Dead Man Walking

Boston alumni are invited to join us for a performance of Dead Man Walking.

6:00 p.m.—Alumni reception at Steve Heck Room, 1140 Boylston Street, with special guest Cathy Young, executive director for Boston Conservatory at Berklee

8:00 p.m.—Performance of Dead Man Walking at Boston Conservatory Theater, 31 Hemenway Street

Dead Man Walking is an opera about Sister Helen Prejean’s experience as the spiritual advisor and witness to the execution of two convicted murderers. Her experience led her to a career in prisoner advocacy and capital punishment reform, resulting in a book that became an Oscar-winning film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

Written in 2000, the opera has been performed extensively. Powerful, brutal, and at times harrowing, Dead Man Walking is not only an indictment of capital punishment, but also a story of redemption. Prejean leads Joseph DeRocher on the uphill journey to admitting what he has done and asking for forgiveness before he dies.

DeRocher’s terrible crime and the punishment he receives for it irrevocably changes Prejean’s life and ministry, as well as the lives of the parents of the victims, his family, the employees of the prison, and other nuns within Prejean’s order. The opera is sung in English with supertitles.

Tickets for the performance will be distributed at the reception. If you have questions, contact Alumni Affairs at alumniaffairs@berklee.edu.