Women on the Line

It is 1920. A young woman runs to a phone booth to place a call. "Crenshaw 235, please."  She tries to wait patiently, but her news is more exciting than she can bare - she can hardly keep the phone still against her ear as her hand begins to shake. "Mama, it's Louise! I'm so glad you were home. Mother, I have the greatest news!"

WOMEN ON THE LINE examines important moments in American history from 1920 to 2020, with women heralding these times through a pivotal means of communication - the telephone. 

Responsible for the libretto, Jourdan Laine idrew inspiration from historical documents - letters, periodicals, poetry from the day - as well as her personal experiences and those of the cast, to pen singable text that offers a woman's perspective on the past and the present. When beginning discussions about the project, Howell and Penix recounted singular events from their personal pasts that had mammoth impact. Howell remembered one evening when the phone rang - it was close to 4:00 in the morning; she felt her heart stop. No one called at that time - it was too late and too early. She could hear the sound of her mother's voice through the wall, the elevated pitch, the gasp for air, the heavy silence - something was wrong. As Howell told Penix the story about this particular morning, she knew then that the libretto must revolve around important phone calls, the calls that make the world halt, the calls that send adrenaline pumping through the body, the calls that force people to change. 

WOMEN ON THE LINE is scored for six female leads and one baritone voice, with additional female voices in ensemble. The piece is a chamber work and will be seen fully staged in late winter/early spring 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. Rehearsals for the opera began in November 2024 with student-artists from The University of Texas at San Antonio.