Calling: An Opera of Forgiveness

A scene from Calling, an opera based on Wickham Boyle's ('72 Heights) 2002 book A Mother's Essays From Ground Zero.


Wickham Boyle is a 1972 School of the Arts at the Heights campus graduate who wrote a book called, A Mother’s Essays From Ground Zero. It is now being transformed into an opera, entitled Calling. Boyle is working with composer Doug Geers and architect Marty Kapell('72 Heights,'75 Tisch). The work utilizes music, drama, and a soaring design to tell the tale of one family’s experience living near Ground Zero and the path they took from chaos to recovery and hope.


"Calling is coming to life with a bevy of volunteers lead by Grace Hartmann-Samson ('09 CAS). We have previewed segments of this edgy adaptation in NYC, Minneapolis and Princeton University, and we open at the famed La Mama Theater in the East Village on September 12, 2008.

To get the feel of this exciting project, take a minute to check out our web site or just view the montage by clicking here.

In our most exuberant moments we envision that – beyond playing to theater audiences – Calling will tour schools nationwide and appear at theater festivals around the world, potentially stimulating diverse and constructive discussions about difference and dissonance in our society.

Calling is utilizing a series of grassroots funding techniques to bring the opera to fruition and hope that many NYU alumni will join us on East Fourth Street and visit us on the web."

- Wickham Boyle,'72 Heights