She Who Dared at Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building

Chicago Opera Theater (COT), Chicago’s foremost producer of new and rarely staged operas, proudly presents the world premiere of She Who Dared by acclaimed composer/librettist duo Jasmine Arielle Barnes and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton. Featuring an all-Black female cast, the compelling, richly melodic, new opera shines a spotlight on the women who challenged segregation before and alongside Rosa Parks. COT will collaborate with the popular Chicago-based Black chamber music collective D-Composed which will serve as the orchestra for the production. This collaboration marks the first time the ensemble has gone from performing primarily as a quartet to an expanded orchestra of D-Composed collaborators and musicians in Chicago's Black classical community. COT presents She Who Dared in three performances only at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building (410 S Michigan Ave.): Tuesday, June 3 at 7:30 PM; Friday, June 6 at 7:30 PM; and Sunday, June 8 at 3:00 PM Tickets start at $50.00 and are available at chicagooperatheater.org.

Everyone has heard of Rosa Parks, but she wasn’t the first to refuse to move. She Who Dared recenters the spotlight on the brave women who helped dismantle bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, leading to the landmark court case Browder v. Gayle. On March 2, 1955, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to relinquish her seat to a white passenger. In the months that followed, four other women—Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith, and Jeanetta Reese—were also arrested under similar circumstances. Colvin, Browder, McDonald, and Smith ultimately became plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the federal case that challenged the constitutionality of segregated public transportation and led to a Supreme Court ruling that declared it unlawful. In She Who Dared, these trailblazing women step into the spotlight alongside other pivotal figures in the movement, including Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson — each playing a crucial role in the fight for justice.

Barnes’ work has been described as “the best possible blend of Billie Holiday and Claude Debussy” by the Boston Globe. The highly melodic score for She Who Dared liberally references musical idioms of the time, including soul, gospel, and protest music. While often riotous and sometimes hilarious, She Who Dared demonstrates how everyday people have the power to challenge the systems around them and affect tangible change – if only they dare.

She Who Dared will feature COT debuts from sopranos Jasmine Habersham as Claudette Colvin, Jacqueline Echols as Rosa Parks/Ms. Nesbit/Prosecution Attorney, recent Ryan Opera Center graduate Lindsey Reynolds as Mary Louise Smith/Classmate, mezzo sopranos Chrystal E. Willams as Aurelia Browder, Deborah Nansteel as Jo Ann Robinson/Fred Gray, and Cierra Byrd as Jeanetta Reese/Classmate/Officer/Judge, alongside COT favorite, Chicago-based mezzo soprano Leah Dexter as Susie “Mama Sue” McDonald. Conductor Michael Ellis Ingram and director Timothy Douglas make their COT debuts at the helm of the world premiere production.

Commissioned by American Lyric Theater (ALT) and developed under the auspices of ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program, She Who Dared follows up on the critically acclaimed success of Chicago Opera Theater and American Lyric Theater’s previous collaboration on the world premiere of Justine F. Chen and David Simpatico’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing in 2023. With this latest production, COT and ALT continue their shared commitment to developing and presenting innovative new operas that push the boundaries of the art form while championing composers and librettists that reflect the diversity of contemporary American society.