“Since its 1975 founding, Boston Lyric Opera has staged ‘Madama Butterfly’ four times…. It was planning for a fifth in fall 2021, but in the wake of the pandemic and so much political and social change, the company is now pulling back the curtain with The Butterfly Process, an ongoing educational initiative to reimagine the way both companies and audiences engage with ‘Madama Butterfly,’ ” writes A.Z. Madonna in Tuesday’s (11/23) Boston Globe. “Canceling ‘Butterfly’ is not and never has been the goal, according to ‘Butterfly Process’ consultant Phil Chan: ‘We’re figuring out a way to keep this work alive for a multiracial audience.’ … Chan is the cofounder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an organization whose mission is to eliminate offensive stereotypes of Asian cultures.… The current road map for The Butterfly Process includes a six-part open discussion series … with the first public discussion … taking place on Dec. 14 over Zoom. BLO also plans to create a free public educational resource on its website…. A live performance inspired by the process is in the works for February, featuring the ‘Butterfly’ principal artists and directed by [Melanie] Bacaling…. ‘The vision is definitely amplifying Asian voices,’ [Bacaling] said.”
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