Music by: Kamala Sankaram 

Libretto by: Susan Yankowitz 

Thumbprint is a chamber opera inspired by the experiences of Mukhtar Mai, a contemporary real-life warrior for women’s rights and education in Pakistan. Sankaram’s dynamic score blends Hindustani and European opera influences to tell this astonishing story of courage in the face of oppression. 

Thumbprint premiered in 2014 and was commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and the HERE Arts Center for the PROTOTYPE Festival. 

Chautauqua Opera Company's production is led by Omer Ben Seadia (Director) and Kristin Roach (Conductor). 

90 minutes, no intermission 

It is a great honor to tell the story of Mukhtar Mai: a woman who, in the darkest of times and the depths of personal trauma, looked around and said, “No more.”  

It is hard to do any research about this incredibly brave woman without immediately focusing on the trauma that she endured. However, I prefer to focus on the incredible work she did AFTER her traumatic event. Mukhtar used her trauma as a catalyst to fight the system that allowed for her oppression. She found a way, against all odds, to provide for her own education and learning to read and write. And then she provided for others by opening her own school and educating so many girls and boys from her own community. In the years following her case, laws were changed, new protections for women were put in place, and Mukhtar remained in the Pakistani village where she grew up. This is not a story of picking up and leaving everything behind, but one of looking inside your own community and asking, “How can I make things better?” 

What this opera does so well is to allow Mukhtar to speak out, to sing, to scream the things that we are all feeling. Kamala Sankaram and Susan Yankowitz wrote a piece that is honest and true to the events that were forced not only on Mukhtar, but on her entire family and her community for decades. One way we chose to represent the toll that was taken, and the lasting effects of trauma, was through the costumes, which become increasingly stained, their color being drained slowly throughout the show. By the end we have found healing and some sense of justice, but not restoration, reminding us that the fight is ongoing.  

We hope to celebrate the joy, the music, the culture, and the love of Pakistan. The story of Mukhtar Mai is specific to the time and place where the events occurred, but is in no way a unique one. Women all over the world, including the U.S, are having their rights challenged and threatened, and are subjected to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse daily. We can be encouraged and inspired by Mukhtar Mai, while sharing in her rage, her joy, and her hope.  

Preparing this opera for the past three years and directing it has been a humbling and challenging experience, and I am thrilled to share it with the Chautauqua community. 

It is hard to fathom the fact that the events depicted in the opera Thumbprint took place almost exactly 20 years ago. And yet, the single school that we see Mukhtar Mai create at the end of the opera has grown into a whole system of schools educating boys and girls up through grade 10, a shelter, resource center, mobile unit, and library. This production is dedicated to Mukhtar Mai and the thousands of women who have benefited from her advocacy. 

You can support Mukhtar Mai’s work by donating to the Mukhtar Mai Women’s Organization—mukhtarmai.org

• Steven Osgood, General & Artistic Director 

Cast: 

Mukhtar Mai: Samina Aslam  
Annu: Nicola Santoro  
Mother: Talin Nalbandian  
Shakur: Felix Aguilar Tomlinson  
Faiz: Rolfe Dauz  
Father: Phillip Lopez 

Creative: 

Stage Director: Omer Ben Seadia 
Conductor: Kristin Roach 
Scenic Designer: Liliana Duque Piñeiro 
Lighting & Video Designer: Michael Baumgarten 
Sound Designer: E. Martin Gimenez
Costume Designer: B.G. FitzGerald 
Wig & Makeup Designer: Martha Ruskai 
Assistant Director: Cassandra Lovering
Composer-in-Residence, Artistic Assistant: Mary Prescott
Supertitles: Allison Voth 

Chautauqua Opera Orchestra:  

Flute: Kathryn Levy 
Violin: Vahn Armstrong 
Viola: Eva Stern 
Contrabass: Caitlyn Kamminga 
Piano/Harmonium: Emily Jarrell Urbanek 
Percussion: Brian Kushmaul 
Principal Librarian: Lara Sipols 

Production: 

Technical Director: John P. Woodey 
Production Stage Manager: Valerie Wheeler 
Assistant Stage Managers: 
Hanna Atkinson
Hailey Delaney
Julie Welch 
Props Director: Wendy Ann
Production Aid: Jaaven Middleton

General and Artistic Director 

Steven Osgood 

Managing Director 

Daniel Grambow 

Music Administrator/Chorus Master 

Carol Rausch 

Director of Production & Resident Lighting Designer/ Video Designer 
Michael Baumgarten 

Arts Marketing Specialist 

Makayla Santiago-Froebel 

Company Managers 

Austin Terris 
Claudia Torres 

Company Scheduler & Coach/Accompanist

Rick Hoffenberg

Diction Coach/Supertitles Operator 

Allison Voth 

Coach/Accompanists 

Miriam Charney
Dottie Randall
Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Allison Voth 

Norton House Manager

Sarah Brown-Millspaw

Arts Marketing Associate 

Jessica Mack 

Inspired by the true story of Mukhtar Mai, the events depicted in the opera take place in Pakistan in the early 2000s.   

