Theater News

John Conklin, Risë Stevens, et al. to Receive NEA Opera Honors

John Conklin
John Conklin

Stage designer John Conklin and singer Risë Stevens, along with general director Speight Jenkins, and composer Robert Ward will receive NEA Opera Honors at a ceremony to be held on Thursday, October 27 at 7:30pm in Washington, DC. The event will be broadcast through a live webcast and also archived online for viewing after the event concludes.


The ceremony, which will include performances by Lawrence Brownlee and Heather Johnson, along with an onstage conversation with the honorees, launches National Opera Week.

Conklin’s Broadway credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, Awake and Sing!, The Philadelphia Story, Bully, Rex, and Lorelei. In addition, he has designed for productions at the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera; Glimmerglass Opera; Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Santa Fe Opera; and Seattle Opera.


Stevens’ career includes early appearances in Prague and at the Vienna State Opera in the 1930s, film work such as The Chocolate Soldier and Going My Way, and later stage appearances at companies such as the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Music Theatre, where she performed The King and I in 1964.

The NEA Opera Honors recognizes outstanding artists for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the excellence and perpetuation of opera in America.


For more information, click here.