Sister Helen Prejean to Attend Missouri Premiere of DEAD MAN WALKING, 8/19

Rehearsals are underway for Union Avenue Opera's (UAO) final production of the 2011 Summer Season. Having received exceptional reviews for Puccini's Turandot and Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella), UAO will take on the challenge of presenting the Missouri premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, an opera The Associated Press regards as "the most compelling new American opera in decades," and The Washington Post identifies as "an impressive piece of work."

Commissioned by the San Francisco Opera with music by Heggie, a libretto by Terrence McNally, and based on the novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, Dead Man Walking brings to stage the modern-day story of Sister Helen and her journey as she undertakes the role of spiritual advisor to Joseph De Rocher, an inmate on Louisiana's death row. Mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata makes her UAO stage debut as Sister Helen in this gripping story of compassion and redemption that will both shock and inspire audiences. Jordan Shanahan, who last appeared as Prince Yeletsky in UAO's 2010 production of Pikovaya Dama (Queen of Spades), takes the stage as the condemned Joseph De Rocher. Joining Shanahan is UAO veteran Debra Hillabrand as his mother, Mrs. Patrick De Rocher, alongside St. Louis native Marlissa Hudson as Sister Rose. Tim Ocel directs Dead Man Walking as UAO Artistic Director Scott Schoonover conducts the final notes of the 2011 Summer Season.

Sister Helen Prejean, New York Times Best Selling Author, will join UAO on Friday, August 19, for the opening night performance of Dead Man Walking at 8:00 p.m. A member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Sister Helen began her prison ministry in 1981. While living in the St. Thomas housing project, she became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, an inmate on Louisiana's Death Row at Angola State Prison. Sister Helen accompanied Sonnier to his death and wrote about her experience in the novel Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. The novel made the 1994 American Library Associates Notable Book List, was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize, and spent 31 weeks as number one on the New York Times Best Seller List. Since 1984, Sister Helen has divided her time between educating citizens about the death penalty and counseling individual death row prisoners.

Dead Man Walking will be performed in English with projectEd English supertitles. Performances will take place August 19, 20, 26, and 27 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $30 - $52 in advance and a $15 Student Rush ticket is available at the door (cash only) to students under 25 with a valid ID. Tickets are available by calling the UAO box office Monday - Friday at 314.361.2881 or online at unionavenueopera.org.

On Friday, August, 19, UAO will host a dinner from 5pm - 7pm, at which guests will have the opportunity to speak to Sister Helen and enjoy haute cuisine and paired wines inspired by the seven Louisiana Parishes. Dinner tickets are $250 (includes a $200 tax-deductible donation to UAO) and may be purchased by calling the UAO Box Office at 314.361.2881. Following the event Sister Helen will attend the opening night performance at 8pm. There will be a book signing post performance in the Fellowship Hall at Union Avenue Christian Church.

UAO was founded in 1994 as a means to bring affordable, professional, original-language opera to St. Louis, a mission the company continues to pursue to this day. UAO is committed to hiring the most talented artists, guest conductors, directors, designers and technicians both locally and from across the United States. UAO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in Missouri under the Internal Revenue Service Code. UAO is sponsored in part by Arts and Education Council, the Fox PAC Foundation, Missouri Arts Council and the Regional Arts Commission.

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