Carlisle Floyd’s
Susannah

The Egyptian Theatre
700 West Main Street
Boise, ID 83702

Friday, May 17, 2013 • 7:30pm
Sunday, May 19, 2013 • 2:30pm

to purchase tickets to Susannah.

Free previews for all ticket holders, led by Executive Director Mark Junkert, will precede all performances of this opera one hour before curtain; these previews will be given at The Egyptian Theatre. No registration is required.

Performance Overview
Synopsis
Cast

Floyd’s Susannah is a continuation of the Made in the USA series-operas written by American Composers, set in America, touching on an American theme. The opera is a metaphor for McCarthyism, set in a small mountain village in the 1950’s, focusing on Susannah, a young woman isolated by her zealous community. Conductor Sara Jobin will return to continue conducting the Made in the USA series. Director Elise Sandell is Opera Idaho’s first nationally recognized professional female opera director.

Synopsis

ACT I. At a square dance hosted by her church, the beautiful Susannah is the object of gossip: the congregation’s pious womenfolk take exception to the attention that she attracts, observing that it is what they would expect of someone raised by her alcoholic brother. The newly arrived Reverend Olin Blitch ignores the gossip and asks Susannah to dance. Later that night, Susannah tells her beau, Little Bat McClean, about the dance, but he leaves quickly when Susannah’s brother, Sam, comes home from hunting.

The next morning, the church elders discover Susannah innocently bathing nude in the creek they plan to use for baptisms. They denounce her and trumpet her sin to the community. When Susannah arrives at a church dinner that night, she is ostracized and returns home in confusion. Little Bat explains that the elders are angry at her for bathing in the nude and confesses that they forced him to say that she seduced him.

Act 2. Sam offers Susannah little comfort, saying she must attend a prayer meeting and offer a public confession to receive absolution. Susannah goes to the church where Olin Blitch is preaching, even though she is innocent. Swept up in the fervent preaching and chanting, Susannah nearly “confesses,” but runs away at the last moment. After the sermon, Olin Blitch comes to her house and offers to pray for her. Discovering that Sam is away, Blitch takes advantage of the situation and goes inside with Susannah.

The next day, Blitch tries to seek forgiveness from Susannah when he realizes she was a virgin. Susannah refuses, and tells Sam what happened. He takes his shotgun to confront Blitch at a baptismal ceremony. The church community, believing that Susannah has driven her brother to murder, converges on her house, but she repulses them with a shotgun. As they retreat, she is left alone.