Opera Theater Rutgers Presents: “Escobar” & “Alice Tierney” Operas

Photo Credit: Keith Muccilli

Opera Theater Rutgers and Helix! New Music Ensemble present workshop performances of Act I of PhD student Matteo Neri’s Escobar and faculty Melissa Dunphy’s Alice Tierney.

Escobar is a Spanish-language grand opera about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, whose boundless ambition launched him to greatness and threw the lives of his family, his associates, and his country into chaos. He is pursued by police commander Hugo Martínez, who himself is pushed to increasingly violent means to justify a peaceful end.

Alice Tierney, developed by composer Melissa Dunphy and librettist Jacqueline Goldfinger, follows four archaeology grad students as they excavate the property and history of 19th-century “dissipated woman” Alice Tierney. Tierney was found hanging dead on a fence in a seedy Philadelphia neighborhood one morning; despite suspicious circumstances, her death was ruled accidental. But who was Alice? Through their finds, the archaeologists invent three different versions of Alice which perhaps reveal more about themselves than about their subject.

Please be advised that these productions contain adult language.

Public $15 / Rutgers Alumni, Employees, and Seniors $10 / Students $5