CLOSED
"From the first scene, one notices an eclectic, yet fully cohesive, collage of stylistic elements in the production…a lovely and evocative evening’s entertainment. There is an aching and yearning grapple with impossibility saturating the piece."
-Max Garner, Maryland Theatre Guide
Photos by Katie Simmons-Barth
"Musically, the highlight of the performance belongs to Hernandez in 'Comrades.' Bryant, in turn, shines in 'Yours Forever.' Both artists are fine actors and wonderful vocalists."
-Max Garner, Maryland Theatre Guide
Scene One: Grammar Lessons
Scene Two: Comrades
Scene Three: Bedfellows (Excerpt)
Scene Five: The Fatal First (Excerpt)
Scene Five: The Fatal First (Excerpt)
Scene Six: Yours Forever (Excerpt)
Scene Eight: Who Could Resist Him (Excerpt)
Epilogue: And That Night I Was Happy (Excerpt)
"It is Alexander’s most inventive composition...a melancholic and brooding presentation of melodic and psychic descent."
-Max Garner, Maryland Theatre Guide
About the opera
The intimate male relationships of Abraham Lincoln have been under the scholar’s microscope
for decades with many proposing the idea that these relationships went beyond basic friendships. Quarry Theatre’s original chamber opera Yours Forever, Lincoln aims to spark discussions around the history of sexuality, American revisionist history, and the importance of LGBTQAI+ visibility.
A compilation of original text, historical first-person accounts, letters and poetry by Lincoln, and Queer-themed poetry by Walt Whitman and Lord Byron, Yours Forever, Lincoln explores the beauty of ambiguity, sexuality as a spectrum, and the men who helped shape one of the most iconic leaders in American history.
"Lincoln has a mythological status in American culture and the realization that even an icon’s
history can be erased inspired me to tell this story,” says Patrick Alexander, composer and
co-librettist for the new opera, Yours Forever, Lincoln. “I hope other LGBTQAI+ people, upon
experiencing this opera, will also feel seen."
Yours Forever, Lincoln premiered at The Voxel in Baltimore, MD and ran from October 21-29, 2022.
Creators
Music by Patrick Alexander
Libretto by Laura Holland and Patrick Alexander
Cast
Abraham Lincoln: Gabriel Hernandez
Billy Greene/Joshua Speed/Elmer Ellsworth/David Derickson: Zachary Bryant
The Biographer: Joshua Poole
Production Staff
Conducted by Christopher Cicconi
Directed by Ryan Clark
Costume Design by Wil Crowther
Set Design by Christopher Crostic
Lighting Design by JR Schroyer
Graphic Design by Samina Vieth
funded in part by
Scroll through our program above for dramaturgical notes, bios, notes by the production staff and bibliography.
[Click image to open full-screen or click here to view pdf version.]
press
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Theatre Review: ‘Yours Forever, Lincoln’ by Quarry Theatre at The Voxel - Maryland Theatre Guide
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‘Yours Forever, Lincoln’ isn’t just for opera buffs - Washington Blade
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MPT Arts Minute: Quarry Theatre with Patrick Alexander - Maryland Public Television
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YOURS FOREVER, LINCOLN - Broadway World
Learn more about the intimate male
relationships of Abraham Lincoln
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Finding Homosexual Threads in Lincoln's Legend - Dinitia Smith (NY Times)
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Exploring Lincoln's Loves - (NPR)
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Did Abraham Lincoln Sleep with His Bodyguard? Another Look at the Evidence -
Martin P. Johnson (Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association)
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Was Lincoln Bisexual? - Gore Vidal (Vanity Fair)
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Abraham Lincoln: A life in the closet? - Mark Segal (Washington Blade)
Please help us to continue creating thought-provoking theatre in Baltimore!