The INcomplete Cosicomics

Back in March I shared a bit about my Calvino-inspired one-man work for vocalizing cellist and electronics – The INcomplete Cosmicomics for Aaron Wolff. Experiments in Opera produced the premiere at The Tank in NYC on a double bill of SOLOperas for a sold-out three night run and Aaron is performing the west-coast premiere on October 25 at 8 PM at Oracle Egg in Los Angeles as part of their BROILER Residency series. First and foremost I want to invite you to the LA date if you're in the area, tickets are on sale here and there is a pay what you can / NOTAFLOF venue policy. I'd love for people to enter the void with us in LA but regardless of where you live, I have a few entrance points into Qfwfq's world...

To jump right in – Experiments in Opera documented the second night of the NYC run, which you can view in its entirety.

Aaron Wolff and I are 2025 Manhattan Arts Grants recipients for The INcomplete Cosmicomics.

Written and Composed by Anna Heflin
Performed by Aaron Wolff

Shannon Sindelar: Director and Dramaturg
Krista Intranuovo Pineman: Costume Designer
Erin Grey: Production Stage Manager
Travis Just: Sound Engineer
Celia Krefter: Lighting Designer
Benjamin Papac: Production Assistant

For a poetic entrance – here is the closing text of The INcomplete Cosmicomics – my poem "Come Back As Next". Aaron read this poem as part of The Why Collective's inaugural happening in April and they created this graphic.

If you'd prefer the words of others –

“roguish, arrogant, androgynous, maddening” – Max Keller, Poison Put to Sound

“There is absolutely nothing standard about Heflin’s The INcomplete Cosmicomics….[Wolff/Qfwfq] draws the audience into his void: his hands swirling thousands of plastic beads in a tray; his bow pulled slowly up the fingerboard and down again hundreds of times, imitating breath; nonsense whispers woven together into a forest of murmurs, evoking Glenn Gould’s spoken-word contrapuntal radio play The Idea of North. We’re trapped there with him, wondering when time will end, all part of the work’s sly humor and eternal cosmic peace.” – Anne E. Johnson, Classical Voice North America

“Engrossing. It is something to experience, not comprehend.” – Rick Perdian, Seen and Heard International

For a quick glimpse –