Mukhtar Mai is an illiterate woman from a low caste. As the opera starts, she is at home with her mother and her sister, Annu. Their joyful routine of chores and play is suddenly interrupted when men of the powerful landowning Mastoi tribe arrive. Faiz Mohammed, the Mastoi tribe’s representative, announces that they have jailed the family’s 12-year-old son, Shakur, for committing a “dishonorable” act with a girl of their tribe. He demands that a woman from the offending tribe come to ask for forgiveness. Mukhtar steps forward and offers that she will come later that day to beg forgiveness for her family, for her brother's release, and to restore "order." When Mukhtar arrives, instead of accepting her offering, the elders of the Mastoi tribe order Mukhtar to be gang-raped by the members of the tribe as retribution.   

Returning home from the violent attack, Mukhtar contemplates suicide. Her mother’s fierce love gives her the courage to speak out and make a statement to the police. At the police station, she is directed to sign a blank document which she is told will later be filled in with her report. Not knowing how to read or write, she is forced to sign the paperwork with only her thumbprint.   

A trial is held and the Mastoi are judged guilty of their actions. Mukhtar is offered a settlement by the Pakistani government.  She chooses to spend the money on a school where girls in her village can be educated so that they, unlike her, will never know the humiliation of having to sign their names with a thumbprint.   

Renowned throughout the United States, Chautauqua Opera Company's Young Artist program is among the most respected training opportunities available for developing singers who are on the threshold of full-time professional careers. This year, General and Artistic Director Steven Osgood and Music Administrator Carol Rausch selected 17 Young Artists from over 900 applications. The singers on this select roster receive intensive training in all facets of performing, including diction, movement, stage combat, career management, and musical and dramatic coaching. Young Artists make up the core of the company and perform in all mainstage Chautauqua Opera productions, in concert with the Chautauqua Symphony, in “Afternoon of Song” recitals in the Athenaeum Parlor and the Opera Invasion series. Chautauqua Opera Company's Young Artist program is proud to have been a training ground for many alumni who have become leading artists with opera companies throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

The Chautauqua Opera Guild serves as the advocacy group in support of the Chautauqua Opera Company. Memberships support our Young Artists, the Children’s Opera Education Program, and grant access to events all summer long. 

Join today! 

Opera Guild Members as of July 26, 2022:

Edith Benson

Jack Connolly and Peg Barrett

Virginia H. Cox

Paula Gierszal and Lisa Ann Gierszal

Cheryl Gorelick and Jake Zeigler

Nancy Langston

Jay Lesenger

Beth Madison

Chris and Sue Martin

Mary and Steve Mitchell

Hale and Judy Oliver

Rev. Richard and Mrs. Joreta Speck

Drs. Jane Stirniman and Jeanne Wiebenga

Linda Steckley and Pete Weitzel

Toni and Joe Goldfarb

Arlene Gottlieb and Chaz Miller

Arlene Hajinlian

Brad and Deanna Johnson

Patricia King

Jane and Jerry Lahey

Lynn Moschel

Rich Osborne

Kimberly Perry

Belinda and Matt Rogers

Rachel and Philip Rogers

Adele M. Thomas Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Kay Karslake White

