THE DIFFICULTY OF CROSSING A FIELD

A slave owner in the pre-civil war American South walks across his field and disappears, in plain view of his family, his neighbors and his slaves, forever altering the relationships among them. Everyone around him has his or her own sharp view of what that disappearance means, of why it had to happen, and of what will happen now that there is a ‘hole’ where a man used to be. Based on a short story by the writer Ambrose Bierce, the difficulty of crossing a field.

Bracingly Innovative
The New York Times
Poised to place cutting-edge opera center stage
Opera News
Suddenly Indispensable
The New Yorker
Suddenly Indispensable
The New Yorker
A Modern Day Diaghilev
The Wall Street Journal
The Difficulty of Crossing a Field is a major contribution to American Musical Theater...This astonishing work must not be allowed to vanish into thin air. I know I can't get it out of my head.
The Los Angeles Times

Creative Team

COMPOSER — DAVID LANG
LIBRETTIST — MAC WELLMAN
DIRECTOR — BOB MCGRATH
CONDUCTOR — DOUGLAS KINNEY FROST
PROJECTIONS — LAURIE OLINDER
WITH FILM BY — BILL MORRISON
SET DESIGN — JIM FINDLAY