Fri 7/11 & Sat 7/12 @ 7:30PM
Sun 7/13 @ 3PM
“You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. A child’s words are twisted. You might look like someone who committed a crime. Suddenly, your world is taken away. You’re in prison for a crime you did not commit, and no one is helping you get out. This was reality for Rickey Jackson, Nancy Smith, Clarence Elkins, and the East Cleveland 3.” This is the premise underpinning a new opera called Blind Injustice.
The opera focuses about the Ohio Innocence Project’s work to overturn the convictions of six Ohioans imprisoned for violent crimes they didn’t commit, one for nearly 40 years. The opera was commissioned and premiered by Cincinnati Opera in July 2019; it had five sold-out performances there. Now Chagrin Arts is presenting its Northeast Ohio premiere for three performances, the first of which (Friday) is already sold out.
Based on interviews with the six exonerees, some of whose actual words appear in the libretto created by David Coe, while the musically eclectic opera, composed by Scott Davenport Richards, draws on jazz, rock, blues, gospel and hip-hop.
For more information go to chagrinarts.org/blind-injustice.