The ambitious new production from Vanderbilt Opera Theater, Alice Tierney, features four modern-day archaeology students as they excavate the site of a 19th-century brothel. They uncover not just artifacts but competing ideas of the woman who once lived there and died under mysterious circumstances.
Featuring a genre-blending score of opera, musical theatre, and pop, Alice Tierney invites you to question how stories are told, who gets to tell them, and how we shape the past through the lens of the present.
We caught up with VOT stage director Gayle Shay to learn more about this upcoming production.
How was Alice Tierney selected to be the new VOT program?
Part of our curriculum for VOT is to give students an opportunity to perform a newly-composed opera (within the last 5-7 years) in a contemporary idiom. We are always looking for shows wherein the composer and librettist are still living.
This year, I ran across Alice Tierney, a one-act play by Melissa Dunphy, via an online performance notice from Oberlin Conservatory (for whom it was commissioned) and it seemed to check all of the boxes. Jennifer McGuire and I listened to the opera and really connected with both the story and the music. We felt that it would challenge our students while still being accessible, and it was an important, timely story.
What will the production look like and how big is the cast?
The cast includes seven people, six women and one man. While the cast is small, it will be a full production in Ingram Hall with a set, costumes, lighting, etc. It is important in our curriculum that at least one of the shows we do every year is done in full production in Ingram to give our students a chance to experience that kind of work. The set will mirror the location, which is an archaeological dig in the basement of a 19th century Philadelphia home. However, there are some “ethereal” elements to the story so not everything will be as it seems.
What do you hope audiences take away from Alice Tierney?
I hope the audience will walk away reflecting on their own lives, and how we all layer our own experience and opinions on to others, fairly or unfairly. And how that layering can have significant consequences.
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Vanderbilt Opera Theater presents Alice Tierney
Friday / Saturday, October 3-4, 2025, 7:30 p.m., Ingram Hall
Reserve Tickets
Content Warning: This production includes strong language, adult themes, and mature content. It is recommended for persons 18 and older. Discretion is advised.
Alice Tierney Cast:
Alice One – Polly Vaillant
Alice Two – Paula San Antonio
Alice Three – Marudy Mugaverel
Quinn – Emelia Bailey
Zandra – Paityn Taylor-Gunter
Lyra – Maura Kahuda
John – Caleb Brock
Stage Director: Gayle Shay
Music Director: Jennifer McGuire