Ms. Cooper will perform the leading role of Anne Hutchinson in the world premiere of James Kallembach’s opera, American Jezebel: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson, commissioned by Harvard University.

In the dark of predawn morning in a bitterly cold November in 1637, Anne Hutchinson, then pregnant with her fifteenth child, set out on foot with her family to traverse the treacherously frozen five miles to stand trial before the Great and General Court of Massachusetts for the slandering of ministers and, thereby, having “troubled the peace of the commonwealth and churches.” Governor John Winthrop, who had recently been elected in a clever political coup overthrowing supporters of ideals similar to Hutchinson’s, presided over the trial. In the unheated courtroom, the ominous and thick black cloaks of each Puritan are silhouetted against the rough-hewn timbers of the crude courthouse. Hutchinson is fighting for the right to express her own religious views, and, indirectly, for greater political sway for the self-made merchant class in the complex, theologically entwined politics of the Commonwealth. Winthrop, who is deeply invested in the success of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, views himself as the only hope of keeping the colony unified and to avoid having its charter revoked by King Charles, who already has problematic relations with all church separatists.

This intense story is told amidst a backdrop of scenes such as Winthrop’s famous “City upon a hill” sermon, Hutchinson and Winthrop’s own home and family life, the riveting political events of 1636-1637, and the unique communal life of the Puritans, as represented by the chorus. The chorus plays a crucial role in representing the interior, domestic life of childbirth, health care, matters of the home and personal spirituality set against a backdrop of a religion-centered, male- dominated society, yet with a surprisingly nuanced sense of a divide of church and state. Quilting bees, spiritual singing in the home, communal building projects all brought people together even in a society that placed a high value on personal growth, expression, and responsibility.