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Project
Patience & Sarah (1998)
Music by Paula M. Kimper
Libretto by Wende Persons
Based on the novel by Isabel Miller
About Patience & Sarah
Set in Connecticut in the winter of 1816, Patience & Sarah tells the powerful story of two young women who meet, fall in love, and resolve to devote their lives to each other. The artist Patience White, sister to a middle-class Connecticut landowner, and tough-minded, adventurous Sarah Dowling, the daughter of a poor farmer, share a mutual dream of leaving behind their repressive families to go pioneering together. Patience wants to go with Sarah but their families prevent it, so Sarah goes out on the road alone, dressed as a boy and calling herself Sam. She meets Parson Daniel Peel, a book peddler, who invites Sam to travel with him. When the Parson falls in love with Sam, Sarah reveals her true identity and decides to return home. She is reunited with Patience and visits her every day for reading lessons. One day when the women are finally alone Patience’s sister-in-law discovers them in an embrace. Patience’s brother demands that they leave and as the women are about to set sail for Genesee to buy land and make a home together, he gives them his blessing and sees them off. Patience and Sarah, alone together on the boat dock, begin their new life together.
The opera is closely based on Isabel Miller’s 1969 novel, which in turn was inspired by the true story of two 19th-century women, the painter Mary Ann Willson and her companion Miss Brundage. Today Mary Ann Willson is recognized as an outstanding primitive artist; her paintings may be seen in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
Characters:
Patience White
Rachel Dowling
Sarah Dowling
Ma Dowling
Martha White
Edward White
Parson Daniel Peel
Pa Dowling
soprano
soprano
mezzo
mezzo
contralto
tenor
tenor
bass
For more information, please go to www.patienceandsarah.com
About the Creators
 PAULA M. KIMPER
Ms. Kimper's first opera, Patience & Sarah, was commissioned by American Opera Projects and received its world premiere in Lincoln Center Festival '98, with further productions in Denver, and Chicago. The Captivation of Eunice Williams, commissioned by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association of Deerfield, MA, premiered in July 2004 as a part of the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the 1704 attack on Deerfield. Other recent works have been commissioned by Amy Pivar, Richard Daniels, Walt Whitman Project, Washington Shakespeare Company, and the White Barn Theater.
AOP Presentations
July 8, 1998
Commissioned and developed by American Opera Projects, Patience & Sarah premiered on July 8, 1998 in the John Jay College Theater as part of the Lincoln Center Festival 98. The cast for the premiere included Lori Phillips (Patience White), Elaine Valby (Sarah Dowling), Amy Ellen Anderson (Martha White) , John G. Bellemer (Edward White), Laure Meloy (Rachel Dowling), Janet Ellis (Ma Dowling), LeRoy Lehr (Pa Dowling), and Barton Green (Parson Daniel Peel), Steven R. Osgood conducting.
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