Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ Onstage at August Wilson Center (Tues., 5/16/23)

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED (opera) by composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Pittsburgh Opera. Through May 21. 

Pittsburgh Opera is staging the haunting production “We Shall Not Be Moved’ about the Philadelphia MOVE tragedy. (Photo: David Bachman)

Pittsburgh Opera’s season finale is a cutting-edge contemporary work that builds from a tragic true episode. In the 1980s, members of the Black spiritualist-activist group MOVE lived together in a Philadelphia row house. During a tense confrontation with authorities, police made a shocking decision: They bombed the house, ostensibly to gain entry, but triggering a fire that killed six MOVE members and five of their children. We Shall Not Be Moved imagines a group of runaway teens, sometime later, taking refuge in the abandoned structure. While struggling to resolve their own problems they commune with ghosts of the youth who died. The opera’s score combines classical strains with those of blues, jazz, and R&B. Directing and choreographing the show for Pittsburgh Opera is the renowned dance and theater artist Bill T. Jones. Jones has won global acclaim for his original modern-dance pieces, as well as Tony Awards for choreographing Spring Awakening and Fela! on Broadway. Expect a stirring production here in Pittsburgh. We Shall Not Be Moved plays at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 7 p.m. 980 Liberty Ave., Cultural District. (M.V.) 

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