About the Program

I Hear America Singing

May 10 & 11, 2025

“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination,
and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
– Harry S. Truman

What does it mean to be American? … Who gets to decide?
Who are the “true patriots”? … Who gets to decide?
Which personal or collective actions affirm our American values?
Which personal or collective actions diminish our American values?
Does the American Dream still exist? For whom is it intended?

Our program explores many facets of American mythology – foundational narratives that have shaped our country’s identity and culture for centuries. We consider the many ways in which people have thought and written about America for the past nearly 250 years. We celebrate the natural beauty of our country; the image of vast, untarnished vistas idealized in Katherine Lee Bates’s “America, The Beautiful.” But as we do so, we recognize the damage being done to our environment by shortsighted policies and collective apathy toward climate change. We contemplate the image of America as a “city upon the hill,” shining a beacon light of freedom and welcome for the rest of the world to behold. But we acknowledge that the American Dream of our “tired...huddled masses” is as often deferred as it is realized. We think back on the power of protest, whether through the actions of the suffragettes in 1912 during the Bread and Roses strikes in Lawrence or through the brave defiance of Civil Rights activists in the 1950s and 60s. We sing of the American Diaspora – pondering the plight of millions of people who were displaced or forcibly taken from their homes to serve the needs of European colonizers. We meditate on the ways in which great poets have attempted to contextualize history and capture the American spirit. As we journey through this repertoire, we might find ourselves asking,

Is belief in the ideal of America futile, or can we individually and collectively seek ways to realize the elusive “more perfect union” written about in our Constitution?

While this program seeks to give form to the “varied carols” spoken of in Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing,” it does so with an acknowledgement of the moment we are living in. We celebrate the American ideal, not because we have achieved it, but because striving towards it is what defines us as Americans. We recognize that we can use our individual and collective voices to effect positive change. And it is our hope that our program will inspire deep reflection about where we have come from, where we are, and the ways we wish to see our country grow and change.

“My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen
as the last best hope of earth.” – Abraham Lincoln

—Jason Iannuzzi, Artistic Director