June 20 & 22(m), 2025
Ray Charles Performing Arts center, Morehouse College
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Dave RAGLAND and Selda SAHIN: Steele Roots
The Atlanta Opera, presenter; Nicole Hardin, conductor; Tazewell Thompson, director; Dave Ragland, composer; Selda Sahin, librettist. Cast: Indra Thomas (Carrie Steele), Daniel Rich (Raymond), Martin Bakari (Michael), Amanda Sheriff (Ruth), Rehanna Thelwell (Sarah). Creative: Donald Eastman, scenic, props & projection designer; Gibron Shepperd, costume, wig and makeup designer; Jaime Mancuso, lighting designer; Felipe Barral, filmed media.
Mark Gresham | 26 JUN 2025
A moving tribute the drama to come, to an often overlooked but pivotal figure in Atlanta history took center stage during The Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Festival with the world premiere of Steele Roots, a 55-minute one-act opera composed by Dave Ragland with a libretto by Selda Sahin.
Presented on June 20 and 22 at Morehouse College’s Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, Steele Roots tells the story of Carrie Steele Logan, a formerly enslaved woman who founded the first orphanage for African American children in Atlanta in the late 19th century.
The opera opens in 1888 at Atlanta’s second Union Station, the city’s primary rail hub, where Steele worked as a maid. It was built in 1871 on the site of the first Union Station (1853–1864, also known as Union Depot, which was burned by General Sherman’s forces at the end of the Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War) and service as the city’s primary rail depot until the construction of Terminal Station at 75 Spring Street SW (now 75 Ted Turner Boulevard, the current site of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building).
This second Union Station, built at what is now Wall Street and Central Avenue (the latter officially renamed Shirley Clarke Franklin Boulevard SW as of February 5 of this year), persisted in use until 1930, when a new, third Union Station was built several blocks away. The location of the second Union Station is now a parking deck. The third Union Station, which had become secondary in importance to Atlanta’s Terminal Station, was closed in 1971 and demolished the following year. I remember seeing all three in my youth — the second and third Union Stations, as well as the Terminal Station — before they were demolished.
Why the extended essay on these rail stations? Because in Steele Roots they serve as metaphors for points of transition, transference, and transformation, along with homes and graveyards — portals of passage from the past to the future and from the future back to the past.
At the opera’s beginning, Carrie Steele, portrayed with poignant depth by soprano Indra Thomas, tends to an abandoned infant while continuing her mission to provide shelter for homeless Black children. Alongside her are Ruth (Amanda Sheriff), a young girl learning to read under Steele’s guidance, and Raymond (Daniel Rich), a sympathetic station worker. The character of Sarah (Rehanna Thelwell) lent gravitas, posing some ethical counterpoint.
The story also introduces Michael (Martin Bakari), a modern-day visitor who arrives by train and whose sudden appearance in contemporary clothing is mysteriously out of place in the 19th-century setting. A theatrical chronotopic shift suddenly propels the action forward to Oakland Cemetery, where Steele is buried, ultimately revealing that Michael is a descendant of one of Steele’s rescued children. He has come with his own daughter to honor her legacy by revisiting history that the gravesite represents.
But Michael is also doing something else: bringing Steele forward in time to show how her efforts were realized — not unlike an episode of Doctor Who, titled “Vincent and the Doctor,” in which the Doctor and Amy Pond bring Vincent van Gogh to the present day Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where the art curator gives an emotional speech about van Gogh’s immense contribution to art and his lasting influence, without knowing that Vincent is standing behind him.
With its blending of past and present, the libretto’s narrative underscores how Steele’s determination led to the establishment of the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home, which continues to serve Atlanta youth to this day.
Under the baton of conductor Nicole Hardin and direction by Tazewell Thompson, the production struck a balance between historical storytelling and emotional resonance. Ragland’s score was mainly comprised of moderately slow lyrical arias rather than much of any fast-paced, dramatic music, but it did present some subtle differences in the music for different characters. The 19th-century parlor song and slow rag-influenced idioms of Steele and the other 19th-century characters were, for example, offset by more modern idiomatic textures in Michael’s music. Sahin’s libretto offered concise arias and dialogue that suited this kind of musical setting.
The staging, designed by Donald Eastman, employed projected imagery and spare props to navigate the opera’s shifts in time and space fluidly. Lighting by Jaime Mancuso and filmed media by Felipe Barral further enhanced the production’s sense of continuity across generations. Gibron Shepperd’s costumes reinforced the contrast between the historical and modern scenes while maintaining a cohesive visual narrative.
Steele Roots was presented as part of the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Festival, an annual event focused on fostering new works and emerging voices in opera. The festival reflects the company’s continued commitment to developing works that resonate with local communities while broadening the operatic canon. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The Atlanta Opera: atlantaopera.org
- Indra Thomas: indrathomas.com
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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