Coming
July 15th-20th
2025
Scott Davenport Richards, composer - David Cote, librettist
Outcalt Theater
Playhouse Square
Our Mission
To enrich life by presenting inspiring arts
programming and stimulating conversations.
Our vision
We aim to end the tragedy of wrongful convictions in
Ohio through the power of the arts. Chagrin Arts
will present the nationally acclaimed musical
drama, BLIND INJUSTICE, at Cleveland’s
Playhouse Square.
Our aim
We aim to educate...to challenge current thinking...to inspire community engagement...to reverse, transform, and eradicate wrongful convictions in Ohio.
Our method
BLIND INJUSTICE, based on Mark Godsey’s book of the same title, tells the true stories of six
Ohioans wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Eventually they had their convictions
overturned through the work of the Ohio Innocence Project. Originally commissioned by Cincinnati
Opera, it premiered in 2019. Chagrin Arts’ production of BLIND INJUSTICE will be the Northeast Ohio
premiere on July 15 - 20, 2025.
Our hope
Chagrin Arts is asking you to join us as an integral supporter of this project, to become a part of our unified voice reflecting the powerful impact of the arts in the community and the transformative impact of community collaboration.
About Blind Injustice
Cincinnati Opera premiered BLIND INJUSTICE, composed by Scott Davenport Richards, to a libretto by David Cote, in July 2019, to five sold-out audiences. BLIND INJUSTICE is not an ordinary opera. It recounts the journey of six Ohio exonerees through the power of jazz, rap, blues and gospel. Forty percent of the words sung and spoken come directly from interviews with the exonerees about surviving the ordeal which makes the experience especially real and relevant.
Who are we?
Incorporated in 2007, Chagrin Artshas been focused on ARTS WITH A PURPOSE. Over the past five years, Chagrin Arts has dedicated its programming to bringing awareness to wrongful convictions. In 2021, the Garden of Hope in downtown Chagrin Falls opened with the Imaginal Cell as its centerpiece. The artist is Dean Gillispie, an exoneree who spent 20 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Today, the sculpture has 42 butterflies representing those Ohioans who have been exonerated by the Ohio Innocence Project.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
WALL STREET JOURNAL: “Seamless, hard-hitting and
affecting. The music is masterly, adroit, tuneful. A powerful
piece of music theater.”
OPERA NEWS: “Blind Injustice is a powerful and moving
work, as evident from the audience’s enthusiastic
response.”
JUSTICE MICHAEL P. DONNELLY, Ohio Supreme Court:
“I ardently support the Board’s efforts to bring the opera
Blind Injustice to Northeast Ohio. The opera is a powerful
work of art, which conveys the human suffering that takes
place when innocent people are convicted, and highlights
and illuminates the systemic causes that allow these
injustices to take place.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/arts/music/blind-injustice-ohio-innocence-project.html
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https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/an-opera-for-the-wrongfully-convicted
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