by TOM CIPULLO - based on the book by TOM PHILPOTT

KENTUCKY OPERA

directed by MARY BIRNBAUM - costume design by DONNA DOWNS - lighting design by ANSHUMAN BHATIA

photos by BILL BRYMER

In 1973, Floyd "Jim" Thompson returns home to the U.S. after being held in Vietnam for nine years - the longest-held prisoner of war in American history. He finds his world transformed - his children grown, his wife living with another man, and popular sentiment turned against the war. Glory Denied is the story of Jim and his wife Alyce - from their life as optimistic newlyweds to their painful reunion and eventual separation - against the backdrop of a nation in conflict.

The design is a fusion of two separate impulses, creation and destruction – the bare framing suggests a house under construction (as the dream home that Jim imagines for his family) while the rough texture and raw edges suggest an explosion. Tall grasses and other foliage recall the Vietnamese landscape, the memory of which remains with Jim even after his return. The space captures past and future in a single image – a beautiful potential met with a tragic reality. It remains suspended between states, like the characters of Jim and Alyce - a poignant reminder of the characters’ deep internal conflicts, and the moral ambiguity that is the war itself.