TREEMONISHA an opera by Scott Joplin

TREEMONISHA creative team: Roland Carter, Music Director; Steve Ray, Stage Director; Jooyong Ahn, Conductor.

TREEMONISHA is a story of triumph of education and enlightenment over superstition and ignorance among the African American population of the Texarkana region of Arkansas in the late 1880s. Perhaps even more interesting is the exploration of the theme of whether men would follow a woman as a political community leader in this time period. Joplin sets these two themes against a musical backdrop of the romantic opera of the early 20th century. Called a "semimiracle" by music historian Gilbert Chase, the score is not ragtime, although it incorporates elements of ragtime among its musical ideas.