I worked with two different little boys during the opera. This one, Ben, is 6 and a real doll. We had a lot of fun together.

This is the other little boy, Steve, who’s 8. He is the last of 7 children and has already been in 10 shows. He was very mature. His desire to talk like an adult reminded me of Dantzel.

My friend Lindsay Anderson took these shots, I thought they turned out so beautifully. This is the final scene of the opera. The story is based around this nun: Suor Angelica. She is forced into the convent by her wealthy family after she has an illegitimate child. For seven years she remains in the convent and hears nothing about her family both mostly her son. Then her Aunt comes to ask her to sign away her portion of the family wealth to her sister. Sister Angelica asks for only one thing, to hear how her son is doing. The Aunt remains silent at first and then when threated by Angelica confesses that the boy became ill and died. Sister Angelica becomes so distraught that she decides to kill herself. However after she has drank the poison the reality of her decision dawns on her and she realizes that by committing suicide she has damned herself and in so doing has missed the opportunity of ever seeing her son in heaven. The opera ends with her crying, sobbing, pleading with the virgin Mary to save her, forgive her. In her last moments of life she has a vision in which the Virgin mary appears with her son, and the opera ends with her son kneeling next turn to patting her to “sleep.”

I was selected to portray the virgin Mary, and while it was a non-singing, non-speaking role. I felt quite honored. I have great admiration for Mary and appreciated the opportunity to think a little more about her these past few weeks. It was a powerful experience for me to portray the love and mercy of God.

I’ll post more pictures later. These were just a few that my friend sent me.