Dr. Robert Ward's, The Crucible
The opera tells the story of the Salem, Massachusetts, witch trials of the late 17th-Century. The play on which it is based was written as an allegory for McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s. The message of this allegorical tale remains very relevant in today’s world.
According to Dennis Dooley, Winner of the 1986 Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature: “The consensus of critics and audiences is that Ward and Stambler succeeded in creating that rarest of stage works: a musically compelling setting of a great literary work-in this case, Arthur Miller's gripping attack on the anti-communist hysteria of the early 1950s that reached its apotheosis in the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, which ruined lives and careers in the name of rooting out dangerous ideas.”
THE COMPOSER
Robert Ward, an important 20th century American composer of opera and orchestral works, was the second President and first Chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts (now the University of North Carolina School of the Arts)(UNCSA), the first publicly supported conservatory in America for student from high school through graduate level. He served in that capacity from 1967 until 1975 when he stepped down to serve as a member of the UNCSA composition faculty for five more years. In 1978, he was invited to Duke University as a visiting professor and remained there as the Mary Duke Biddle Professor of Music from 1979 until 1987.
While at UNCSA, Dr. Ward hired Norman Johnson for the music faculty and Mr. Johnson also became the founder of Piedmont Opera. Mr. Johnson hired James Allbritten as a faculty member at UNCSA. Mr. Allbritten currently serves as artistic director of the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA and artistic director of Piedmont Opera.
Dr. Ward was the recipient of the 2011 NEA Opera Award, our nation’s most prestigious opera award. He currently resides in Durham, North Carolina, and will be involved in many aspects of this production including a number of planned public events.
http://www.robertwardcomposer.com/NEA_Honoree.html
Piedmont Opera – The Crucible
Conductor: James Allbritten
Stage Director: Cynthia Stokes
John Proctor: Phillip Zawisca
Elizabeth Proctor: Janine Hawley
Abagail Williams: Kristen Schwecke
John Hale: Richard Ollarsaba
Judge Danforth: Todd Geer
Samuel Parris: Jonathan Sidden
Tituba: Nichole Mitchel
Rebecca Nurse: Mary Siebert
Giles Corey: Marvin Kehler
Mary Warren: Kate Farrar
Ann Putnam: Amanda Moody
Thomas Putnam: Ted Federle
Ezekiel Cheever: Jonathan Johnson
Francis Nurse: Chris Ervin
Sarah Good: Marilyn Taylor
Betty Parris: Stephanie Norman
Ruth Putnam: Catherine Park
Susann Walcott: Lindsey Allen
Mercy Lewis: Jemeesa Yarborough
Martha Seldon: Rebecca Blank
Bridget Booth: Ashley Mann
Stay Tuned for information on a series of Community wide events surrounding Piedmont Opera’s production of The Crucible,
including information on performances of the play
by the Reynold’s and East Forsyth High School drama departments.
