STORYVILLE: THE OPERA
Creator & Librettist Tara Wilson Noth
Composer Alphonso Horne
Director & Dramaturg Kimille Howard
RECIPIENTS OF THE 2025 IDEA GRANT AWARD BY
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THE UNTOLD STORY
OF THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN GANGSTERS: THE MADAMS OF STORYVILLE
Unveils a world where predators become prey and power is so fleeting, history forgets it ever existed.
A sweeping, fictionalized account of America’s first legalized red-light district (1897–1917), the opera traces the meteoric rise and brutal fall of New Orleans’ Storyville. Created to contain the city’s vice, the district evolved into a glittering playground of pleasure, corruption, and survival. Ruled by formidable Madams, including Lulu White, Emma Johnson, Hilma Burt and Josie Arlington, they built empires so influential they controlled the city itself. They forged alliances, ignited rivalries, and reshaped the balance of power in a world designed to exclude them. The opera begins at Storyville’s dazzling peak and follows its two-decade reign toward inevitable collapse. As the Federal Government and the Catholic Church demand its closure, bitter rivals must decide: destroy one another, or unite to save their empire.
WATCH BELOW A SNEAK PREVIEW OF AIN'T NOTHING BUT A MAN.
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TEAM
Tara L. Wilson Noth (Librettist) is a writer whose works explore the intersection of power, history, and identity. Her play B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching received a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts grant and premiered at Berkshire Theatre Group, earning critical acclaim and multiple Broadway World Regional Awards. Her series STORYVILLE was a second-round selection for the Sundance Episodic Lab and is now being developed as an opera. www.eggyentertainment.com
Tara L. Wilson Noth
Alphonso Horne (Composer) is a Juilliard-trained trumpeter, composer, and producer who has performed with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, appeared on PBS specials with Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, toured with Rhiannon Giddens, and performed with the Count Basie Orchestra and Rihanna (VMA) . His work bridges jazz, opera, and theatrical storytelling. www.alphonsohorne.com
Alphonso Horne
Kimille Howard (Director & Dramaturg) is a director and writer, Assistant Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera and Artistic Director of the Lucille Lortel NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship. Her recent directing credits include Plantation Black(InterAct), The Oscar Micheaux Project (Prospect Musicals), This Little Light of Mine (Kentucky Opera), The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson (Glimmerglass, WNO, Opera Carolina, Pittsburgh Opera), Sanctuary Road (Virginia Opera), and Treemonisha (OTSL). She is the recipient of OPERA America’s 2023 Robert L. B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. www.kimillehoward.com
Kimille Howard