Omari Newton & Amy Lee Lavoie, Inferno: A Hip Hop Opera (2025)

“Actor, writer, and director Omari Newton and playwright Amy Lee Lavoie appreciate great comedic writing. This becomes immediately apparent when the husband-and-wife team share their love for the zany humour of Mel Brooks and Christopher Guest’s clever mockumentaries during a Zoom interview with Pancouver.

“Moreover, the Vancouver couple is injecting this aesthetic into their newest project, Inferno: A Hip Hop Opera. As part of IndieFest 2025, re:Naissance will present this “work in development” at DigiBC Creative Tech Studio on Friday (November 28) and Saturday (November 29).

“‘Sometimes when you talk about an adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, it sounds really heady and dry,’ Newton says. ‘But it’s very funny. It’s meant to be kind of absurd.’

“Newton and Lavoie’s version blends hip-hop, rap, beat boxing, sampling, R&B, and contemporary opera. And it delivers this with internationally admired opera singer Teiya Kasahara, soul and blues artist Leo DE Johnson, rapper and hip-hop performer Kimmortal, and beatboxer Scribbly Doodle. […]”    —Charlie Smith, “Inferno: A Hip Hop Opera draws on hip-hop, beat boxing, R&B, and opera in modern take on Dante’s trip to Hell,” Pancouver (November 27, 2025)