Creative Team
Co-creator
ERIC ANDERSON
Co-creator
SEAN EVELYN/ "TRUTH"
Co-creator
WAYLAND COLEMAN
Composer
GRACE GALU
Librettist
MAHOGANY L. BROWNE
Stage and Movement Director
JENNIFER HARRISON NEWMAN
Music Director
ANDRÉ DE QUADROS
Choir
Voices 21C
ERIC ANDERSON
SEAN EVELYN/ "TRUTH"
WAYLAND COLEMAN
GRACE GALU
JENNIFER HARRISON NEWMAN
ANDRÉ DE QUADROS
About
The Slaying of Innocence is a music-theatre work that emerges from the lived experience of African American men who have served and are currently serving prison sentences, in particular, Eric Anderson, Truth, and Wayland Coleman. Co-created by André de Quadros, Eric, Truth, and Wayland, the narrative incorporates their challenges in living life on the inside and the outside. Their stories are vividly told through rich and compelling poetry and poignant rap. The Slaying of Innocence fuses storytelling, music, and visual art to create a compelling artistic testimony about America’s broken and racialized justice system and the triumph of hope. The Slaying of Innocence crosses many cultural and aesthetic lines, impacting many different communities in its realization. The confluence of these artists from different mediums welcomes broad and inclusive audiences who respond to classical, contemporary, and popular music as well as theatre and spoken word/poetry slams. A large-scale version featuring immersive visual projections will be available for tours to national performing arts centers. These presentations aim to build awareness of our failed justice system, how it disproportionately affects African Americans, and how it has become the 21st-century version of Jim Crow. A second, more intimate version will tour detention centers nationally.
Support
Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, Arts Emerson, and Marian Godfrey Gardner as lead commissioner. Additional commissioning support by John Herron. Developed and produced by Beth Morrison Projects. Additional support provided by MAP fund and the New England Foundation for the Arts.
![The West Coast premiere of TRADE/MARY MOTORHEAD marked another successful addition to the rich legacy of collaborative efforts between Beth Morrison Projects and LA Opera (@laopera)! We're looking back at some of our favorite productions over the years to celebrate!
DOG DAYS - DOG DAYS marked the first production of the whirlwind partnership in 2015. Hailed by the New York Times as a riveting, soon-to-be “groundbreaking American classic,” the post-apocalyptic tragedy made waves at its LAO presentation and put BMP on the West Coast map.
P R I S M - P R I S M marked another milestone in our joint history. Not only did Ellen Reid’s (@ellenreidmusic) debut opera make its world premiere with LA Opera at REDCAT (@calartsredcat), but this collaborative project would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2019. It was a major development for BMP, LAO, and, of course, Ellen Reid, who “[took] her place among the host of promising young American opera composers” (The Financial Times).
ANGEL'S BONE - Another Pulitzer Prize-winning BMP production, ANGEL'S BONE, was planned as part of the 2020 season. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the presentation pivoted, becoming the first in our history to be presented digitally. The show was streamed by 20,000 people, demonstrating the strength and resilience of our bond with LAO.
TRADE/MARY MOTORHEAD - Finally, Emma O’Halloran’s (@emmamohalloran) TRADE/Mary Motorhead made its West Coast premiere last month at REDCAT. We're thrilled to celebrate another year of BMP and LAO sharing boundary-pushing, cutting-edge opera with this incredible production starring Naomi Louisa O’Connell (@naomi_louisa_oconnell), Marc Kudisch (@marckudisch), and Kyle Bielfield (@bielfield)!](https://bethmorrisonprojects.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)