It’s not so crazy that an opera about Burning Man was born in the line for the restrooms at the annual festival. Someone said, “This is so epic. Someone should write an opera about this.”

Anything can happen in Black Rock City, and it just so happened that someone else in line happened to have a boyfriend who writes opera.

Eventually came “How to Survive the Apocalypse: A Burning Opera,” directed by tenor Christopher Fuelling, a theater director and co-founder of the Art Monastery Project in Italy. Complete with lights, pyrotechnics, outlandish Burning Man-style costumes and a libretto by counterculture author Erik Davis, the highly theatrical performance is a take on the story of Burning Man. “Newbies” come across a “tribe of freaks,” and burners deal with maintaining the festival’s purity of vision while keeping it accessible to the masses.

A 15-minute review of the multi-genre opera will be presented on a Third Street stage near Lucky Lady Lucy at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. About 16 out-of-town performers will take the stage with a live band, Las Vegas showgirls and burlesque troupe Cabernet Dance.

And “Burning Opera” might return to Las Vegas someday for a workshop residency: “Given the abundant expertise and experience of its creative community, I think Vegas would be an ideal place to develop the show,” Fuelling says.

Project Alma

This entertainment and arts project, fueled by the spirit of Burning Man, plans to bring “a serious taste of the SoCal Burner sound” to Las Vegas.

Founded by Travis Lea and Eva Vega, who made regular trips to Burning Man from their home in Argentina before moving to Los Angeles in 2003, Project Alma delivers themed parties with electronic music, most notably the monthly Plump parties that cater to Burners and other members of the underground scene. Lea has been to Burning Man 11 times and, in 2004, created a sound art theme camp with Vega.

Project Alma will team up with Dancetronauts under the dome at the Plaza, then move into the showroom for an afterparty scheduled to roll into the morning. Lea sees this weekend’s event as a way to share part of the Burning Man experience. “We’ve been helping to spread the culture of Burning Man here in L.A.,” he says. “Mainly, we provide a venue for people to be creative and participate. There are enough people who have been to Burning Man, and they don’t want to wait a whole year to feel how they feel when they’re at Burning Man. And now the regionals are connecting.”

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