A new light is being cast on the women who lived the history behind one of opera’s most performed works at Calgary Opera this November.

Madama Butterfly runs Nov. 1-7 at the Jubilee. It is a familiar opera, but the production team behind the show hopes that this time, audiences will see Giacomo Puccini’s beloved tragedy through a very different lens.

Stage director Mo Zhou has reset the work in post-World War II Nagasaki, transforming the familiar story of love and betrayal into a meditation on survival, displacement, and the illusion of the American Dream, giving a voice to those left behind.

“The whole genesis of the story and historical interpretation are predominantly being told by what I call European, Eurocentric white male interpreters,” said Zhou. “So a lot of times, Butterfly b

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