LITERATURE + LECTURES

The Houston Seminar presents Dead Man Walking: The Opera.  One Wednesday, January 19, 5:45 p.m., One Thursday, January 20, 7:00 p.m. Location:  Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Avenue, Limited Enrollment.

Wednesday, January 19: Dinner and Dress Rehearsal

Composer Jake Heggie (pictured) will join us for dinner in the library of the Wortham Center; he will talk about Dead Man Walking. Following dinner we will adjourn to the theater for the dress rehearsal.

Thursday, January 20: Artistic Symposium

A panel that includes Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking; Jake Heggie, the composer; Patrick Summers, the music director; Anthony Freud, general director and C.E.O. of Houston Grand Opera; and cast members will discuss Dead Man Walking and perform selections from the opera.

Occurring in the sixth-floor rehearsal room, this symposium is part of a donor preview event to which we have been invited.

Since 1993, Sister Helen Prejean and her memoir, Dead Man Walking, have been covered by major newspapers, periodicals, and television and radio networks, both nationally and internationally. Now that her story has been told in print, on screen and stage, and in opera houses, Sister Prejean looks back on her Dead Man Walking experience in her upcoming book, River of Fire: A Spiritual Journey to Death Row.

Sister Helen Prejean is a Roman Catholic nun of the Congregation of St. Joseph, a leading activist for the abolition of the death penalty, and the founder of Survive, an organization devoted to providing counseling to the families of victims of violence. Her memoir, Dead Man Walking, was nominated for the1993 Pulitzer Prize. In 1998, she was awarded the Pacem Terris Award and is the recipient of numerous other honors and awards.