Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program alum Rachel J. Peters (Cycle 14) will have the world premiere of her new opera STAGGERWING produced/streamed at Opera Kansas on July 30th-31st, 2021.
With a libretto by Peters and score by collaborator Lisa DeSpain, the opera was the winner of the 2020 Zepick Modern Opera Competition and dramatizes the historical flight of Louise Thaden and her co-pilot, Blanche Noyes, as they compete in the grueling transcontinental 1936 Bendix Trophy Race; the first year the prestigious aviation competition allowed all-female teams to compete. The Bendix was fraught with danger as competitors pushed the boundaries of aeronautics. Intercut between the intense intimacy and confinement of the plane and expansive episodes of the women’s pasts and crucial events leading up to the race, we witness Louise and Blanche navigating the physical risks of their flight, work, personal tragedies and the sexism of a male-dominated field, emerging victorious.
For general info and tickets, CLICK HERE.