We Learn to See by Singing in the Dark follows the making of Sensorium Ex - a groundbreaking new opera by Award-Winning Artists: Composer Paola Presitini and Poet/Librettist Brenda Shaughnessy, co-created alongside artists with disabilities over the past 7+ years. Sensorium Ex consists of a mix-ability cast, including 3 artists with Cerebral Palsy, 2 blind singers, and two minimally-verbal and minimally-ambulatory performers who are working on the stage for the first time. The opera uses innovative artificial intelligence created by Dr. Luke Dubois (NYU Tandon School of Engineering) to give a voice to the performers who do not have one. This film captures the creative process from inception to performance, the challenges and successes of creating a safe space for artists with disability, and explores themes of communication, consent, and humanity through the lens of disability and experimental opera. We Learn to See by Singing in the Dark aims to amplify the mission of the opera and the voices of the disabled community, bringing extended awareness and care into the arts while expanding our understanding of disability and what it means to have a voice.

This inspiring documentary follows composer Paola Prestini and poet Brenda Shaughnessy as they endeavor to create an opera that reimagines communication, embodiment, and what it means to have a voice. Inspired by Shaughnessy's relationship with her nonverbal, non-ambulatory son, Sensorium Ex insists on casting artists from the disability community, challenging conventions of who is seen - and heard - on the operatic stage. Over seven years of rehearsal rooms, personal stories, and radical artistic experimentation, this film captures the artists' determination to build a space where everyone is supported, and performers with disability are not only celebrated but woven into the fabric of the work. The result is both a groundbreaking new opera and a testament to the power of art to expand our capacity for empathy and connection. We Learn to See by Singing in the Dark is an intimate, poetic exploration of collaboration, resilience, and the voices society too often silences - a story that invites audiences to listen differently and reconsider what it truly means to be human.

—Shannon Marie Sullivan