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Joshua’s Boots Program

Joshua’s Boots

An Opera for Young People

Music by Adolphus C. Hailstork

Libretto by Susan Kander

Cast

Joshua: Michael Breaux

Sallie, Mama: Angel Love*

Geezer/Frank/Captain Pershing/Cookie: James Stevens*

Charlie: Andrew Johnson Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville

Lucinda: Anna Edwards Webster University

Miss Pearl/Chorus: Emma Wittenauer Webster University

Abraham: Jaron Bentley Homeschool

Sarah: Nadia Curtiss Missouri Online Connections Academy

Frederick: Sam Hawkins University of Missouri – St. Louis

Natty Green: Ricco Martin Jr. John Burroughs School

Henry: Kayden Brooks^ Francis Howell North High School

Cowboy Joe: Cameron Hadley Fort Zumwalt North High School

Cowboy Jack: Thomas Chatman^ STEAM Academy at McCluer South Berkeley

Cowboys

Lachlan Bell Ladue Middle School

Kayden Brooks^ Francis Howell North High School

Elliot Davisson^ Triad High School

Éamon Ewing Clayton High School

Kameron Henry Acellus Academy

Ricco Martin Jr. John Burroughs School

Grayson Ritson Online Academy

Chorus

Jude Fernandez* Webster University

Ava Hettenhausen* Webster University

Archer McGrosso University of Missouri – St. Louis

Eesha Ved Webster University

*Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training alumni

^current Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training student

Production Team

Stage Manager: Carolyn Carter

Assistant Stage Manager: Emma Fletcher

Costume Shop Manager: Stacy Harris

Production Manager: Maggy Bort

Technical Director: Jack Rushen

Video Engineer: Garrett Barati

Production Electrician: Jonathan Scully

Head of Wardrobe & Assistant Costume Shop Manager: Spencer Lawton

Sound Board Operator: Justin Foster

Wardrobe: Dekylah Epps

Wardrobe: Lucia Sanchez Solis

Student Costume Assistant: Raina Bentley

Creative Team

Stage Director: Adam Flores

Conductor: Stephen Mager

Associate Music Director: Jonathan Heaney

Youth Music Director & Artistic Advisor: Phil Woodmore

Lighting Designer: Jayson Lawshee-Gress

Costume Designer: Ange’lique Newbauer

Video Designer: Kylee Loera

Video Designer: David Sajewich

Props Manager: Daniel Henke, II

Choreographer: Giac Noelle

Orchestra

Violin: Gabriel Schmiedeke

Cello: Olivia Edwards

Flute: Lily Ragan

Clarinet: Jake Philipak

Percussion: Cameron Merz

Piano: Jonathan Heaney

OTSL Leadership

General Director: Andrew Jorgensen

Artistic Director: Patricia Racette

Principal Conductor: Daniela Candillari

Director of Education & Engagement: Allison Felter

Director of Artistic Administration: Yvette Loynaz

Director of Marketing & Public Relations: Anh Le

Director of Production & Operations: Steve Ryan

Synopsis

Set in 1878, Joshua’s Boots tells the inspiring story of a young Black man’s journey from tragedy and injustice to belonging, purpose, and independence in the American West.

In rural Tennessee during post-Civil War Reconstruction, Mama, Sarah, and Abraham wait for Joshua and Paw in their humble home as smoke rises from town. Joshua bursts in, hysterical, saying white men attacked Paw out of envy over his thriving harness business. The men wrecked and burned the shop before lynching Paw. Joshua is forced to flee for his own safety after defending himself against the attackers. Mama advises Joshua to go to Kansas, the Promised Land for Black people from the South.

Joshua sets out barefoot for Kansas, meets fellow runaway Natty Green, and hops a westbound train. They arrive at Sallie Fingers’ Saloon in Dodge City, where they meet many colorful characters: Captain Pershing of the Buffalo Soldiers; Charlie, a smiling cowboy with brand-new boots; and Cookie, the grizzled cook for the Diamond T cattle drive.

