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.
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