This inspiring new 90-minute opera follows the Ohio Innocence Project’s efforts to overturn the convictions of six men, women and teens who were wrongly imprisoned for violent crimes they didn’t commit:
Nancy Smith, a school bus driver convicted of molesting children at the height of the “nursery school hysteria” sweeping the nation. Imprisoned for 15 years.
The “East Cleveland 3”, teenage boys convicted of murder, identified solely by their gender and race. Imprisoned for 19 years.
Clarence Elkins, convicted of the murder and rape of his mother-in-law and his niece, based on vague testimony by a traumatized child. Imprisoned for six years. The actual perpetrator ultimately confessed.
Rickey Jackson, convicted of murder and robbery based on the coerced testimony of a child who, after Jackson was imprisoned for 39 years and sent to Death Row, played a key role in his release.
Featuring an operatic score infused with jazz, gospel, funk and hip-hop, and a libretto drawn substantially from the exonerees’ own words, this timely and riveting production asks “What makes a person strong enough to endure injustice? What makes a person free?”
