Frances Pollock and Tia Price’s “Stinney: An American Execution” is a profound and moving opera that I am so excited to be co-producing with Frances and with Beth Morrison Projects. It will be presented at the Prototype Festival! The New York Times is excited, too!
An involuntary symbol of sickening injustice, George Junius Stinney Jr. was executed at the age of 14. Having been wrongly accused and convicted of the rape and murder of two white girls in Alcolu, SC, in 1944, George became the youngest person legally executed in 20th century America. Stinney tells the story of George, his family, his community, and the jury of ten white men that sent an innocent black boy to the electric chair. A new opera with roots in both gospel and electronic techniques, Stinney spotlights the anger and agony of the entire populous of Alcolu, connecting the dots to our own socio-political climate in 2019 and the pervasive “fear of the other”.
Stinney: An American Execution will be co-presented with French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) and Harlem Stage on January 12 and 13, 2019.
