It’s New Year’s Eve in Chicago, 1919. Just before the stroke of midnight, an anonymous woman leaps from the rooftop of a downtown hotel. The next morning, a young reporter named Abigail lands her first major story assignment: uncovering the identity of this mysterious jumper. The deeper Abigail descends into the complexity of Jane Doe’s story, the closer she comes to unearthing her own personal truth.
Notes from the Creators…

Channel your best 1920s intrepid reporter and join us for The Transformation of Jane Doe, a new American opera by Stacy Garrop and Jerre Dye! COT kicks off their digital season with some major milestones, including the first-ever Vanguard Opera – commissioned and developed entirely through COT’s Emerging Opera Composer Residency. This fast-paced mystery is teeming with Chicago-based star power, and was created with mentorship from Staley Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya, 19/20 Vanguard Resident Dramaturg Kate Pitt, and Vanguard Composer Mentor Jake Heggie. Tickets are just $20 at cot.org/janedoe and curtain is at 7:30pm September 15th via Valhalla Media Live. This streamed performance will be available for 24 hours after the live stream begins.

What’s cool about this show?

• Librettist Jerre Dye drew inspiration from a famous ghost story about Chicago’s Drake Hotel, in which a woman in red threw herself off the roof on New Year’s Eve in 1920 – and has haunted the hotel ever since

• The character of Abigail was inspired by Barbara Stanwyck, a famous film actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age

• Chicago has a rich history of American magic shows and vaudeville, which are showcased in the opera