Stinney:
An American Execution
Presented by Glow Lyric Theatre

Winner of the 2023 American Prize in Opera

Based on the life of George Junius Stinney Jr., who was executed in 1944 at the age of 14 for a crime he did not commit – the murder of two white girls in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina. Though this conviction was vacated in 2014 after an appeal from his family, he remains the youngest person to be legally executed in 20th century America. Stinney: An American Execution tells George’s story as well as the story of his family, his community, and the jury of ten white men who sent an innocent black boy to the electric chair. Incorporating gospel and electronic music techniques, the opera conveys the pain and anger of the community, connecting their feelings and reactions to today’s current socio-political climate and the pervasive “fear of the other.”