Shakespeare & Company Opens New Opera PEARL at Tina Packer Playhouse Tonight

Shakespeare & Company will present PEARL, a new opera, at Tina Packer Playhouse tonight, August 5, 2013 at 7:30 pm.

Pearl, a new opera in development, was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, a story of love, condemnation, betrayal and acceptance in which protagonist Hester Prynne secretly conceives a child with the Reverend Dimmesdale. In this modern retelling, Pearl, the child born of the scandal, presents the story from her point of view as an adult woman, a mother and a writer. The story's characters struggle with the central question, "How can love be sin?"

Produced by the Different Voice Opera Project, Pearl is the first in a series of new operatic works dedicated to portraying women in primary, thoughtful and dynamic roles. As its creators describe it, the aim is to give life to women characters who "do more than sing, 'Help me, help me,' and then die." The creative team-a remarkably collaborative force-is bringing a new voice to the operatic stage.

The workshop performance for Pearl features a distinguished cast, including Metropolitan Opera singers Maureen O'Flynn and John Cheek, John Bellemer singing Dimmesdale, Marnie Breckenridge singing Pearl as an adult, Michael Corvino singing Chillingworth and Olivia Marchione singing the child Pearl.

Tickets at $150/ $75/ $50 are available through the box office, 413-637-3353, online a twww.shakespeare.org or by calling the development office: (413) 637-1199, ext. 105. Proceeds benefit Shakespeare & Company's Actor Training Scholarship Program.