Natty Green joins the Buffalo Soldiers; Joshua is drawn to cowboy life. Cookie agrees to introduce him to the Trail Boss, Frederick, a former Confederate who scoffs at the idea of Black cowboys. Frederick tests Joshua by asking him to mount a vicious horse; Joshua rides skillfully, impressing everyone.

Frederick reluctantly hires Joshua as a cowboy, but three months in, he still treats Joshua unfairly. During a stampede, Joshua heroically saves Frederick, who refuses to thank him. Cookie confronts Frederick about his post-War attitude, criticizing him and boosting Joshua’s confidence. When the cattle drive finishes in Dodge City, Joshua’s hard work pays off. Frederick finally thanks him, promotes him to cowboy, and offers Joshua five spring calves so he can start his own herd. Cookie praises Frederick for adopting a new attitude and accepting Joshua. Everyone celebrates at Sallie Fingers’ Saloon as Joshua begins his bright new future.

A Note from Allison Felter, OTSL’s Director of Education & Engagement

The journey of Joshua’s Boots began nearly two decades ago at a teachers’ workshop, where I first encountered the remarkable stories of the Exodusters and Black cowboys. Believing the topic was compelling for a young people’s opera, I brought the idea to Opera Theatre leadership, including then-General Director Charles MacKay and then-Artistic Director Colin Graham. Soon after, colleagues at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City joined as a co-commissioning partner, librettist Susan Kander and composer Adolphus Hailstork were paired, and, as great collaborators will do, a new opera was born. One unforgettable moment came during a now-legendary “kitchen audition” at Opera Theatre. When composer Adolphus Hailstork and Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training graduate and Gerdine Young Artist Jermaine Smith found themselves at the company on the same day, Hailstork asked to hear the young baritone sing. Standing in Opera Theatre’s kitchen, he listened as Smith vocalized and explored his range, gaining a firsthand understanding of his voice. That spontaneous session proved invaluable, helping Hailstork shape the title role of Joshua’s Boots specifically for Smith, who would go on to create the role of Joshua in the opera’s world premiere.

The opera premiered at COCA’s former theater in 1999, then traveled to Kansas City, and, over the years, has been performed across the country, sharing an important but often overlooked chapter of American history. Today, Joshua’s Boots returns to St. Louis for OTSL’s third production. We could not be more thrilled to co-produce the work with COCA and to welcome it home to the Catherine B. Berges Theatre. What began as a simple idea in a teachers’ workshop has become an established work in the operatic canon for young people. Joshua’s Boots continues to educate, inspire, and connect audiences with great stories and great art.

A Note from Adam Flores, Stage Director

Opera Theatre taking on this project once again is a blessing. Telling a story of marginalized people in a historical context is essential. America’s founding promised the opportunity for people to find a place for survival and growth. Hard work hasn’t always guaranteed acceptance or survival, but there have been moments where that promise felt true. This story is about those who willed the American promise to be true. These students are sharing their immeasurable talents as part of a lineage of diverse artists, showing that they can make America better. We’re blessed to see these young artists shine in a way that will make this country better. Change is hard, and when change comes, it is young people’s voices we must listen to. 

Creative Team Bios

Adolphus Hailstork (Composer)

Adolphus Hailstork is one of America’s most celebrated contemporary composers, with a career spanning more than five decades. His music, which includes orchestral, choral, chamber, concert band, instrumental, and operatic works, draws on both African American musical traditions and the broader classical canon. Educated at Howard University, the Manhattan School of Music, the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, and Michigan State University, Hailstork has become a leading voice in American classical music.

His works have been performed by major ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. One of his most notable operatic works, Joshua’s Boots, was commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Lyric Opera of Kansas City and premiered in 1999. A dedicated educator as well as composer, Hailstork has taught at several universities and received prestigious honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship and designation as a Cultural Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mr. Hailstork continues to add compositions to his already impressive body of work.

Susan Kander (Librettist)

Both a librettist and composer, Susan Kander’s works have been heard across the United States and around the world including London, Paris, Mexico City, Lima, Birmingham, British Columbia, Capetown, St. Petersburg and Guangzhou. Commissioners include the National Symphony Orchestra, Opera Minnesota, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Columbus Opera, Southampton Chamber Music Festival, the Copland Fund/Boosey and Hawkes, the Grammy Award-winning Kansas City Chorale, the Columbia Foundation, and a variety of instrumentalists and ensembles.

