KATIE: The strongest of the strong

March 11-28
Running Time: 45 mins
Most Tickets FREE

The Hyde Collection
Saratoga Children’s Museum
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

SHOW DATES

Katie: Strongest of the Strong is the true story of Katie Sandwina – a circus strongwoman who defied cultural expectations of women and was instrumental in the U.S. suffrage movement in the 1900s. Featuring an all-female cast, the HGO original commission is an engaging way for students and families to learn about the importance of equal rights.

Katie and her husband Max move from Austria to the U.S., where she joins Barnum and Bailey Circus, becomes a mother, and teams up with Marina, a young journalist, to fight for the voting rights of women.

With an all-female cast, this 2020 HGO commission from composer Faye Chiao and librettist Anton Dudley is an engaging way for students and families to learn about the importance of equal rights.

The 45-minute opera celebrates women’s strength and confidence through the inspiring true story of protagonist Katie Sandwina. The story, shared from the perspective of journalist Marina Martin, features a chorus of circus women who play multiple characters and demonstrate how strength and beauty come in all shapes and sizes.  

CAST

  • Britt Hewitt

    Marina

  • Syrena Torres

    Katie

  • Lisa Buhelos

    Bebe Barbelle

  • Lauren Nash Silberstein

    Beryl Barbelle

  • Annie Chester

    Bernice Barbelle

creative team

  • Julian Gau

    Music Director

  • Mary Birnbaum

    Director

ABOUT The Creators

FAYE CHIAO (Composer)

Faye Chiao is a composer and performer of musical theater, opera, and concert music.  Chiao has been honored with awards from The Presser Foundation, The Puffin Foundation and OPERA America.  Chiao has also been an artist-in-residence at The John Duffy Institute for New Opera at the Virginia Arts Festival, the Boston Chamber Symphony, and a Labworks artist at The New Victory Theater.  Chiao has also received residencies at Barrington Stage Company, Millay Arts, Bethany Arts Community and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.  Chiao’s work has been commissioned, produced, and developed by Houston Grand Opera, Two River Theater, Syracuse Stage, Kenyon College, Manhattan School of Music, Prospect Theater, The Playwrights Realm, Single Carrot Theater, Hear Her Song, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, and the 24-Hour Musicals. Chiao is a member of Theatre Now New York's Musical Writers Lab (tnny.org), BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop, Maestra (maestramusic.org) and MUSE (museonline.org). Chiao holds degrees from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and is on faculty at BerkleeNYC. FayeChiao.com

ANTON DUDLEY (Librettist)

Anton Dudley is a playwright, director, and librettist for both opera and musical theatre. His Off-Broadway premieres include City Of (Playwrights Realm directed by Stephen Brackett), Substitution (Playwrights Realm featuring Jan Maxwell), 17 Orchard Point (co-written with Stephanie DiMaggio, Theatre Row featuring Tony-winner Michele Pawk), Getting Home (Second Stage Theater), and Slag Heap (Cherry Lane Theater featuring Vincent Kartheiser). Other productions include Girlstar (Signature Theater directed by Eric Shaeffer), A Dram of Drumhiccit (written with Pulitzer-finalist Arthur Kopit, LaJolla Playhouse directed by Tony-winner Christopher Ashley), Katie: Strongest of the Strong (written with Faye Chiao, Houston Grand Opera), Honor and the River (Walnut Street Theater), Cold Hard Cash (Williamstown Theater Festival), The Lake’s End (Adirondack Theater Festival), Marguerite (Astoria Performing Arts Center featuring Tony winner Cady Huffman), Home and Baba Yaga & the Firebird (both written with Faye Chiao, New Victory Theater LabWorks), and Davy & Stu (Ensemble Studio Theater). His play Letters to the End of the World was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Drama and received its premiere at Theatre Row.

Anton has had new play, musical & opera commissions from Houston Grand Opera, Manhattan Theater Club, Williamstown Theater Festival, Cherry Lane Theater, Keen Company, Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Z, Prospect Theater Company, Stella Adler Studio, and Toronto’s Musical Stage Company. His works are published by Concord Theatricals, Playscripts, Applause, Heuer, Heinemann Press, Backstage Books, Smith & Kraus, People.com, and Vintage. Anton directed the DC regional premieres of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus, Miguel Pinero’s Short Eyes, and Tracy Letts’ Killer Joe, and the North American premiere of Jim Cartwright’s I Licked a Slag’s Deodorant, and was co-director of the 30th Anniversary revival of Hair, which won Helen Hayes Awards for both Outstanding Resident Musical and Direction. Anton teaches directing at Kenyon College and performs drag cabarets as the Duchess Carpathia Bouffray, two of which stream on LGBTQ+ platform, HappiTV.

Generous support for Opera Saratoga’s Education Program is provided by:

WHAT IS OPERA SARATOGA’S EDUCATION PROGRAM?

Each year, Opera Saratoga tours an Opera production to more than fifty public and private schools throughout the greater Capital and lower Adirondack regions of NY. The performances feature charismatic professional artists who love to share their joy of music and theater through the opera, as well as through question and answer sessions where students have the opportunity to meet the artists and learn about the music and what it takes to put on a performance.

In a world where the default forms of entertainment for children are primarily television, video games, and the Internet, Opera Saratoga’s In-School Opera program provides youth with an all-too-rare opportunity to experience the visceral thrill of the live performing arts, up close and personal!

Opera Saratoga's touring program includes a professionally staged opera performance in your school, along with a post-performance discussion between the artists and your students.

You may be eligible for reimbursement for some or all of the program cost through your regional BOCES office, or with assistance from your PTA or other fundraising organizations.