>> Some lesser known black female heroes are taking center stage in a new opera called she who dared it spotlights.

The women who challenged segregation in Montgomery telling the story with the use of classical music and gospel jazz and the blues audiences can see the show starting next week at Chicago Opera Theater.

And joining us now with more on what to expect our composer of she who dare Jasmine aerial Barnes.

Deborah, Deep Mouton, the opera's librettist and Jasmine have a sham who plays the role of Claudette.

Colvin, thanks to all of you for joining us.

So we all know the story, of course, of Rosa Parks who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man.

But there are many other women who did similar work.

Sometimes some of them even before parks.

Deborah Jeane Moos don't want to start with you, please.

Who are some of these women?

Absolutely.

So we center on 7 women.

It's kind of starting with cloud it cold in being the one who 9 months before Rosa took the seat.

>> Then a real your Browder says McDonald Mary Louise Smith.

And I'm always missing when SHES a whose >> that's Okay.

Yeah.

I want you playing.

Yeah.

Got eyes on her first.

But we also wanted to expand.

Think about the people who are making a really big waves in the movement at the time.

So Joe Anne Robinson joins the cast.

>> As well as we do have some male roles that are played by female characters.

Lawyer Fred Gray, a police officer, things like that.

The kind of round out the cast everything that Reese's well as for their attention and reason given our respect to her, Debra, you also have a familial tie.

What inspired you to write the story?

Yeah.

My mom told me that I had a cousin that sat on the bus before Rosa, very flippantly one holiday.

And I was like You can't just drop that might give you any of the information.

But I started to dig in and found a real your Browder who has my mother's surname and grew up about an hour from a migrant.

My mother grew up in Alabama.

>> And started doing ties.

I'm not exactly sure where it all kind of fills in together, but there definitely is a really, really strong tie and thinking about how that heritage is an extension of kind of the women who I know in my family in the ways that they move.

That's amazing to kind of find out like the ways that they were each connected or that you need to find your own family connection.

Jasmine have ashamed.

You portray cloud of COVID as we mentioned.

What was it like preparing for this role?

>> Oh, my gosh.

You know, preparing for any role.

I like to do a lot of research and >> this I have to say was kind of hard because there wasn't much research about her in general, which is, again, why doing this offering the first place.

But in terms of developing the character and and trying to figure out who she is.

Again, there's such a wonderful libretto as well as I had some books to read.

Also went to the so writes, Museum and Birmingham and got to kind of deal to know what the moon in the feeling and what all these women went through.

And it was really fascinating to do that because I happen to be on a gig in Birmingham and I was like, OK, didn't exactly work exactly.

So I went to the 60 Baptist Church and even those things, you know, they were different points of the timeline.

It was amazing to see from the beginning of the boycott in Montgomery and how it led to those major other events that happened.

So I took a lot of my information from the air and turns of developing the character.

But it's it's been a pleasure to do.

And 2 Jasmine Barnes.

So you endeavor, of course, you all you can working on this show a while ago back in 2022.

But of course, it always relevant.

>> Because as we know last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order called restoring a quality of opportunity and meritocracy.

It seeks to cut back on the disparate impact liability, which is a core principle of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Did you anticipate that she who dared would be so relevant today?

not at I unfortunately, history continues to repeat itself.

And so there's always a space of relevance for history, especially black history in this country, which often raised, often forgotten, often left out of the the fuller picture of America's history.

But we didn't know how relevant it would be.

But Lake.

It now it just feels like, yes, it had to happen.

Now.

It had to happen in 2025. and there is a bit of fear in the class will community around putting these kinds of works out into the public, not for their own personal reputation, but more so just fear of the government right now.

And I think that is the stance for a lot of organizations and institutions it feels good to be like the resistance in prison.

This because in the arts have been on the chopping block and administration as well.

We know and we don't often see black history focused operas.

Debra, why did you think opera is is the right medium for the story?

Why not just start off as a opera singer?

And I came in kind of with a little bit of a classical music background really thinking about this space is one that a friend of mine says is ripe for revolution, right?

We've seen many black singers from, you know, Jesse Norman, to.

>> To Marian Anderson, right, come to the spaces and really start to break down and change how things are done.

But that's not necessarily always culturally how we talk about this space.

>> And so I think it kind of just felt like the first perfect fit to think about how music and especially Americana music.

I'm really plays a space to be able to provide spaces for classical music and black stories jazz.

And Barnes are also working with decomposed, which is Chicago's Black Chamber Music Collective.

Tell us about why they're the right fit for this story also.

Oh, my goodness.

The first orchestral reading last week walking in and seeing.

>> The room look exactly like that.

So.

>> And this is be honest.

Even for the cast working the Look like you is something that's not fully experience all the time.

The classical music and were often one or 2 people in the room to have the whole room.

The that is is exciting.

And they're not just there because they're black.

You know they're because they're amazingly talented, best best from the cast, too.

>> The instrumentalists I mean, literally in the country.

And I think in the world you know, I think also something that's really special to Chicago to.

Chicago has a wealth of classical musicians.

And I'm not sure that everyone knows that.

But like Chicago is just that place?

Okay.

And and we're really happy to present this work because we get to work with artists like better in decomposed and but even expanded the orchestra for this production because normally they perform as a quartet or point it.

And this time they are performing with everything we need protection, wind, wind instruments Florida to meet the needs of opera.

We've actually had the executive director decompose on the show along with Camilla would several weeks ago.

So happy to give them another shout doesn't have And you are a Macon, Georgia needed.

So how does it feel to be able to portray, you know, such an important history of the American South?

>> As a southerner, yourself, got to do probably, you know, something I think is really amazing about clawed its character is hurt.

>> Her strength and resilience to be smart and and bold as a character.

And I also think people have this really wrong connotation about people in the south that were uneducated where, you lazy, all these things.

And I feel like for breaks down a lot of those barriers in terms of.

Understanding each one of these women had something to fight for no matter their station or education.

I'm very proud to, you know, live in the south and in and I want people to understand the beauty of how grounding it is to be there and also talk about the issues that there's some really deep, incredibly racist deep routes that are still hunting U.S. today.

I feel proud to represent it.

Fellow southerner, I'm looking forward try to share the story excited to hear about it.

So that's what we'll have to leave it.

My thanks to Jasmine aerial Barnes tempered even