Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
The women of the Helena Collective, an all-female vocal ensemble, are reviving their award-winning production of 6/VIII: The Six Wives of Henry VIII to tell the ghostly tales of these ill-fated queens of England.
Helena Collective is composed of area vocalists from various opera and theater backgrounds. Members include Sarah Purser, Lizzy Ariza, Anna Eschbach, Samantha Barnes Daniel, Lynn Peghiny and Katie Pinder Brown.
6/VIII will be performed at the Timucua Arts Foundation house as part of the venue’s ongoing opera festival on Sunday, March 23.
The opera festival has been running since March 7 and closes March 29. Highlights have included a chamber rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s one-act Mozart and Salieri, and the love letter to feminist DIY in the 1990s that is A Zine Opera by ChanJi Kim and Keri Lee Pierson.
“We’ve been trying to find a reason to do it,” Purser says of resurrecting this piece. “We were going to do it during the pandemic and then that all fell through, so when we found out about the opera festival at Timucua, we thought that this was a really great opportunity to do this production one more time.”
The production originally debuted at the 2019 Fringe Festival (six years ago, fittingly), where it was awarded “Best Play — Musical.” The book was written by Barnes Daniel to accompany Libby Larsen’s song-cycle about the six unfortunate wives of England’s King Henry VIII.
“It’s not only just beautiful music, but they’re really compelling stories and I think it’s important to hear history from the other side. We always have to hear it from the male perspective, but it’s really important to hear it from the women’s perspective as well,” says Purser.
For this performance, Helena Collective will be joined by guest artist Jillian Morrisini, the owner of Songbirds Music, Art and Dance Center in Oviedo.
“She actually subbed when we did the production at Fringe,” Purser says. “There was one date that we needed a sub and so she learned the track. So here we are six years later and we’re pulling her back in again to sing with us.”
At Timucua, Purser is expecting a more intimate experience compared to Helena’s original performance at Fringe.
“It’s a small theater. We’re calling it semi-staged because we don’t have all of the lighting and technical elements that we would have in a traditional theater setting, but it will be as close to our original production as we can possibly get,” says Purser.
Purser envisions that these staging changes will complement the show’s spirited nature.
“It sort of sets up the mood. I almost like to compare it to a ghost story, sort of hearing these women’s voices from the other side. There’s kind of a mystic vibe about it,” Purser says. “We wear really light colors like whites and creams and it’s almost kind of ghost-like.”
Purser stresses that Helena’s 6/VIII is not to be confused with the British musical comedy Six, which explores the same topic.
“A lot of people think it’s just like Six the musical and it’s not, it’s completely the opposite,” Purser explains. “It’s dark, it’s sort of somber. We take a lot of time to dive into the darker side of the beheadings and the betrayals, so it’s definitely not a lighthearted production.”
Helena Collective began as a group of friends who were professional singers in Central Florida. In forming what is essentially a feminist supergroup, members of the collective were looking to focus on music that focuses on the female experience.
“We want to perform music that is not necessarily written by women, but music that reflects the feminine experience,” stresses Purser.
Purser, also the education director at Opera Orlando, is hoping to bring opera and classical music to unexpected and accessible spaces.
“Humans put music into these nice little boxes, but it doesn’t necessarily fit into those boxes. Music doesn’t necessarily belong in boxes,” says Purser.
Purser believes that by putting classical music in accessible spaces like Timucua or less-usual venues like Stardust Video & Coffee — where Helena Collective has previously performed — more people will come to enjoy more traditional styles of music.
“I want to open the box and let people know that yeah, this might be classical music, but it’s just music and music tells stories of people,” Purser says. “It might sound a little bit different than the rock band down the street, but we are doing the same thing: We’re making you feel, we’re making you think and we’re telling stories.”
Timucua Arts Foundation
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This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2025.