Proving Up (2018)

Russell’s story is a surreal and haunting commentary on the American dream as experienced by the Zegners, a fictional family of 1860s homesteaders. This narrative feels newly relevant at this fraught moment in my nation’s history, when people are examining and reevaluating the achievability of the American Dream. The Zegners are a family that does everything “right” and are still undermined by forces beyond their control. These characters have parallels in our contemporary world: a mother who tries to maintain control through domestic order, a father who turns to the bottle under the pressures of supporting a family, children forced to take on responsibilities beyond their years, a lone, deranged man who resorts to violence and destruction. These are ordinary people in an impossible situation, a brutal world where dead children sing, pigs and horses become the audience for one’s deepest secrets, and zombie-like sodbusters wander the desolate prairie. Pushed to the edge by poverty and ultimately undermined by fate, the Zegners’ fixation on “proving up” never wanes.

Washington National Opera, 2018

Artists:

• Conductor - Christopher Rountree
• Director - Alison Moritz
• "Pa" Zegner - Christopher Kenney, baritone
• "Ma" Zegner - Leah Hawkins, soprano
• Miles Zegner - Arnold Livingston Geis, tenor
• Zegner daughters - Madison Leonard, soprano & Allegra De Vita, mezzo-soprano
• Peter Zegner - Timothy Bruno, bass