Opera, starring baritone Michael Mayes. The production, created by director Tomer Zvulun, traveled to The Atlanta Opera in March 2019, where it was performed by an all star cast, including Jamie Barton, Michael Mayes, Maria Zifchak, Jay Hunter Morris, Kevin Burdette and Karen Slack. A production starring J'Nai Bridges and Dan Okulitch was created for the inaugural Vancouver Opera Festival in 2017, directed by Joel Ivany, and remounted at Minnesota Opera in 2018. It was the first time that Sister Helen Prejean was presented by a woman of color. Opera Delaware performed Dead Man Walking as part as their 2019 Festival. The opera made its Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in November 2019, starring Ryan McKinny, Patricia Racette, and Susan Graham (who had played Sister Helen at the San Francisco premiere, but here played Mrs. De Rocher). The production was favorably received. The opera was performed at the Israeli Opera in December 2019, in the same production by Tomer Zvulun. It feature Mayes and Zifchak, as well as the role debut of Maya Lahyani. A production staged by Ivo van Hove was supposed to be presented at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2020-21 season, but was postponed following the cancellation of the entire season due to COVID-19. The Metropolitan Opera has since slated the production for 2023. Roles Synopsis Place: Louisiana Time: 1980s Prologue: A teenage boy and a teenage girl are parked near a secluded lake at night, on a date. They have the radio on in their car, and are making out to its music. The De Rocher brothers, hiding nearby, emerge from the shadows, quietly. One turns the radio off; the two brothers attack the teens. Anthony grabs the boy, who begins struggling; Joseph attacks the girl and begins to rape her. The boy continues struggling until Anthony shoots him once, at the base of the skull, execution-style; this causes the girl to scream. In a panic, Joseph stabs her until she is silent. Act 1 Scene 1: Hope House, Sister Helen's mission, run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille Sister Helen, with the aid of some of the other sisters, is teaching the children a hymn; this hymn, "He Will Gather Us Around", becomes Helen's leitmotif during the course of the opera. After the children leave, Helen reveals to her colleagues that she has heard from an inmate on death row with whom she