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Throughout time artists have taken inspiration from poignant experiences both historical and their own. David Bradley (The Chaneysville Incident) and Lorene Cary (The Price of a Child) are two authors with award winning works based on true stories of the Underground Railroad.
In celebration of Black History Month and the Philadelphia Premiere of the opera Margaret Garner, join WHYY on Thursday February 2, 2006 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm for a discussion between authors Lorene Cary and Booker Award-winner David Bradley about the dynamic interplay among history, drama, and art in the subject of the Underground Railroad. Moderated by Johnson House Executive Director David Young, and featuring introductory comments by Opera Company General and Artistic Director Robert B. Driver, the panelists will discuss how they based their own creative work on actual stories, and why art is a powerful vehicle for realizing the mysteries of the Underground Railroad for modern audiences.
RSVP online or call (215) 351-0511
When sorrow clouds the mind, the spine grows strong;
no pretty words can soothe or cure what heavy hands can break.
When sorrow is deep, the secret soul keeps its weapon of choice:
the love of all loves.
From Margaret's aria "A Quality Love"
Margaret Garner Act I, Scene 3
In its own time, the case of Margaret Garner was among the most significant and controversial of all antebellum fugitive slave stories. Margaret Garner's family was the "property" of a Kentucky plantation owner. Margaret's love for her husband and children fueled her ongoing fight for survival as she endured unimaginable abuse and hardship. Margaret Garner's escape and recapture are the true story on which Toni Morrison's acclaimed book Beloved is based.
Michigan Opera Theatre, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera Company of Philadelphia have collaborated to co-commission Margaret Garner, a new American opera based on one of the most significant fugitive slave stories in pre-Civil War America. The project marks the anticipated operatic debut for the highly acclaimed creative team of Grammy-Award winning composer Richard Danielpour and librettist Toni Morrison, celebrated novelist and winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature.
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