiled by success.

The best, long-running shows in the history of USA Network, largely defined by the "Blue Sky" Era, helped push the network to become the No. 1-ranked cable network for a streak of 14 years. During its run, Monk captured eighteen Emmy nominations, including three wins for star Tony Shalhoub. Most of the new shows that emerged from the era were success stories with fairly epic, long runs. Burn Notice lasted for seven seasons, 111 episodes, and one spinoff movie. Royal Pains ran for eight seasons and 104 episodes. White Collar ran for six seasons and 81 episodes. Psych ran for eight seasons and 120 episodes, later receiving three film continuations. In Plain Sight had five seasons, as did Covert Affairs. Monk ran for eight seasons and 125 episodes. It was an era of mostly hits and very few misses.

It was an unprecedented era of success and quality for the USA Network to have so many hit shows in its lineup. They cemented USA Network as the top cable network and a force to be reckoned with in a rapidly shifting TV landscape, where traditional networks used to be king. The shows also offered the network a new identity outside of its usual programming of professional wrestling, live sports, and subpar scripted, B-level programming. These shows elevated each other and provided USA Network with a stronger balance of programming. However, with great highs also come great lows.

Currently, there is only one original scripted series airing on the USA Network, not counting World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) or syndicated reruns, and that's Chucky. However, Chucky is a series that's shared with the SYFY network, which is also owned by NBCUniversal. Several years ago, network executives opted to cancel some dramas and take the network in a new direction. USA now focuses on live sports and unscripted content over original, scripted narrative content. Granted, TV and network viewing habits were changing at that time. Studios and networks were shifting toward streaming, and traditional cable was undergoing a decline. Even networks and shows that were ratings juggernauts a few years earlier were not bringing in the numbers they were in their heyday. People were consuming media differently by watching it on their tablets, their phones, and apps.

Bringing an end to original scripted programming certainly didn't help matters for the USA Network. When Warner Bros. Discovery pulled a similar move for its subsidiary networks, such as TBS and TNT, they were reinforcing a self-defeating prophecy. Now, there is very little reason to tune into USA Network at all, other than for live sports, WWE, or reality TV, offering little reason for the network to exist except for fans of wrestling or reality TV. The Chucky series is already shared with SYFY, so it's not like Chucky is a show viewers can't get anywhere else.

In 2016, USA Network began moving away from its lighter, quirky, character-driven dramedies. Mr. Robot signaled an end to the "Blue Sky" era with its breakout success, becoming another prestigious, award-winning hit for the network. However, leaning into the darker, grittier storytelling that worked so well for Mr. Robot brought an effective end to that special era of programming for USA Network. Eventually, the programming block's last vestige was Suits, which ended its run back in 2019. While Mr. Robot was a huge success for USA Network, and other shows did well, the "We the Bold" Era of programming never met the standard of quality, excellence, success, or pop-culture notoriety that came out of the "Blue Sky" era.

That said, it wasn't just the advent and accessibility of streaming media that caused the decline. The action of cutting out scripted original content for networks hastened the decline of traditional and cable TV formats. NBCUniversal executives are only now noticing that people like shows such as Suits and Monk, which recently returned to the cultural zeitgeist. While the effort isn't theoretically impossible, it feels like studio and network executives now want to close Pandora's Box or put the genie back in the bottle. It's easy to say, but harder to do. The effort can achieve something good if it means creatives receive the opportunity again to create new, exciting, and fun TV content. The Monk movie revival is very nice, but the new USA Network shows should not necessarily be a string of TV revivals and reboots. They simply must strive for the excellence of their predecessors and incorporate dynamic ensemble casts and exceptional character-driven storylines. If that happens, success and accolades will follow.

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