Her chamber music has been recorded on the MSR, Navonna, and Loose Cans labels. She received her BA in Music from Harvard University in 1979, then side-stepped into 15 years as a playwright before coming home to music. After a 20-year career, she decided to blow things up, entering graduate school in composition in 2015 at Purchase Conservatory where she studied with Huang Ruo and Du Yun, earning an MM in Composition in 2017. She is also a MacDowell Colony Fellow.

Adam Flores (Stage Director)

Adam Flores was raised in a small town in the middle of Missouri by a special education teacher and a Mexican immigrant in the Air Force. After completing his undergraduate studies at Fontbonne University, he taught theater in the Parkway School District while beginning his professional theater career in the St. Louis scene, which included being a founding member of the Mustardseed Theatre, an inter-faith theater company. While getting his MFA in Directing at Baylor University, he focused his studies on storytelling as a means of Community Engagement.

After returning to St. Louis to teach at his alma mater, he immediately began doing community-engaged artmaking, working on projects with the Bosnian-American community and in the direct aftermath of the Ferguson movement. He then left academia to become the Manager of Community Engagement and Education at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, where he led the Shakespeare in the Streets program, the region’s premier theater-based community engagement program. He also shepherded the TourCo program into public parks and spaces across the region, broadening the diversity of audiences reached by the program.

He continues engaging the community by sitting on diverse boards and advisory committees and continuing his artistic practice as a director, actor, and producer. He is currently Visiting Professor of Theatre at Blackburn College, a Facilitator for the Gephardt Institute for Civic Change and Community Engagement, and a teacher at both Campfire and COCA. He would love to help you tell new stories or hear stories of our remarkable community in St. Louis. 

Dr. Stephen Mager (Conductor)

Stephen Mager conducted the premiere production of Adolphus Hailstork’s Joshua’s Boots in 1999. In addition, he has conducted many other education outreach performances for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. His opera, Dream of the Pacific, was commissioned by OTSL for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition (2004), and subsequently produced by Opera Omaha (2005), the Lyric Opera of Kansas City (2005), and the Washington National Opera (2006), where he worked with performers from the Placido Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Millenium Stage of the Kennedy Center and at the Smithsonian Institution.

He holds a Doctor of Music degree in choral conducting from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he also completed his master’s studies. Dr. Mager served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Masterworks Chorale of Southern Illinois, 2009-2024; and the Masterworks Children’s Choruses, 1989-2000. An active composer, Dr. Mager’s works have been performed by such distinguished ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus; VocalEssence, Minne­sota; and the Dallas Symphony Chorus. He served as composer-in-residence for the Bach Society of Saint Louis (2004-2021). Dr. Mager’s publishers include Oxford University Press and MorningStar Music.

Dr. Philip A. Woodmore (Youth Music Director and Artistic Advisor)

Dr. Woodmore has been an active member of the St. Louis music community for many years. He spent 14 years in the classroom teaching middle school choir at Ferguson and Berkeley Middle Schools in the Ferguson Florissant School District and Crestview Middle School in the Rockwood School District. He is a vocal coach to many students in the St. Louis area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and New York. In 2007, Dr. Woodmore worked with his then-supervisor, Shawna Flanigan, on building a robust music department at COCA and developing his own curriculum to train St. Louis singers in voice through the lens of musical theater. Dr. Woodmore also founded the Allegro Music Company in 2008 and was the music director for all summer musicals from 2004–2017. Dr. Woodmore spent several years at COCA training young singers from ages 6–20 and had a passion for taking young artists into the community to perform. During his tenure he took students all over St. Louis for performance opportunities and even traveled with students to New York to perform in the Lincoln Center. 

