GLORY DENIED

The Artistic Team

Composer - Tom Cipullo
Conductor - James Lesniak
Stage Director - *Matthew Haney
Set Designer - Jiahui Shi
Costume Designer - Jason Bray
Lighting Designer - Todd Nonn
Stage Manager - Alex W. Seidel
Prop Master - Johnmichael Bohach

Sets & Costumes created by Pittsburgh Opera

_{+    Pittsburgh Opera debut
*     Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist
**   Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist alumni} 

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• Run time: 1 hour and 18 minutes with no intermission
• Download the Program Book (PDF)
• Understand Every Word: Glory Denied is sung in English, and has English supertitles projected above the stage at all performances
• Parking Downtown: get real-time parking availability
• Audio Description
• Braille Programs available
• Large-Print Programs available

Act I. Captain Thompson (Jim), America’s longest-held prisoner of war, recalls episodes of his nine-year ordeal which include escape attempts, torture, the overwhelming loneliness of five years in solitary confinement, and being forced to sign a propaganda statement. He finds the strength to survive in memories of his family, letters from his wife Alyce about their home and children, and thoughts of his elaborate plans to build his dream house.

Pregnant with their fourth child and only son, Alyce receives the news that Jim’s plane has been shot down. Denied any reliable information about his status or whereabouts, she soon begins a relationship with another man (Harold), eventually moving with him to Massachusetts and telling her children that their father is dead. Alyce refuses to have Jim’s name released to the public as Missing in Action, or inscribed on a P.O.W. bracelet, a popular solidarity symbol at the time, and consults a lawyer in an effort to have her husband legally declared dead. Thompson, in captivity, finds comfort in the 23rd Psalm.

Act II. A number of American P.O.W.s are released and Jim returns home, but the Pentagon honors another man, Everett Alvarez, as the longest-held prisoner. With the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, Jim receives a letter welcoming him back from President Richard Nixon, and suggesting that “some things about America may appear to have changed” since his departure. Alyce greets Jim’s homecoming and confesses her new relationship. She offers to go away if that is what he prefers, but Jim wants to reconcile. He notes how life has changed during his nine year captivity and soon the couple begins to fight with Jim complaining that Alyce is not the wife he left behind. Alyce asserts her independence and describes what her life has been like during his absence. Jim, considered a local hero, is asked to give a sermon at the church where he and Alyce were married, and recalls his idealized family life. But Alyce has moved on.

The years pass and Jim, having suffered a stroke, lives alone, estranged from his family, struggling with all that has occurred.

-From Anchorage Opera

• OperaWire: Pittsburgh Opera To Premiere ‘Glory Denied’
• Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: February Theater Guide
• Hoodline: Best Music Events in Pittsburgh This Week
• The Almanac: What's Happening: Week of February 17 
• Pittsburgh Current: The Chill Issue: 100 Suggestions To Keep You Busy In Pittsburgh This Winter
• The Urban Twist: Q&A: Watch, Listen, and Empathize with Ben Taylor’s Performance in ‘Glory Denied’
• Pittsburgh In The Round: Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist Caitlin Gotimer on Upcoming Production of “Glory Denied”
• NEXTpittsburgh: Top events in Pittsburgh this weekend
• Trib Live: Preview - Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘Glory Denied’ tells POW’s story
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Behind the Curtain, Feb. 19, 2019 - Critic's Choice
• Beaver County Times: 3 more entertainment ideas: Enjoy a jazzy night in Beaver, a moving opera or a flight with the birds
• WQED-FM Voice of the Arts podcasts interviews:
  • Ben Taylor
  • Caitlin Gotimer
  • James Lesniak
  • Matthew Haney
  • Tom Cipullo
  • Tom Philpott
• Trib Live: Entertainment planner: Feb. 21-March 6
• Hoodline: The best performing and visual arts events in Pittsburgh this week
• 90.5 WESA-FM, Pittsburgh's NPR station: Opera Recounts Struggles Of Longest-Held POW And His Family
• Broadway World: Photo Flash: GLORY DENIED at Pittsburgh Opera
• OperaWire: Top 5 Operas To See This Weekend – North America (2/22-24)
• Pittsburgh in the Round: Pittsburgh Opera's Premiere of Glory Denied
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Phantom of the Opera vs. Pittsburgh Opera
• Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: March Theater Guide
• Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: Cool Picks

Older Alyce (Caitlin Gotimer) begins to tell her husband (Older Thompson/Ben Taylor) about decisions she made while he was held captive as a POW in Vietnam for nine years.

A disillusioned Older Thompson (Ben Taylor) recites a litany of ways that America has changed during his nine years as a Prisoner Of War in Vietnam.

Older Thompson (Ben Taylor) recalls how he passed the time during his captivity (Younger Thompson/Terrence Chin Loy) by imagining the dream house he would build upon his release and return home to his wife Younger Alyce (Ashley Fabian).

Older Thompson (Ben Taylor) returns to his boyhood church following his nine years as a Prisoner Of War in Vietnam.

Younger Thompson (Terrence Chin-Loy) recalls happy days with his wife Younger Alyce (Ashley Fabian) before the realities of his imprisonment as a Prisoner of War intrude.

Older Alyce (Caitlin Gotimer) acknowledges that her husband went through hell during his nine years as a Prisoner Of War in the Vietnam War, while pointing out that things weren’t easy on her during that time either.

Younger Alyce (Ashley Fabian) reads a letter she wrote to her husband Jim while he was stationed in Vietnam