Shirley Adams

Philip Allen

Richard and Marty Davis

Ted and Deborah First

Susan J. Grelick and John V. Heffron

Michael E. Hill and Peter M. Korns

Sallie L. Holder

Carol and Bob Hopper

Dr. F. Palmer Lindblom

Cynthia Norton

Mary and Bob Pickens

John P. Pless

Robin and Mark Robbins

Carol Schaal

Nancy Seel

Jana V. Stone and Raymond J. Galligan

Sue Tebor

Steve and Pat Telkins

Brenda and Larry Thompson

Angela Twist

Chris Anderson

Loretta Bower

John Burden

Judith Claire

Drs. Gilbert and Rona Eisner

Elliot and Judith Goldman

Judy and Al Goldman

Terrie Vaile Hauck

John and Jill Hopkins

Robert Ivers

Nancy M. Leininger

Mike and Nancy Lott

Narwhals and Georgina Mating

Mary Lou McFate

Judith D. Musser

Sanford and Margery Nobel

Melissa Orlov

Steve Peters

Sue Ann and John Power

Katy Smith

Rabbi Samuel and Lynn Stahl

Jenny and Tim Stitely

Margaret Viehe

Nancy Waasdorp

Elizabeth A. Welch and Stephen E. Glinick

Mary Louise Williamson

Mark Altschuler

William and Renee Andrews

Anna Antemann

Joyce and Scott Brasted

Carolyn Byham

Sally Craig and Mike McAvey

Christopher and Roslyn Dahlie

Roger Doebke

Jean and Sigo Falk

Marwin L. Feldman

Christopher Gibbs

Anonymous

Carole E. Gladstone

Samantha F. and Daniel Grambow

Don and Kathleen Greenhouse

Jane A. Gross

Carol and John Hardenburg

Ellen Harmon

Catherine Jarjisian

Erwin H. Johnson Memorial Fund

Phil and Livia Kades

Len and Judy Katz

Douglas Kreider and Dale Kennedy

Gary Landrus

Susan Laubach

Colleen Law and David Borden

Peter and Kate Letarte

Sharon and Dick Levick

Karin and Rich Lewis

Susan Rowan Masters

Casey and Marilyn Neuman

Michael Nolan

John and Esther Northman

Barbara Rait

Rodney Schlaffman and Lawrence Greenberg

Joan and Bob Spirtas

Margo Stuart

Matthew Swanson

Suzanne Taub

Sandi and Burt Zucker

The Chautauqua Institution and the Chautauqua Opera Company would like to acknowledge the continuing generosity of the Norton and Richards families through the Ralph and Elizabeth Norton Philanthropic Trust, and the following major donors who have created endowment funds for opera, and support the opera program through annual giving, and through major capital gifts:

The Peggy and Andy Anderson Family Fund for Opera

John E. Anderson Opera Endowment

A Chace & Josephine B Anderson Opera Endow Fund

The Cynthia Auerbach Fund for Opera

Bemus Endowment for Opera

Anne and John Burden Opera Fund

The Ralph E. Miller and Paul E. Cawein Fund for Opera

Chautauqua Opera Endowment Fund

The Chautauqua Opera Guild Endowment

Thomas and Kathleen Clingan Fund for Opera

The Connolly Family Fund For Opera

The John A. and Emily McKnight Corry Opera Fund

The Barbara Baldwin DeFrees Opera Fund

Eleanor C. Eisenmenger

The Walter F. Ferchen Opera Fund

The Eleanor B. Franks Fund for the Opera

Dr. and Mrs. Donald J. Furman

The James and Elisabeth Groninger Fund for Opera

The Jane A. Gross Opera Endowment

The Kay Frantz Israel Fund for Opera

The Mildred Lesenger Fund for Opera

The Kay H. Logan Opera Fund

The Annette Pickens Malvin Memorial Fund for Opera

The Christopher and Susan Martin Opera Fund

The Margaret Clark Mercer Fund for Opera

The Steve Z. and Mary G. Mitchell Family Fund

The Reverend Lloyd V. Moffett Opera Endowment Fund

New York State Council on the Arts

The Robert G. and Lillian Vitanza Ney Family Opera Fund

Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation

Hale and Judy Oliver

The Joseph A. and Anne T. Prezio Opera Endowment Fund

The Richards Family Opera Fund

Mrs. Bartlett Richards

The Molly Rinehart Fund for Opera

The Wadsworth Fund

Charles and Lois Weaver Fund for Opera

Dr. Fred R. Whaley and Helen A. Whaley Fund for Opera

The Robert and Virginia Young Opera Fund

Zemsky Endowment For Opera

Scenery constructed by Local #266 I.A.T.S.E. 

Lighting provided by Advanced Production Group 

Content Advisory: This production includes adult content—including rape and suicidal ideation—and may not be suitable for youth 13 and under.

Unfortunately, the counselors who were scheduled to here tonight are unavailable for this performance. Should anyone wish to call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673, we will provide a private space for you.

Other Resources in CHQ County

Chautauqua County Crisis Helpline
1-800-724-0461
24 Hour Crisis Phone Intervention Information & Referral
Victims of Domestic Violence & Rape Crisis Hotline
1-800-252-8748