In August 2016, he was asked to compose an original score of a version of Antigone, translated by Bryan Doerries, called Antigone in Ferguson, which has been traveling the country for the past seven years and had an Off-Broadway run from 2018–2019. Dr. Woodmore has written three full length musicals since then, two of which have been performed in New York and many venues across the country. Last year he ventured on his own to create a project surrounding the topic of mental health, specifically in communities of color, and has created a brand-new musical called Team M which he hopes to premiere in St. Louis in 2024. Dr. Woodmore earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing and Music, with a concentration in Vocal Performance, from Saint Louis University; a master’s degree in Music Education from Webster University; and a PhD in Music Education from the University of Missouri – Columbia with a concentration in choral conducting and voice pedagogy. His dissertation is on the transformative power of music.

Jonathan Heaney (Associate Music Director)

Jonathan Heaney is a pianist and vocal coach based in St. Louis, MO. He frequently works with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, recently joining them as a repetiteur for their 2025 Festival Season, the New Works Collective, and many concerts and educational programs. He also performs regularly with Union Avenue Opera and Winter Opera St. Louis.

A passionate teacher, he works as a coach for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training Program, in addition to his private coaching. Prior to his time in St. Louis, he was based in New York City, with professional affiliations including The Juilliard School, On Site Opera, Manhattan School of Music, Seagle Festival, and Brevard Music Center.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Washington University in St. Louis, and his master’s degree in vocal accompanying from Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Warren Jones.

Principal Cast Bios

Michael Breaux (Joshua)

Michael Breaux is a 21-year-old baritone and junior voice student at the University of Houston, where he studies under Cynthia Clayton. He has quickly established himself as an emerging young artist with experience in both principal and ensemble operatic performance.

Recent credits include Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at Angelo State University and appearances as an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, where he performed in the opera chorus across multiple productions.

Breaux is an alumnus of Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy (YAVA) and was a finalist in the 2025 Meistersinger Competition at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. He continues to refine his artistry while pursuing a career dedicated to expressive storytelling and musical excellence.

Angel Love (Mama, Sallie Fingers)

Angel Love, a native of Belleville, Illinois, is a soprano celebrated for her radiant stage presence, expressive artistry, and rich vocal color. She began her classical music training as a 2011-2014 Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training student with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where her passion for opera and classical music first took flight.

Angel has been recognized as a 2020 Emerging Artist with Boston Court Pasadena, a 2021 Resident Artist with Indianapolis Opera, a 2020–21 Gerdine Young Artist and 2021–22 Gaddes Festival Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she made her mainstage debut as Papagena in The Magic Flute. Most recently, she performed as a 2025–26 Principal Artist with Arts & Faith St. Louis’ Touring Concert Series, bringing inspiring performances to audiences throughout the region. She is also a former Steward Endowed Artist and current recipient of the Thelma Steward Endowed Artist Alumni Award.

Angel earned her Bachelor of Music from DePauw University and her Master of Music from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Away from the stage, she is a devoted wife, proud mother, and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, where she supports the organization’s mission of scholarship, service, and social justice.

James Stevens (Cookie, Captain Pershing, Geezer, and Frank)

Praised for his “focused, suave tenor [which] was well suited to the assignment” (Opera Today), and for “possessing a clarion voice” and “appropriately stealing every scene he was in” (OperaWire), tenor James Stevens is quickly establishing himself as a sought-after artist across the United States.

Recent operatic highlights include appearances with Opera Maine as Paul in Gregory Spears’ Paul’s Case, Lorenzo in Auber’s Fra Diavolo with Pacific Opera Project,and with Union Avenue Opera as Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, where Broadway World noted he “nearly stole the show” with a voice that “soared in Britten’s vocal writing.” Other recent performances include Thespis in Rameau’s Platé, Léon in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versaille, Alfred in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Henrick in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. An alumnus of the Bayer Fund Artists-in-Training program, James has appeared with companies such as Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chautauqua Opera, and many others across the country.

Special Thanks

Department of Music at the University of Missouri – St. Louis

Dr. Bethany Worrell, Dr. David Wacyk, Professor Matthew Henry

E. Desmond Lee Fine Arts Collaborative

Boniface Foundation

Jenni Ryan, Missouri Arts Council

Dr. Vincent Flewellen

Joshua’s Boots is made possible in part by the Saigh Foundation. 

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is funded in part by the Missouri Arts Council and the Regional Arts Commission. Opera Theatre gratefully acknowledges Webster University for its sustaining partnership.