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Revival of The Bread & Roses Opera premiers at the Minor Latham Playhouse, Barnard College Oct. 27, led by original director Denny Partridge

New York, N.Y. -- The Barnard College Department of Theater will present The Bread & Roses Opera, October 27-29 and November 3-4 in the Minor Latham Playhouse, Milbank Hall, Broadway at 117th Street.

The Bread & Roses Opera is a love story with music, set in the great Lawrence, Mass. textile strike of 1912. Its score is based directly on Mozart's Don Giovanni, and its story reflects that of the legendary seducer, only with immigrant workers, organizers and strikebreakers as its cast of characters.

The play was written by Steve Friedman for Modern Times Theater in 1980 and had a twice-extended Off-Broadway run that year and the next, as well as an official performance in the city of Lawrence at the invitation of the mayor, a son of mill workers. Barnard's revival of the show is directed by Theater Department Chair Denny Partridge, who was its original director 20 years ago. Playwright Friedman, also a current Barnard faculty member, has added several new songs for this production.

The Bread & Roses Opera, with a cast of Barnard and Columbia students, features live piano accompaniment by Music Director Mimi Stern-Wolfe, the founder of Downtown Music Productions. The score includes original music based on Mozart by Gene Glickman and Mike Shen, and the classic labor song "Bread and Roses", which originated in the Lawrence strike.

The show will also feature period costumes designed by Holly Hummel and Arden Kirkland, an operatic set design by Erik Flatmo, and lighting by Harry Rosenblum. The set's centerpiece is a backdrop based on a painting by the late American artist Ralph Fasanella, who accompanied The Bread & Roses Opera on its trip to Lawrence in 1981. This revival is dedicated to him.

• Performances of The Bread & Roses Opera are at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, October 27-28 and November 3-4, with a special free student show on Thursday, November 2 at 6:45 p.m. There will be one Sunday matinee, on October 29 at 3 p.m.
  
  
• Tickets are $5 with Columbia ID and $8 general admission. Reservations are recommended and will be held at the box office until a half an hour before performance. The box office will open an hour before performance.
  
  
• For reservations and information call the box office 212-854-5638.

Contact: Denny Partridge or Katherine Kavanagh, Theater Department, 212- 854-2080 Petra Tuomi, Public Affairs, 212-854-7907