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Project
SHARON'S GRAVE
An opera by Richard Wargo
Based on the play by John B. Keane
About Sharon's Grave
In Sharon's Grave, a dark comedy based on the play by John B. Keane, family members scheme to inherit the land of a dying patriarch against a backdrop of Irish folklore and legend.
Sharon's Grave is being commissioned and developed in part with a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund, and Meet the Composer, Inc.
Listen to Kevin Burdette performing "Dinzie's Aria" from Sharon's Grave at AOP's 2006 workshop in Brooklyn. Also featuring Robert Hoyt as Jack.
About the creator
 RICHARD WARGO
Richard Wargo is a native of Scranton, PA and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. He has received grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pa. Council on the Arts, as well as a fellowship from the Theatre Communications Group to serve as composer-in-residence at the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, where his opera Ballymore, based on Brian Friel's play "Lovers", was premiered in 1999 and recorded for PBS. Mr. Wargo's opera A Chekhov Trilogy was premiered by Chautauqua Opera in 1993 and since then has received numerous performances, including a recent production of the Trilogy's third segment “The Music Shop” at Juilliard, conducted by Maestro Osgood. During the summer months, Mr. Wargo serves as curator of the Sembrich Opera Museum in Bolton Landing on Lake George, NY.
JOHN B. KEANE
John B. Keane was born in Listowel, Co Kerry in 1928. He published forty-six works, but is best known for his plays which inlcude Sive; Sharon’s Grave; The Man from Clare; The Year of the Hiker; The Field (which was adapted as a film of the same name); Many Young Men of Twenty; Big Maggie; Moll; The Crazy Wall; The Buds of Ballybunion; The Chastitute; and Faoiseamh. His novels are The Bodhran Makers; Durango; The Contractors; A High Meadow. He has published many books of humourous essays and letters, including Letters of a T.D.; Love Bites, and Owl Sandwiches. He has published one book in Irish, Dan Pheadí Aíndí. His biography is Man of the Triple Name. He is a former president of Irish P.E.N., an Honorary Life Member of the Royal Dublin Society, a D.Litt (hon.causa) Trinity College Dublin; Hon. Doc. Fine Arts, Marymount Manhattan College. A founder member of the Society of Irish Playwrights, he was a member of Aosdána. He lived in Listowel, Co Kerry, and died in May 2002. (bio from www.irishwriters-online.com)
AOP Presentations
October 17, 2009
Concert reading of scenes
Belin Arts Gala Concert
Waverly Community House (1115 N. Abington Road, Waverly, PA 18471)
PERFORMANCES BY: Kevin Burdette
May 29-31, 2009
Concert reading of scenes
South Oxford Space, Brooklyn, NY
MUSIC DIRECTION: Steven Osgood
STAGE DIRECTION: Ned Canty
PERFORMANCES BY: Marcus DeLoach, Margaret Peterson
May 28, 2009
AOP Outreach
Music presentation and discussion with composer Richard Wargo
Brooklyn High School of the Performing Arts, Brooklyn, NY
MUSIC DIRECTION: Steven Osgood
STAGE DIRECTION: Ned Canty
PERFORMANCES BY: Marcus DeLoach
June 2 & 3, 2006:
Concert reading of Act One, Scene One
The Great Room (138 South Oxford Space, Brooklyn, NY)
Music Direction by Steven Osgood. Cast: Camille Zamora (Trassie), Kyle Pfortmiller (Peader Minogue), Kevin Burdette (Dinzie), Robert Hoyt (Jack), Chad A. Johnson (Neelus), Amy van Roekel, Anne Graczyk (voices).
April 19 & 20, 2005:
Concert reading of Act One, Scene One
The Great Room (138 South Oxford Space, Brooklyn, NY)
Music Direction by Steven Osgood. Cast: Jody Sheinbaum (Trassie), Marcus DeLoach (Peader Minogue), Charles Temkey (Dinzie), Keith Jameson (Jack).
The composer dedicates performances from Sharon’s Grave to the Keane family of Listowel, Co. Kerry and to the memory of a great Irishman, John B. Keane; 1928-2002. The composer wishes to thank Richard Ford and Dorothy and Harry Danner for sponsoring the first workshop of Sharon's Grave in November, 2004 in Wabash, Indiana. the 2006 workshop of Sharon’s Grave was supported by a Lackawanna County Arts and Cultural Grant, a program of the Lackawanna County Commissioners and the Lackawanna County Council on the Arts.
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