Frances Rabalais is an opera director known for her highly emotional and evocative stagings of classic operatic repertoire and new opera works alike. In 2018, she directed the second production of Beck & Fleishmann’s The Long Walk for Pittsburgh Opera, which was hailed as a “smart, chaotic success”. Recently, Frances was acting instructor for the Bonfils-Stanton Young Artist program at Central City Opera, where she was also the intimacy director for their production of Street Scene. In the past few years, she directed Tosca for Madison opera, Macbeth for Resonance Works, and Hansel and Gretel for Birmingham Opera. She has been an assistant at Houston Grand Opera, Opera Colorado, Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha, Des Moines Metro Opera, Detroit Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, and Wolf Trap Opera. She was a member of the Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist program, where she was the assistant director for ten shows over the course of two seasons. Rabalais is also a certified Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors in three weapons and theatrical firearms. She spends time advocating for safe and effective combat and intimacy scenes in opera. Upcoming engagements include directing a new production of María de Buenos Aires for Madison Opera in collaboration with Kanopy Dance, which will explore the glorification and exploitation of women’s pain in the Catholic Church as well as in sex work.