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Prototype: An opera festival that earns its name


Last updated July 23, 2018

By Tina Underwood

Known for addressing more daring themes, the New York City festival Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now, will present its seventh season Jan. 5-13, 2019. The New York Times reports that among the operas earning a spot in the festival is Frances “Katie” Pollock’s “Stinney: An American Execution.” Pollock, a 2012 Furman University music theory and composition alumna, studied with Furman music professor and composer Mark Kilstofte.

“Stinney” first won critical acclaim after being produced and staged in 2015 with the assistance of the Johns Hopkins’ Peabody Institute in Baltimore where Pollock received her master’s in voice. The opera tells the story of 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. who in 1944 was accused, tried and convicted of killing two young girls in South Carolina. He became the youngest person to be executed in the 20th century. 70 years later, he was exonerated.

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