FULL Orphan Train to Iowa (Kevin Allen) Coralville, Iowa 2022 Rohr Haworth Barruffi Strathearn Barett
Quote from Little Village Magazine: The orphan train was a real system that placed children from places like New York and Boston with rural families in a time before federal programs for orphaned children. According to the Social Welfare History Project, between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 children were moved across the country. The […]
FULL Orphan Train to Iowa (Kevin Allen) Coralville, Iowa 2022 Rohr Haworth Barruffi Strathearn Barett
Video Recording from: YouTube
FULL VIDEO
MORE VIDEO FILES: VIDEOStage Director: Donald Macfarlane
Costume Designer: Sonja Strathearn
Lighting Designer: Jason Lester
MORE VIDEO FILES: VIDEO
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Orphan Train to Iowa - For the Love of Pete
- Composer: Allen Kevin
- Libretto: Ethel Kjaer Barker Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, Coralville, Iowa
- Recorded: June 18, 2022
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Anthony Rohr, Jenny Haworth, Ava Barruffi, Sophia Strathearn, Will Barett, Jeremiah Shobe, Eriq Wolfe, Sarah Hachtman, Tim Fox
- Conductor: Kevin Allen
- Orchestra:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: VIDEO CENTER Media
- Date Published: 2022
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Quote from Little Village Magazine:
The orphan train was a real system that placed children from places like New York and Boston with rural families in a time before federal programs for orphaned children. According to the Social Welfare History Project, between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 children were moved across the country. The concept was invented by Charles Loring Brace, a minister who thought the orphanages were overcrowded and that children would benefit from family life. Brace thought this would be mutually beneficial to families who needed extra hands to tend their farm.
The orphan train was a real system that placed children from places like New York and Boston with rural families in a time before federal programs for orphaned children. According to the Social Welfare History Project, between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 children were moved across the country. The concept was invented by Charles Loring Brace, a minister who thought the orphanages were overcrowded and that children would benefit from family life. Brace thought this would be mutually beneficial to families who needed extra hands to tend their farm.
There are some dark elements of this history, as the families were not vetted by any modern standard and some adoptees were only looking for free labor. Additionally, not all children on the orphan trains were actually orphaned.
The opera touches on these elements. For example, the character Old Man Olson wants to adopt Pete just to have him work, and doesn’t care about him emotionally. The play also shows the sisters Rosie and Iris being separated from each other.
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