THE MARCH
South Shore Opera Company
Performances of composer Jonathon Stinson's opera collaboration with librettist Alan Marshall, a "The March: A Civil Rights Opera Project," which dramatized events leading up to The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, arguably the most consequential peaceful civil rights gathering in American history. We created an immersive performance combining new opera scenes and arias with a civil rights mass meeting, with original speeches and historic freedom songs led with audience singing along. We performed for audiences throughout the development process. Performances at South Shore Cultural Center, Northwestern University, The Chicago Temple, and at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia during the 2012 Opera America Conference, among others.
Photos by Omar Robles
Conductor Daniel Black
Costumes Shanna Foster Philipson
Projections Hillary Leben
Lighting Julian Pike
Cast
Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Woods
Keenan McCarter
Emmett Till B.A. Newland
John Lewis Cornelius Johnson
Bayard Rustin Larry Marshall
Bernard Holcomb
Roy Wilkins Vince Wallace
A. Philip Randolph Kirk Walker
Coretta Scott King Kimberly Jones
Pres. Kennedy Scott Brunscheen
Jeremy A. Fisher
George Somerville
Senator Hatch Corey Grigg
Freedom Singer Gwendolyn Brown
Angela Simpson
Diane Nash Aurelia Clunie
Senators Wilbur Pauley
Nik Wenzel
Lila Leila Bowie
Protester Genevieve Thiers