Director Elkhanah Pulitzer and conductor Steven Osgood join the SFCM Opera department for a production of Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up. Adapted from the short story by Karen Russell, this gripping opera is told through the story of Nebraska homesteaders in the 1870s who are trying to achieve the ultimate American dream. The titular phrase refers to the desperate, often fatal, attempt by homesteaders to fulfill the legal requirements of the Homestead Act. To obtain a deed to the land they’ve settled they must reach five years of harvest, a sod house dwelling, and perhaps the most elusive element — a glass window. The story explores the grim, almost supernatural, desperation of settlers trying to make a home for themselves.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 2024
Composer: Missy Mazzoli
Conductor: Steven Osgood
Sets: Afsoon Pajoufar
Costumes: Molly Irelan
Lights: Seth Reiser
Projections: Adam Larsen
Cast:
Miles Zegner: Sid Chand (Friday) & Jonathan Smucker (Saturday)
Mr Johannes “Pa” Zegner: Samuel Downes (Friday) & Gabriel Manro (Saturday)
Mrs. Johannes “Ma” Zegner: Alissa Goretsky (Friday) & Erica Thelen (Saturday)
Littler Daughter: Camryn Finn (Friday) & Hyesoo Kim (Saturday)
Taller Daughter: Leah Finn (Friday) & Cambria Metzinger (Saturday)
The Sodbuster: Joseph Calzada (Friday) & Tony DeLousia (Saturday)
Peter Zegner: Charles McGregor (Both Performances)
